Critics Awards (Film)

North Carolina Film Critics Association (NCFCA) Nominations: ‘Sinners’ Leads with History-Making 19

Erik Anderson January 12, 2026

The North Carolina Film Critics Association (NCFCA) announces its nominees for the Best of Cinema 2025, recognizing outstanding achievements in filmmaking across narrative, documentary, animated, and technical categories.

Sinners emerges as this year’s most nominated film with 19 nods. The total exceeds the previous NCFCA record of 17 nominations, held by Everything Everywhere All at Once. One Battle After Another follows closely with 16 nominations, while Marty Supreme comes in with 11 nominations and Frankenstein earns 10. Additional multiple nominees include KPop Demon Hunters and No Other Choice (six each); Hamnet, Sentimental Value, and Train Dreams (five each).

The NCFCA is composed of film critics living and/or working in North Carolina, representing a wide range of voices across print, broadcast, and digital media. This year’s nominees reflect the breadth of that membership, honoring ambitious studio releases alongside independent and international cinema.

Winners will be announced January 26. Here are the nominees.

Best Narrative Film

Frankenstein
Hamnet
It Was Just an Accident
Marty Supreme
No Other Choice
One Battle After Another
Sentimental Value
Sinners
Train Dreams
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
Weapons

Best Director

Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another
Ryan Coogler, Sinners
Guillermo del Toro, Frankenstein
Park Chan-wook, No Other Choice
Josh Safdie, Marty Supreme

Best Actor

Timothée Chalamet, Marty Supreme
Leonardo DiCaprio, One Battle After Another
Ethan Hawke, Blue Moon
Michael B. Jordan, Sinners
Jesse Plemons, Bugonia

Best Actress

Jessie Buckley, Hamnet
Rose Byrne, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Chase Infiniti, One Battle After Another
Jennifer Lawrence, Die My Love
Emma Stone, Bugonia

Best Supporting Actor

Benicio del Toro, One Battle After Another
Jacob Elordi, Frankenstein
Delroy Lindo, Sinners
Sean Penn, One Battle After Another
Stellan Skarsgård, Sentimental Value

Best Supporting Actress

Odessa A’zion, Marty Supreme
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Sentimental Value
Amy Madigan, Weapons
Wunmi Mosaku, Sinners
Teyana Taylor, One Battle After Another

Best Original Screenplay

It Was Just an Accident
Marty Supreme
Sentimental Value
Sinners
Weapons

Best Adapted Screenplay

Bugonia
Frankenstein
No Other Choice
One Battle After Another
Train Dreams
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery

Best Animated Film

Arco
Elio
KPop Demon Hunters
Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
Zootopia 2

Best Documentary Film

The Alabama Solution
Cover-Up
Orwell: 2+2=5
The Perfect Neighbor
Predators

Best Foreign Language Film

It Was Just an Accident
No Other Choice
The Secret Agent
Sentimental Value
The Voice of Hind Rajab

Best Acting Ensemble

One Battle After Another
Marty Supreme
Sinners
Sentimental Value
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
Weapons

Best Vocal Performance in Animation or Mixed Media

Jason Bateman, Zootopia 2
Arden Cho, KPop Demon Hunters
May Hong, KPop Demon Hunters
Ke Huy Quan, Zootopia 2
Ji-young Yoo, KPop Demon Hunters

Best Cinematography

Frankenstein
No Other Choice
One Battle After Another
Sinners
Train Dreams

Best Editing

F1
Marty Supreme
No Other Choice
One Battle After Another
Sinners

Best Production Design

Frankenstein
Hamnet
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Sinners
Wicked: For Good

Best Costume Design

Frankenstein
Hamnet
Marty Supreme
Sinners
Wicked: For Good

Best Hair and Makeup

28 Years Later
Frankenstein
Sinners
Weapons
Wicked: For Good

Best Score

Bugonia
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Sinners
Train Dreams

Best Original Song

“Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters
“Highest 2 Lowest” from Highest 2 Lowest
“I Lied to You” from Sinners
“Last Time (I Seen the Sun)” from Sinners
“Train Dreams” from Train Dreams
“What It Sounds Like” from KPop Demon Hunters

Best Sound Design

F1
Frankenstein
One Battle After Another
Sinners
Sirât
Warfare

Best Special Effects

Avatar: Fire and Ash
F1
Frankenstein
Sinners
Superman

Best Stunt Coordination

F1
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
One Battle After Another
Sinners
Superman

Best Directorial Debut

Andrew DeYoung, Friendship
Lawrence Lamont, One of Them Days
Ben Leonberg, Good Boy
Charlie Polinger, The Plague
Eva Victor, Sorry, Baby

Best Breakthrough Performance

Odessa A’zion, Marty Supreme
Miles Caton, Sinners
Chase Infiniti, One Battle After Another
Jacobi Jupe, Hamnet
Eva Victor, Sorry, Baby

Lifetime Achievement: Costume Design

Colleen Atwood
Jenny Beavan
Ruth E. Carter
Edith Head
Sandy Powell

Ken Hanke Memorial Tar Heel Award

A Little Prayer / Angus MacLachlan (NC native; filmed in NC)
Christy (filmed in NC)
I Know What You Did Last Summer (set and filmed in NC)
The Problem of the Hero (celebrating North Carolina’s literary and artistic heritage)
Roofman (set and filmed in NC)

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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.