Greater Western New York Film Critics Association’s 2025 Film Awards Winners

The Greater Western New York Film Critics Association (GWNYFCA), a collective of WNY film critics from in and around the Buffalo and Rochester metropolitan areas, has just announced its eighth annual film awards winners for 2025. As a voting member of the critics’ association, it is always an honor casting my vote and seeing such a list of deserving winners.

GWNYFCA consist of critics in traditional print media (newspapers and magazines) and online media (websites and podcasts). In an era of aggregate sites, they aspire to give the region a voice within the ever-changing international cinematic landscape.

Leading the way for this year’s winners are One Battle After Another (7 wins, including Best Picture), Sinners (3 wins), and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You (2 wins).

Critic Jordan Canahai on our Best Picture winner: “One Battle After Another resonates so strongly because it so beautifully conveys its hopeful message that the collective powers of love and community—whether shared between parents and children, teachers and students, or just neighbors and drinking buddies—are ultimately the best hope we have for resisting the forces of right-wing authoritarianism that are ever working to steamroll us into submission.”

The 2025 GWNYFCA Film Awards Winners:

Best Picture:

• The Ballad of Wallis Island
• Bugonia
• Frankenstein
• If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
• It Was Just an Accident
• Marty Supreme
• No Other Choice
• One Battle After Another – WINNER
• Sinners
• Train Dreams

Best Foreign Language Film:

• It Was Just an Accident (Iran/France)
• Misericordia (France)
• No Other Choice (South Korea)
• The Secret Agent (Brazil)
• Sentimental Value (Norway) – WINNER

Best Animated Film:

• Arco
• Boys Go to Jupiter
• KPop Demon Hunters – WINNER
• Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
• Zootopia 2

Best Documentary:

• Afternoons of Solitude
• Cover-Up
• The Encampments
• The Perfect Neighbor – WINNER
• The Tale of Silyan

Best Director:

• Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another – WINNER
• Mary Bronstein, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
• Ryan Coogler, Sinners
• Guillermo del Toro, Frankenstein
• Josh Safdie, Marty Supreme

Lead Actor:

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

Lead Actress:

• Jessie Buckley, Hamnet
• Rose Byrne, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You – WINNER
• Jennifer Lawrence, Die My Love
• Renate Reinsve, Sentimental Value
• Emma Stone, Bugonia

Supporting Actor:

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

Supporting Actress:

• Odessa A’zion, Marty Supreme
• Ariana Grande, Wicked: For Good
• Amy Madigan, Weapons
• Wunmi Mosaku, Sinners – WINNER
• Teyana Taylor, One Battle After Another

Best Ensemble:

• It Was Just an Accident
• Marty Supreme
• One Battle After Another – WINNER
• Sentimental Value
• Sinners

Original Screenplay:

• If I Had Legs I’d Kick You (Mary Bronstein)
• It Was Just an Accident (Jafar Panahi)
• Marty Supreme (Josh Safdie & Ronald Bronstein)
• Sentimental Value (Eskil Vogt & Joachim Trier)
• Sinners (Ryan Coogler) – WINNER

Adapted Screenplay:

• Bugonia (Will Tracy)
• Frankenstein (Guillermo del Toro)
• Hamnet (Chloé Zhao & Maggie O’Farrell)
• No Other Choice (Park Chan-wook, Lee Kyoung-mi, Jahye Lee & Don McKellar)
• One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson) – WINNER

Best Cinematography:

• Frankenstein (Dan Laustsen)
• Marty Supreme (Darius Khondji)
• One Battle After Another (Michael Bauman)
• Sinners (Autumn Durald Arkapaw)
• Train Dreams (Adolpho Veloso) – WINNER

Best Editing:

• It Was Just an Accident (Amir Etminan)
• Marty Supreme (Ronald Bronstein & Josh Safdie)
• One Battle After Another (Andy Jurgensen) – WINNER
• Sinners (Michael P. Shawver)
• Weapons (Joe Murphy)

Best Score:

• Frankenstein (Alexandre Desplat)
• Marty Supreme (Daniel Lopatin)
• One Battle After Another (Jonny Greenwood)
• Sinners (Ludwig Göransson) – WINNER
• Train Dreams (Bryce Dessner)

Breakthrough Performance:

• Odessa A’zion, Marty Supreme
• Miles Caton, Sinners
• Chase Infiniti, One Battle After Another – WINNER
• Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Sentimental Value
• Eva Victor, Sorry, Baby

Breakthrough Director:

• Clint Bentley, Train Dreams
• Mary Bronstein, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You – WINNER
• Harris Dickinson, Urchin
• Carson Lund, Eephus
• Eva Victor, Sorry, Baby