50 Films to watch this awards season

Voters, hold onto your hats. Round-one voting for the Bafta Film Awards opens in just two weeks’ time (on December 5), while preliminary voting for the 11 Oscar categories that enjoy a shortlist stage — including international feature and documentary — runs in a tight window from December 8-12. Screenings, with or without talent Q&As, continue apace, and new titles are consistently being added to the Bafta and Ampas online viewing platforms.

Screen International’s special editions for awards voters begin with our annual overview of films in contention for Oscar and Baftas in key categories — from the US, UK and across the world, and including live-action, animation and non-fiction. The following pages, including three separate listings that feature UK indies, documentary and eye-catching performances, recommend 80 titles that deserve your attention. We are by no means suggesting that viewing should be limited to our selections, and Screen’s intention is always to expand the awards conversation, not narrow it. 

This year, a number of changes are afoot at both film academies. Ampas has introduced an award for casting, following the lead set by Bafta with its 2020 award, and has also added cinematography to the categories that have a shortlist stage, joining the likes of sound, visual effects and make-up and hairstyling. Bafta’s changes include tightening the eligibility for the outstanding British film category — now at least one director or screenwriter must be British (or resident in the UK for at least six years).

Last year delivered truly open and competitive awards races, with the season’s eventual best picture Oscar winner Anora vying right to the finish line with the likes of Conclave (Bafta’s choice for best film), The Brutalist, Emilia Pérez and Wicked.

This year, there are assuredly some big beasts in the ring, and it would be a surprise if certain titles end up missing out on nominations. But fortunes will rise and fall over the course of awards season, and it’s ultimately the tastes and preferences of voters, not the muscularity of campaigns, that will dictate outcomes.

Charles Gant, Awards/box office editor

2000 Meters To Andriivka 
Dir. Mstyslav Chernov
Chernov, who won the documentary Oscar and Bafta in 2024 with 20 Days In Mariupol, is back in serious contention with this missive from a summer 2023 Ukrainian counter-offensive. The film mixes soldiers’ body­cam footage with material captured on phones and cameras to tell the story of one slow, arduous and costly liberation of a captured village. Following a directing win for Chernov at Sundance for World Cinema Documentary and a major festival tour, the film is Ukraine’s submission to the international feature Oscar, and was nominated for five Critics Choice Documentary Awards.

After The Hunt
Dir. Luca Guadagnino
This Venice-launched Amazon MGM Studios release sees Nora Garrett’s original screenplay boldly tackle a number of hot-button topics, including race, gender, sexuality and generational privilege — all played out as a 2019-set campus psychological thriller, unfolding in an era of student consciousness and protest. Julia Roberts could earn her first leading actress Oscar and Bafta nominations since winning both awards in 2001 for Erin Brockovich. Director Guadagnino was Bafta-nominated for I Am Love and Call Me By Your Name, and best picture Oscar-nominated for the latter.

Arco
Dir. Ugo Bienvenu
A visitor from another realm crash-lands in a suburb on planet Earth and forms a friendship with a child — so far, so E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. But the influences behind debut filmmaker Bienvenu’s rainbow-hued feature animation go beyond Holly­wood sci-fi: this French-language production, which lists Natalie Portman as a producer, evokes the handsomely rendered flights of fancy of Japanese anime. Arco premiered in Cannes and went on to win the Cristal for best picture at Annecy. Neon released in the US on November 14, positioning the film as a dark horse in the animated feature category.

Avatar: Fire And Ash 
Dir. James Cameron
Avatar won three Oscars in 2010, and sequel Avatar: The Way Of Water won for visual effects in 2023. Both films achieved a fair fist of nominations, including for best picture. Disney hardly needs the validation of Academy voters to win out at the box office, but Cameron will be hoping for another best picture nod — honouring himself and producing partner Jon Landau, who died in 2024 and was instrumental in helping to steer this innovative, wildly ambitious franchise along its profitable course.

The Ballad Of Wallis Island
Dir. James Griffiths
Nearly two decades ago, a 2007 short film titled The One And Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island was nominated for a Bafta. The team behind its feature adaptation — about an eccentric fan who pays for his favourite folk artists to reunite for a private gig — will be hoping that Bafta voters once again take notice, and the British Independent Film Awards (Bifas) have already given encouragement with five nominations. Writers Tim Key and Tom Basden star alongside Carey Mulligan in the picture, which has garnered high-profile support — notably from Richard Curtis — since its Sundance premiere.

Blue Moon 
Dir. Richard Linklater
One of two Linklater films in contention this year (alongside Nouvelle Vague), the Sony Pictures Classics release premiered at Berlin, where Andrew Scott’s turn as Richard Rodgers (of Rodgers and Hammerstein fame) won the supporting performance Silver Bear. Set in 1943, in the bar of New York restaurant Sardi’s on the opening night of stage musical Oklahoma!, Blue Moon centres on Rodgers’ former partner: diminutive, alcoholic lyricist Lorenz Hart (Ethan Hawke). A bravura — and garrulous — performance by Hawke should snag voter attention, with Scott and Margaret Qualley contending in supporting categories.

Bugonia 
Dir. Yorgos Lanthimos
Adapting the 2003 South Korean film Save The Green Planet!, Lanthimos reunites with frequent collaborator Emma Stone for a dark comedy about paranoid cousins (Jesse Plemons, Aidan Delbis) who kidnap a privileged CEO (Stone), believing she is secretly an evil alien. Premiering in Venice, where their Poor Things took home the Golden Lion in 2023, Bugonia will look to capitalise on Lanthimos and Stone’s impressive awards-season track record. He shared in the Bafta for outstanding British film for The Favourite, while Stone won the Oscar and Bafta for her performances in La La Land and Poor Things.

The Choral
Dir. Nicholas Hytner
Alan Bennett’s previous collaborations with director Hytner — The Madness Of King George, The History Boys and The Lady In The Van — collectively earned 17 Bafta and four Oscar nominations (and three wins and one win respectively). This first from the pair not based on existing Bennett source material is set in a Yorkshire town in 1916, with the titular choral society turning to working-class teens to replenish war-depleted ranks, while also recruiting a controversial new choir master (Ralph Fiennes). Sony’s early November UK release followed a Toronto premiere, with Sony Pictures Classics’ US launch set for December 25.

Dead Man’s Wire
Dir. Gus Van Sant
Row K Entertainment acquired North American rights to the latest film from Van Sant in early September, following successful festival play at both Venice and Toronto, and has set a January release in the US and UK. The director’s first feature since 2018’s Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far On Foot depicts a 1977 true crime: a desperate businessman (Bill Skarsgard) taking hostage his bank mortgager in Indianapolis. Van Sant earned directing Oscar nominations in 1998 and 2009 for Good Will Hunting and Milk, but has yet to earn the validation of Bafta.

Die My Love
Dir. Lynne Ramsay
Jennifer Lawrence gives an attention-grabbing performance as a sometime writer and new mother slipping into post-partum psychosis, in the incendiary latest film from Ramsay. And it is Lawrence, a four-time Oscar nominee and one-time winner (for Silver Linings Playbook), who currently dominates awards conversation around the film. Ramsay has been Bafta-nominated seven times and has won twice (for short film Swimmer in 2013 and debut feature Ratcatcher in 2000), but has yet to secure an Oscar nod. Mubi swooped on the film out of Cannes in a $24m deal, and released in the US and UK in early November.

F1: The Movie 
Dir. Joseph Kosinski
Kosinski’s high-octane thrillride grossed $631m in cinemas worldwide, becoming star Brad Pitt’s biggest box-office hit to date, as well as a bona fide smash for Apple and Warner Bros. Filmed at real Grand Prix tracks and during race weekends, the drama stars Pitt as a veteran driver returning to the Formula One grid after decades away, schooling his rookie teammate (Damson Idris) and helping save Javier Bardem’s struggling race team. Cinematography, production design, editing and Hans Zimmer’s propulsive score are all in awards contention, along with the sound design and visual effects teams.

Father Mother Sister Brother
Dir. Jim Jarmusch
US indie filmmaker Jarmusch has picked up plenty of festival prizes over the years, and received attention from the likes of the Indie Spirits, Gothams, Césars and European Film Awards, but has never received a nomination at Oscar or Bafta. His 14th feature could finally achieve the Academy woo — especially in the original screenplay category — for a Venice Golden Lion-winning anthology comedy drama that combines three family-themed stories, and with a cast that includes Adam Driver, Tom Waits, Char­lotte Rampling, Cate Blanchett and Indya Moore (who is Gotham-nominated for this role). Mubi releases in the US on December 24.

Frankenstein 
Dir. Guillermo del Toro
Del Toro has long dreamed of adapting Mary Shelley’s classic novel for the big screen, finally finding a home at Netflix, backer of his stop-motion animation Pinocchio. Showcasing Oscar Isaac as arrogant scientist Victor and Jacob Elordi as his creation, Frankenstein enjoyed a festival run (including Venice and Toronto) and a theatrical window, before dropping on the streamer on November 7. Del Toro is a triple Oscar winner (for Pinocchio in 2023 and The Shape Of Water in 2018) and he also has three Bafta wins (including for Pan’s Laby­rinth in 2007). Frankenstein should feature especially well in the craft categories.

Goodbye June
Dir. Kate Winslet
This debut screenplay from Joe Anders is not — as might have been expected from a 21-year-old — a coming-of-age tale, but instead the story of four mismatched adult siblings (Winslet, Andrea Riseborough, Johnny Flynn, Toni Collette) who must set aside differences and rally round when their mother (Helen Mirren) is hospitalised in the run-up to Christmas. Anders’ own mother Winslet makes her directing debut with the family saga (which also stars Timothy Spall), and she reteams with Lee producing partner Kate Solomon via their new company 55 Jugglers. Netflix releases in cinemas and streams in December.

Hamnet
Dir. Chloé Zhao
This film had some serious momentum even before Zhao’s adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s historical novel won the People’s Choice Award at Toronto (a reliable early indicator of a best picture Oscar nomination). Zhao already has a best picture and a director Oscar under her belt for Nomadland; stars Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal have both previously scored an acting nomination apiece (for The Lost Daughter and Aftersun respectively). And in Steven Spielberg, there is heavyweight producing muscle supporting the picture — and the Gotham Awards have weighed in with nominations for Buckley in lead performance and best feature.

Hedda
Dir. Nia DaCosta
DaCosta has showed great variety in subject matter and budgetary scale with previous features Little Woods, Candyman and The Marvels — and now reunites with Little Woods’ Tessa Thompson for a queer-inflected take on Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler, transposed to a lavish house party in 1950s England, and backed by Amazon MGM Studios. Acclaimed German actress Nina Hoss — in a writer/academic role that has been gender-flipped from the stage play — could emerge as the film’s awards-season MVP, while DaCosta could be in the mix for director and/or adapted screenplay.

A House Of Dynamite
Dir. Kathryn Bigelow
Bigelow’s first film since 2017’s Detroit forms the final part of her unofficial military trilogy, following The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty. With a stellar cast featuring Rebecca Ferguson, Idris Elba, Jared Harris, Jason Clarke, Tracy Letts and Greta Lee among others, this tense nuclear thriller premiered in Venice before landing on Netflix in October. Bigelow became the first woman to win the best director Oscar for The Hurt Locker, and should once again find herself in the running, along with Noah Oppenheim’s original screenplay and Conclave composer Volker Bertelmann’s nerve-jangling score.

I Swear
Dir. Kirk Jones
Studiocanal scored sustained UK and Ireland box office — $7.3m (£5.6m) at press time — following sizzling cinema exit scores for this biographical drama about Tourette’s campaigner John Davidson (Robert Aramayo). Outstanding British film looks the strongest Bafta hope, but I Swear could capture voter imagination across multiple categories, and Bifa has weighed in with nine nominations, including best film, best director and Aramayo in the lead performance category. Sony Pictures Classics’ US release is set for 2026, pushing the film to the 2027 Oscars.

If I Had Legs I’d Kick You 
Dir. Mary Bronstein
Rose Byrne has earned kudos for her portrayal of Linda, an emotionally overwhelmed therapist caring for her ailing daughter, since this dark comedy premiered at Sundance (she later won the Silver Bear for leading performance at Berlin, 25 years after scooping the best actress Volpi Cup at Venice for The Goddess Of 1967). If I Had Legs I’d Kick You enters an awards season that, along with Hamnet and Die My Love, features several high-profile films examining the challenges and heartbreak of motherhood. This is the second picture from writer/director Bronstein, whose 2008 debut Yeast screened at SXSW.

Is This Thing On?
Dir. Bradley Cooper
The life story of British comedian John Bishop is the unlikely inspiration for this Searchlight Pictures feature from director Cooper, starring Will Arnett as a gainfully employed father of two who deals with his capsizing marriage by venturing onto the New York stand-up comedy scene. Cooper and Arnett write with See How They Run’s Mark Chappell, and the cast also includes Laura Dern, Andra Day, Cooper, Sean Hayes and Amy Sedaris. Cooper has earned 12 Oscar nominations across five different categories (for producing, writing and acting), but has never won.

It Was Just An Accident
Dir. Jafar Panahi
The last two Cannes Palme d’Or winners — Anora and Anatomy Of A Fall — both won Oscars, while Triangle Of Sadness picked up three nominations in 2023, for picture, director and original screenplay. Cannes delegate general Thierry Frémaux, for one, will be delighted if the latest Palme d’Or winner continues the Oscars hot streak, with France submitting this Iranian drama to the international feature category. Neon and Mubi carved up key territory rights on the film, which released in the US in October. Admissions in France, via Memento, stood at 637,000 at press time.

Jay Kelly
Dir. Noah Baumbach
In 2020, Baumbach’s Marriage Story earned six Oscar nominations (winning supporting actress for Laura Dern), and it was a similar story at Bafta. Three years later, the pricey White Noise proved much less appealing to voters. Now he is back, with a comedy drama co-written with Emily Mortimer, showcasing a well-cast George Clooney as a movie star embarking on a journey of self-discovery. Adam Sandler, never nominated at Bafta or Oscar, could be on course to break his duck, playing a longsuffering talent manager discovering the limits of friendship with clients who pay you commission on their earnings. 

Kiss Of The Spider Woman
Dir. Bill Condon
In 1986, Hector Babenco’s Kiss Of The Spider Woman — set in an Argentinian prison and adapted from Manuel Puig’s 1976 novel — was nominated for four Oscars including best picture, winning for William Hurt in leading actor. This new Sundance-launched film, adapted from the 1992 stage musical, stars Tonatiuh as a gay window dresser convicted of public indecency, sharing a cell with a political revolutionary (Diego Luna), to whom he narrates the story of his favourite Hollywood musical Kiss Of The Spider Woman. Jennifer Lopez also stars. Lionsgate released in the US in October, and at press time the film looked unlikely to compete in this year’s Baftas.

The Life Of Chuck
Dir. Mike Flanagan
Stephen King’s work has consistently proved popular for adaptation, with this year also seeing the release of The Monkey, The Long Walk and The Running Man. Flanagan, who previously brought the author’s Doctor Sleep to the big screen, won the coveted People’s Choice Award at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival for his take on King’s 2020 novella. Telling three stories in the life of the titular Chuck, the film boasts a magical, sentimental tone that distinguishes the picture from King’s usual horror fare, putting it more in line with the Oscar-nominated The Shawshank Redemption (adapted from his 1982 novella). 

Marty Supreme 
Dir. Josh Safdie
Not yet 30, Timothée Chalamet has already received two Oscar and four Bafta nominations. More honours may come his way thanks to this 1950s drama about a burgeoning table-tennis champion. Marty Supreme represents Josh Safdie’s first solo directorial feature since 2008’s The Pleasure Of Being Robbed. (His brother and frequent co-director Benny has The Smashing Machine this year.) The Safdies have long been indie darlings, with Uncut Gems earning them best director at the Independent Spirit Awards in 2020. After receiving raves at New York Film Festival, Marty Supreme will open in the US on Christmas Day via A24.

The Mastermind 
Dir. Kelly Reichardt
This subversive heist drama is Reichardt’s second straight feature to premiere in Competition in Cannes following 2022’s Showing Up. Josh O’Connor plays an art school dropout in 1970 who stages a daring museum robbery, leading to unexpected results. Since winning the best actor Bifa in 2017 for God’s Own Country, he has seen his profile rise considerably — the actor has four films out this year, including Knives Out sequel Wake Up Dead Man. Reichardt’s 2019 opus First Cow was nominated for the César for best foreign film and the Bifa for best international independent film. 

No Other Choice
Dir. Park Chan-wook
South Korean director Park has yet to score an Oscar nomination (he won a Bafta in 2018 for The Handmaiden) but that could change with this satirical thriller. Well-received in Venice and Toronto, No Other Choice is released in select cinemas in the US on Christmas Day, going wider in January. Distributor Neon will be looking for an international feature Oscar nod at a minimum, with hopes of following compatriot Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite into the best picture category, and a director nomination for Park. Lee Byung-hun could feature in leading actor.

Nouvelle Vague 
Dir. Richard Linklater
While Linklater’s Blue Moon deals with a washed-up writer, Nouvelle Vague turns the spotlight on nascent director Jean-Luc Godard (Guillaume Marbeck) as he films 1960 debut feature Breathless. Working from a script by Vincent Palmo Jr and Holly Gent, Linklater and cinematographer David Chambille pay tribute to Godard and the French New Wave, shooting in Academy format black and white with vintage lenses. Bought by Netflix for the US after it premiered at Cannes, the French-language film released in France in October via ARP Selection, with Altitude’s UK release to follow in January.

Nuremberg
Dir. James Vanderbilt
Jack El-Hai’s 2013 book The Nazi And The Psychiatrist is the source for this historical drama, retelling the 1945‑46 Nuremberg trials through a battle of wits between Hermann Göring (Russell Crowe) and Douglas Kelley (Rami Malek), the psychiatrist tasked with determining a number of captured Nazi leaders’ fitness to stand trial. The film was warmly received at its TIFF Gala premiere, and released via Sony Pictures Classics in the US in early November. Crowe and Malek have both won the best actor Oscar, respectively for Gladiator and Bohemian Rhapsody.

One Battle After Another 
Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson
Anderson has 11 Oscar nominations variously for directing, writing and producing but no wins so far, and has a sole Bafta — for his Licorice Pizza original screenplay. Expect the nominations tally to rise, and perhaps also that long-awaited Oscar breakthrough, with this darkly comic action thriller loosely inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel Vineland. Actors Leonardo DiCaprio, Chase Infiniti, Sean Penn, Teyana Taylor, Benicio del Toro and Regina Hall could swamp the performance categories, while the film’s heads of departments could also bask in voter love, including composer Jonny Greenwood.

The Perfect Neighbor
Dir. Geeta Gandbhir
A tough and timely watch, this documentary, assembled largely from police bodycam footage, explores a neighbourhood dispute in Ocala, Florida that escalated with tragic consequences. A former editor, Gandbhir has previously won two Primetime Emmys, including one in 2007 for editing Spike Lee’s When The Levees Broke. The Perfect Neighbor premiered at Sundance, where Gandbhir won the directing award in the US Documentary section, and was acquired by Netflix, enjoying a spell as the streamer’s most-watched film in the US and going on to earn five wins at the Critics Choice Documentary Awards.

Rental Family
Dir. Hikari
Osaka-born US resident Mitsuyo Miyazaki, who works under the name Hikari, premiered her debut feature 37 Seconds at the 2019 Berlinale, and Searchlight Pictures steered this follow-up to a Toronto launch in September. The comedy drama stars Brendan Fraser as a lonely US actor living in Tokyo, who finds himself hired by a rental family service to provide stand-in roles in other people’s lives — forming some genuine emotional connections. Takehiro Hira and Mari Yamamoto co-star. Fraser’s sole Oscar and Bafta nominations — leading actor for The Whale in 2023 — converted respectively into a win and a loss. 

Roofman
Dir. Derek Cianfrance
Channing Tatum reveals serious acting chops (and quite a lot more, in an eye-catching toy store streaking scene) in Cianfrance’s likeable, fact-based romantic caper Roofman. And while Cianfrance has one Oscar nomination to his name, in 2021 for co-writing the screenplay for Sound Of Metal, it is Tatum who has everything to play for this awards season following a performance that could gain traction and subsequently reposition his career going forward. Kirsten Dunst, as Tatum’s love interest, and Peter Dink­lage both have a shot in supporting acting categories — with backing from Paramount, which released in US and UK.

Scarlet
Dir. Mamoru Hosoda
Japan’s Hosoda earned an animated feature Oscar nomination in 2019 for his sixth full-length film Mirai, but failed to repeat the trick with 2021 release Belle. In what is considered a less-than-vintage year for animated features (at least from US studios), Hosoda competes again with this self-penned tale of a medieval princess on a quest to avenge her father’s death who awakens in a realm between life and death. Toho releases in Japan on November 21 following a Venice launch, while Sony will offer an awards-qualifying run in the US, then releasing wide next February.

The Secret Agent
Dir. Kleber Mendonca Filho
Brazil during the military dictatorship: it is a period of history providing rich pickings for filmmakers. Following the success last year of Walter Salles’ I’m Still Here (which won the best international feature Oscar), Mendonca Filho’s eccentric thriller looks well-positioned to claim a few nominations of its own. Released by Neon in the US on December 5, with Mubi to follow in the UK next February, The Secret Agent is a strong contender for international categories, with Wagner Moura’s performance also featuring in conversations.

Sentimental Value

Dir. Joachim Trier
Trier’s films have been chosen by Norway for Oscar’s international feature category on three previous occasions — Reprise, Thelma and The Worst Person In The World — with a nomination for the latter (plus also for original screenplay). Awards recognition should come in fuller force this time around, with Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgard, Inga Ibsdotter and Elle Fanning all making waves in acting categories in this Cannes grand prix winning drama about a once-famous filmmaker returning home to make a personal film.

Sinners 
Dir. Ryan Coogler
Coogler’s 1932-set vampire movie features not one but two notable performances from his Creed star Michael B Jordan playing identical twins Elijah ‘Smoke’ and Elias ‘Stack’ Moore who return to their Mississippi roots to open a speakeasy, falling foul of Jack O’Connell’s Irish vampire. With a star-making turn from newcomer Miles Caton as the twins’ musician cousin and a pulsating soundtrack from Black Panther Oscar-winner Ludwig Göransson, Sinners grossed $368m worldwide for Warner Bros. Despite the handicap of being defined as a horror film, it could earn Coogler his first directing Oscar nomination.

Sirât
Dir. Oliver Laxe
A breakout success in Cannes, where it won the jury prize and a soundtrack award, Laxe’s bruising desert rave road movie is Spain’s international feature Oscar submission. It is a step up for the filmmaker, who has enjoyed a warm reception on the festival circuit but has not figured prominently in previous awards seasons (he was nominated for a directing Goya for 2019’s Fire Will Come). Traction in score and cinematography categories is also a possibility. Sirât — a smash hit in Spain and France — received a one-week qualifying US release in November via Neon, ahead of a nationwide rollout in January.

The Smashing Machine 
Dir. Benny Safdie
Making his solo directing debut after years collaborating with his brother Josh, Benny Safdie tells the true story of 1990s wrestler Mark Kerr. The Smashing Machine represents a rare dramatic turn from Dwayne Johnson, a reliable presence in action blockbusters including the Fast & Furious and Jumanji franchises. He shares the screen with Emily Blunt, who has been nominated for one Oscar and four Baftas. Premiering in competition at Venice, where Safdie snagged the director prize, The Smashing Machine could receive significant awards attention for decorated make-up artist Kazu Hiro, who transformed Johnson into the pioneering MMA fighter. 

Sorry, Baby
Dir. Eva Victor
At Sundance, writer/director/star Victor was honoured with the Waldo Salt screenwriting award for their feature directing debut, which focuses on an aspiring writer (Victor) coming to terms with the sexual assault she experienced in college. This bittersweet indie comedy drama later screened in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes before opening over the summer, grossing $2.3m for A24 in North America against a small budget. Sorry, Baby picked up Gotham nominations for best feature and original screenplay, and the film looks set to score with critics’ groups, especially in debut feature categories.

Sound Of Falling 
Dir. Mascha Schilinski
Awarded the jury prize at Cannes, German filmmaker Schilinski’s second feature centres around four young women who all live on the same property over the course of approximately 100 years. Sound Of Falling is Germany’s official Oscar entry for international feature, hoping to build on the country’s three-year streak of nominations. (Edward Berger’s All Quiet On The Western Front won in 2023.) Schilinski’s 2017 debut Dark Blue Girl — about a separated couple who get back together, much to the dismay of their young daughter — premiered in Berlin. 

Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere 
Dir. Scott Cooper
Based on Warren Zanes’ 2023 book, this biographical drama chronicles the recording of Bruce Springsteen’s 1982 album Nebraska. Written and directed by Cooper, whose Crazy Heart saw Jeff Bridges win the best actor Oscar, Deliver Me From Nowhere premiered at Telluride ahead of release by Disney’s 20th Century Studios. Jeremy Allen White sings and stars as the Boss, who returns to New Jersey to confront his newfound success and ghosts of the past — notably the relationship with his father (Stephen Graham). Jeremy Strong plays Springsteen’s longtime manager Jon Landau (not to be confused with the Avatar producer).

The Testament Of Ann Lee
Dir. Mona Fastvold
Earlier this year, Fastvold was Bafta and Oscar-nominated for writing The Brutalist with her partner Brady Corbet, and the pair return with another jointly penned effort, this time with Fastvold directing. Amanda Seyfried — starring as the titular founder of the Shaker religious sect — is aiming for her first leading actress Oscar and Bafta nominations (following a supporting actress Oscar nod for Mank in 2021). Searchlight Pictures’ acquisition in the wake of Venice and Toronto outings has helped put this bold musical historical drama more firmly in the awards conversation.

Train Dreams
Dir. Clint Bentley
Bentley and Greg Kwedar were in contention for film awards in 2025 with Sing Sing, which they produced and wrote with Kwedar directing. They write again, adapting from Denis Johnson’s 2011 novella, now with Bentley in the director’s chair — telling the story of a logger and railroad worker (Joel Edgerton) living in and around Idaho through much of the 20th century. Felicity Jones and Kerry Condon also star, and the nostalgic drama — which has earned comparisons with early Terrence Malick — was acquired by Netflix following its Sundance premiere in January.

The Voice Of Hind Rajab
Dir. Kaouther Ben Hania
Ben Hania enjoyed one of the most sensational premieres of recent times for the Venice launch of her docudrama. The film dramatises Red Crescent volunteers responding to the distress call of the titular six-year-old girl, stranded in a car with slain members of her family, who were leaving Gaza under an Israeli evacuation order. Tunisia’s submission to the international feature Oscar is considered a strong contender, and the picture — which uses the girl’s actual phone call, and has a roster of famous executive producers — may well entice voters in other categories.

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
Dir. Rian Johnson
The third film in Johnson’s crowdpleasing private detective series, Wake Up Dead Man is as slick and starry as its predecessors. Johnson earned Oscar nominations for the screenplays of the previous two Knives Out entries, and could score a hat-trick. But this time the performances — specifically Josh O’Connor’s embattled priest — are also of note. Wake Up Dead Man — which could be a contender for the Oscars’ new casting category — has a limited US theatrical release on November 26, followed by a Netflix launch in December.

Warfare 
Dirs. Ray Mendoza, Alex Garland
Former US Navy Seal Mendoza worked as a military super­visor on Garland’s Civil War. Following that, the pair wrote and directed this immersive real-time thriller based on Mendoza’s experiences during the Iraq War, specifically an incident in November 2006 when his platoon was pinned down by snipers. Shot in long, unbroken takes, Warfare’s visceral approach plunges the viewer headfirst into the horrors of battle. The A24 release, filmed at the UK’s Bovingdon Airfield Studios, is a notable production achievement and could emerge in craft categories, particularly editing and sound.

Weapons 
Dir. Zach Cregger
Cregger followed his breakout hit Barbarian with this epic horror told from the point of view of several protagonists, among them a high-school teacher (Julia Garner) whose entire class, bar one, disappears mysteriously one night, and a distraught parent (Josh Brolin). While a critical and commercial hit for Warner Bros — $268m at the worldwide box office — horror has traditionally had a hard time connecting with voters, but Amy Madigan’s performance as creepy Aunt Gladys deserves particular attention in supporting actress. As for Cregger, he could find himself up for picture, director, original screenplay and score.

Wicked: For Good
Dir. Jon M Chu
Wicked earned 10 Oscar nominations, converting into wins for costume and production design, and Universal may hope that concluding chapter For Good will be more warmly honoured (as was the case with the final part of The Lord Of The Rings trilogy in 2004). Two new Stephen Schwartz songs — one each for Cynthia Erivo and Ariane Grande — could boost the nominations tally, and Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero, caught in a love triangle between Elphaba and Glinda, could see his stock rise in supporting actor. Tiffany Little Canfield and Bernard Telsey’s casting may also find support — as long as voters feel comfortable honouring their work here for both films.

Zootopia 2
Dirs. Byron Howard, Jared Bush
Byron Howard and Rich Moore’s Zootopia (Zootropolis in some markets) won the animated feature Oscar in 2017, and Disney must have reasonable hopes for a repeat — especially since titles from rival US animation studios this year (including Disney/Pixar’s own Elio) are not considered to be creative peaks. Credited as co-director on Zootopia, Bush now moves up to joint director status for a sequel that sees rabbit cop Judy (voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin) and her fox pal (Jason Bateman) crack a new case. 

Awards contender profiles by: Charles Gant, Tim Grierson, Wendy Ide, Mark Salisbury, John Hazelton

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