San Diego Film Critics Society (SDFCS) Awards: ‘Sinners’ Tops in Picture, Director, Actor

The San Diego Film Critics Society (SDFCS) has given Sinners its awards for Best Picture, Best Director (Ryan Coogler) and Best Actor (Michael B. Jordan) among its total of four wins.

The group came to a tie in Best Actress where Jessie Buckley (Hamnet) and Rose Byrne (If I Had Legs I’d Kick You) were the winners. Supporting awards went to Stellan Skarsgård for Sentimental Value and Amy Madigan for Weapons.

Special awards were given to Josh O’Connor for his 2025 body of work that included The History of Sound, The Mastermind, Rebuilding and Wake Up Dead Man. Indy, the dog from Good Boy, was awarded Best Animal Performance.

Here is the complete list of winners and runners-up.

Best Picture
Winner: SINNERS
Runner Up: ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER

Best Director
Winner: Ryan Coogler, SINNERS
Runner Up: Yorgos Lanthimos, BUGONIA

Best Actor
Winner: Michael B. Jordan, SINNERS
Runner Up: Joel Edgerton, TRAIN DREAMS

Best Actress (tie)
Winner: Jessie Buckley, HAMNET and Rose Byrne, IF I HAD LEGS I’D KICK YOU

Best Supporting Actor
Winner: Stellan Skarsgård, SENTIMENTAL VALUE
Runner Up: Sean Penn , ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER

Best Supporting Actress
Winner: Amy Madigan, WEAPONS
Runners Up: Nina Hoss, HEDDA, Wunmi Mosaku, SINNERS

Best Comedic Performance
Winner: Da’Vine Joy Randolph, ETERNITY
Runner Up: Molly Gordon, OH, HI!

Best Youth Performance (For a performer under the age of 18)
Winner: Cary Christopher, WEAPONS
Runner Up: Jacobi Jupe, HAMNET

Best Original Screenplay
Winner: Jafar Panahi, IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT
Runner Up: David Koepp, BLACK BAG

Best Adapted Screenplay
Winner: Will Tracy, BUGONIA
Runner Up: Paul Thomas Anderson, ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER

Best First Feature (Director)
Winner: Eva Victor, SORRY, BABY
Runner Up: Kristen Stewart, THE CHRONOLOGY OF WATER

Best Documentary
Winner: ORWELL: 2 + 2 = 5
Runner Up: BILLY JOEL: AND SO IT GOES

Best Animated Film
Winner: K-POP DEMON HUNTERS
Runner Up: LITTLE AMÉLIE OR THE CHARACTER OF RAIN

Best Foreign Language Film
Winner: IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT
Runner Up: SENTIMENTAL VALUE

Best Editing
Winner: Ronald Bronstein, Josh Safdie, MARTY SUPREME
Runner Up: Andy Jurgensen, ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER

Best Cinematography
Winner: Adolpho Veloso, TRAIN DREAMS
Runner Up: Michael Bauman, ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER

Best Production Design
Winner: Tamara Deverell, Shane Vieau, FRANKENSTEIN
Runners Up: Hannah Bleachler, Monique Champagne, SINNERS, Kasra Farahani, Jille Azis, THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS

Best Visual Effects
Winner: AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH
Runners Up: THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS, FRANKENSTEIN

Best Costume Design
Winner: Paul Tazewell, WICKED: FOR GOOD
Runners Up: Ruth E. Carter, SINNERS, Kate Hawley, FRANKENSTEIN

Best Sound Design
Winner: WARFARE
Runner Up: F1 THE MOVIE

Best Use of Music
Winner: SINNERS
Runner Up: HEDDA

Best Stunt Choreography
Winner: MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: FINAL RECKONING
Runner Up: SINNERS

Best Ensemble
Winner: BLACK BAG
Runner Up: SINNERS

Breakthrough Performance
Chase Infiniti, ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER

Special Award for Body of Work
Josh O’Connor: WAKE UP, DEAD MAN, THE MASTERMIND, THE HISTORY OF SOUND, REBUILDING

Special Award: Best Animal Performance
Indy the Dog, GOOD BOY

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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