The 2025 Kevin Awards: Picks for the Best Films of 2024
I have been obsessed with film awards for a long time. There is a great podcast, “This Had Oscar Buzz,” that talks Oscar origin stories, and mine has a few different pieces. The first memory I have is of my local paper, the Times Union in Albany, predicting the 1995 (film-release year) Oscars. They had predicted Babe to win, and I for some reason knew it would actually be between Apollo 13 and Braveheart. I remember telling my grandfather this, and we settled on Braveheart. We were correct.
I then moved on to the Goldderby life, and once I got to see more films, I kept a running tally of my favorites in different categories, and started creating my own awards. I have numerous lists, and I get to revisit them over and over again — it’s fun. I finally feel like I saw most of the major films from 2024, and I am ready to announce my personal film awards for 2024.
A few notes: I do 10 nominees in Best Picture, 6 in every other category, and 5 in Animated Feature and Documentary Feature. These are my rules. Please enjoy The Kevins!
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Best Best Picture Oscar Winner
Best Picture
All We Imagine As Light
Anora (Winner)
Challengers
Evil Does Not Exist
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
I Saw the TV Glow
La Chimera
Nickel Boys
No Other Land
The Substance
Best Director
Sean Baker, Anora
Coralie Fargeat, The Substance
Luca Guadagnino, Challengers
Payal Kapadia, All We Imagine As Light
Alice Rohrwacher, La Chimera
RaMell Ross-Nickel Boys (Winner)
Best Actor
Adrien Brody, The Brutalist
Daniel Craig, Queer
Colman Domingo, Sing Sing (Winner)
Josh O’Connor, La Chimera
Jesse Plemmons, Kinds of Kindness
Justice Smith, I Saw the TV Glow
Best Actress
Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Hard Truths (Winner)
Nicole Kidman, Babygirl
Mikey Madison, Anora
Demi Moore, The Substance
Julianne Nicholson, Janet Planet
Fernanda Torres, I’m Still Here
Best Supporting Actor
Yuriy Borisov, Anora
Harris Dickinson, Babygirl
Clarence Maclin, Sing Sing
Guy Pearce, The Brutalist (Winner)
Adam Pearson, A Different Man
Denzel Washington, Gladiator II
Best Supporting Actress
Michele Austin, Hard Truths
Danielle Deadwyler, The Piano Lesson
Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Nickel Boys (Winner)
Ariana Grande, Wicked
Chhaya Kadam, All We Imagine As Light
Tilda Swinton, Problemista
Best Adapted Screenplay
Hit Man
I’m Still Here
Nickel Boys (Winner)
Queer
The Room Next Door
The Wild Robot
Best Original Screeplay
All We Imagine As Light
Anora (Winner)
Challengers
Evil Does Not Exist
I Saw the TV Glow
Problemista
Best Ensemble (Casting)
Anora (Winner)
Conclave
Saturday Night
Sing Sing
The Seed of the Sacred Fig
Wicked
Best Animated Feature
Chicken for Linda!
Flow (Winner)
Memoir of a Snail
Wallace & Gromit: A Murder Most Fowl
The Wild Robot
Best International Feature
All We Imagine As Light (Winner)
Evil Does Not Exist
Green Border (Poland)
I’m Still Here
La Chimera (Italy)
The Seed of the Sacred Fig
Best Documentary Feature
Black Box Diaries
Dahomey
Daughters
No Other Land
Sugarcane
Best Cinematography
All We Imagine As Light
The Brutalist
Challengers
Green Border
La Chimera
Nickel Boys (Winner)
Best Costume Design
Dune: Part Two
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Maria
Nosferatu
The Substance
Wicked (Winner)
Best Film Editing
Anora (Winner)
Challengers
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Nickel Boys
The Seed of the Sacred Fig
The Substance
Best Make-Up/Hairstyling
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Dune Part Two
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Nosferatu
The Substance (Winner)
Wicked
Best Original Score
The Brutalist
Challengers (Winner)
Evil Does Not Exist
I Saw the TV Glow
The Substance
The Wild Robot
Best Original Song
Challengers: “Compress/Regress,” Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross & Luca Guadagnino
I Saw the TV Glow: “Claw Machine,” Haley Dahl (Winner)
The End: “Forever,” Joshua Schmidt and Marius de Vries
Smile 2: “Grieved You,” Tate McRae, Roy Lenzo, Amy Allen, Denzel Baptiste, David Biral
Twisters: “Out of Oklahoma,” Lainey Wilson, Luke Dick, & Shane McNally
The Wild Robot: “Kiss the Sky,” Delacey, Jordan Johnson, Stefan Johnson, Maren Morris, Michael Pollack & Ali Tamposi
Best Production Design
The Brutalist
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Nosferatu
Queer (Winner)
The Substance
Wicked
Best Sound Design
Blitz
Challengers
Civil War
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Janet Planet
The Substance (Winner)
Best Visual Effects
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Dune: Part Two
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (Winner)
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Twisters
Wicked
What did YOU think of Kevin’s film picks? Leave a comment below!
