The Best of the 2025 Telluride Film Festival

My fine friends, I’m now back from the mountains of Colorado. Yes, I have returned from the 52nd Telluride Film Festival. In literally just a day, however, I’ll be off to Canada and the Toronto International Film Festival. At the moment, I’m home in New York City for a scant 24 hours, already missing the box canyon of Telluride. You see, as much as I enjoy watching the movies there, and this year was a strong one, just being in that bucolic environment is something to look forward to. The views, as well as time spent with colleagues, always stands out when I look back on my time at the fest.

Much like last year, I didn’t even come close to hating anything that I saw at Telluride. One film was a bit of a disappointment in part, but everything was, at worst, simply good. The three absolute best titles, the cream of the crop, happened to be Bugonia, Jay Kelly, and Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere. They’re each very different films, but all exceeded my already high expectations, which was not easy. Those movies deserve to be major Oscar players, but beyond that, they just represent the potential for cinema. Kudos to all involved.

The performances that stood out to me most in the mountains? That would be Jeremy Allen White in Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere taking the cake, but also Ethan Hawke in Blue Moon, Jesse Plemons and Emma Stone in Bugonia, Jessie Buckley in Hamnet, George Clooney, Billy Crudup, and Adam Sandler in Jay Kelly, as well as Jodie Foster in A Private Life. So many others were great, but the above men and women blew me away.

Here now are my picks for the best of Telluride, including some awards, as well as a ranking. It was quite the time, with Toronto and TIFF just around the corner!

2025 Telluride Film Festival Awards

Best Picture

Winner – Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere

Runner Ups – Bugonia and Jay Kelly

Best Director

Winner – Noah Baumbach for Jay Kelly

Runner Ups – Yorgos Lanthimos for Bugonia and Scott Cooper for Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere

Best Actor

Winner – Jeremy Allen White for Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere

Runner Ups – Jesse Plemons for Bugonia and George Clooney for Jay Kelly

Best Actress

Winner – Emma Stone for Bugonia

Runner Ups – Jessie Buckley for Hamnet and Jodie Foster for A Private Life

Best Supporting Actor

Winner – Adam Sandler for Jay Kelly

Runner Ups – Billy Crudup for Jay Kelly and Jeremy Strong for Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere

Best Supporting Actress

Winner – Odessa Young for Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere

Runner Ups – Laura Dern for Jay Kelly and Margaret Qualley for Blue Moon

Best Adapted Screenplay

Winner – Scott Cooper for Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere

Runner Ups – Will Tracy for Bugonia and Chloé Zhao and Maggie O’Farrell for Hamnet

Best Original Screenplay

Winner – Noah Baumbach for Jay Kelly

Runner Ups – Robert Kaplow for Blue Moon and Rebecca Zlotowski, Anne Berest, and Gaëlle Macé for A Private Life

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This is how I would rank everything I saw at the Telluride Film Festival this year:

11. A Private Life

10. The History of Sound

9. Earth to Michael

8. Highway 99: A Double Album

7. Frankenstein

6. Ballad of a Small Player

5. Hamnet

4. Blue Moon

3. Bugonia

2. Jay Kelly

1. Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere

That’s a wrap on Telluride for 2025!