New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC) Announces Date for 2026 Gala Awards Dinner

The New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC) announced today that it will hold its annual Gala Awards dinner on Tuesday, January 6, 2026 at TAO Downtown. David Ehrlich will serve as the 2025 Chair of the NYFCC and Stephen Garrett will continue as the group’s General Manager.

This past year’s awards ceremony, which was also held at TAO Downtown, marked the group’s 90th anniversary. Highlights from the evening included Robert Pattinson presenting Best Picture to Brady Corbet for The Brutalist, Wallace Shawn presenting Best First Film to Annie Baker for Janet Planet, Claire Danes presenting Best Supporting Actor to Kieran Culkin for A Real Pain, Jim Jarmusch presenting Sean Baker with Best Screenplay for Anora, John Turturro presenting Best Supporting Actress to Carol Kane for Between the Temples, and Guy Pearce presenting Best Actor to Adrien Brody for The Brutalist.

“As the film industry continues to rebound from the various crises that have confronted it over the last few years (and to create exciting new ones along the way!), 2025 promises to be a rich and rewarding year for the movies,” said NYFCC Chair David Ehrlich. “I suspect that NYFCC will kick off its 10th decade by celebrating a true embarrassment of riches at our awards dinner next January.”

The Circle will also continue working with programmers at The Paris Theater for the “NYFCC @ The Paris” series, in which members of the Circle present favorite titles, oftentimes with filmmaker conversations afterward. Recent screenings of The Philadelphia Story, School Daze – which featured a post-screening Q&A with production designer Wynn Thomas, and Far From Heaven – which also featured a post-screening Q&A with cinematographer Ed Lachman – have drawn in enthusiastic audiences.

The NYFCC will also continue giving out its student awards, which recognize graduate and undergraduate students pursuing film criticism and journalism from schools in the surrounding New York metropolitan area. NYFCC member Keith Uhlich will continue spearheading this effort, which includes financial support as well as two invites to the dinner.

Founded in 1935, the New York Film Critics Circle is the oldest critics group in the country, and among the most prestigious. The NYFCC’s membership includes critics from daily and weekly newspapers, magazines and the web’s most respected online publications.

Every year the organization meets to vote on awards for the calendar year’s films, among the first of the major groups to pronounce its winners. Oftentimes the NYFCC’s selections pave a path for Awards Season, while other times their picks stand proudly independent from other organizations. The group’s awards dinner in early January is also considered a kick-off to a new year of glamorous events in New York City.