Southeastern Film Critics Association Announces 2025 Winners

PHOTO: Warner Bros. Pictures

Southeastern Film Critics Association Names ‘One Battle After Another’ as the Best Film of 2025

Writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson’s topical comedy-drama also takes home

awards for Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor

Monday, December 15, 2025 – The Southeastern Film Critics Association (SEFCA) has named Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another as the Best Picture of the Year. SEFCA’s 99 members, located across nine Southeastern states, also recognized Anderson for Best Adapted Screenplay and Benicio del Toro as Best Supporting Actor.

The other big winner was Sinners, which won Ryan Coogler the Best Director award and

Michael B. Jordan Best Actor. Its large cast also received the award for Best Ensemble.

Jesse Buckley was named Best Actress for her work in Chloe Zhao’s Hamnet while Amy Madigan triumphed as Best Supporting Actress for Zach Cregger’s Atlanta-filmed Weapons.

Many races were decided by only a few votes, most notably Best Foreign Language Film, where Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident narrowly beat Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value.

“It’s been an exceptional year for film, both blockbusters and smaller independent works,” says Jim Farmer, Vice President of SEFCA. “As film critics throughout the South, it’s our honor to recognize the best of a truly memorable season.”

“It was really satisfying to see a genre film like Sinners performing so well with critics across the country while also being a sensation at the box office,” says Scott Phillips, President of SEFCA. “I’ve always been a big supporter of horror films, and three of our Top 10 films fall into that genre.”

The Southeastern Film Critics Association is one of the oldest regional film critics associations in the country. Its mission is to represent – as an impartial, organized working unit – the profession of film criticism, to recognize the highest creative achievements in the field of motion pictures and uphold the integrity and significance of film criticism.

SEFCA’s full list of 2025 are winners below. Visit SEFCA on the web at SEFCA.net to learn more about its members as well as past winners. You can also follow SEFCA on Twitter at

@SEFilmCritics.

Top 10 Films of 2025

1. One Battle After Another

2. Sinners

3. Marty Supreme

4. It Was Just an Accident

5. Sentimental Value

6. Hamnet

7. Train Dreams

8. Weapons

9. Frankenstein

10. The Secret Agent

Best Actor

Winner: Michael B. Jordan, Sinners

Runner-Up: Ethan Hawke, Blue Moon

Best Actress

Winner: Jessie Buckley, Hamnet

Runner-Up: Rose Byrne, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You

Best Supporting Actor 

Winner: Benicio del Toro, One Battle After Another

Runner-Up: Sean Penn, One Battle After Another

Best Supporting Actress

Winner: Amy Madigan, Weapons

Runner-up: Teyana Taylor, One Battle After Another

Best Ensemble

Winner: Sinners

Runner-Up: One Battle After Another

Best Director

Winner: Ryan Coogler, Sinners

Runner-Up: Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another

Best Original Screenplay

Winner: Ryan Coogler, Sinners

Runner-Up: Joaquim Trier and Eskil Vogt, Sentimental Value

Best Adapted Screenplay

Winner: Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another

Runner-Up: Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar, Train Dreams

Best Documentary

Winner: The Perfect Neighbor

Runner-Up: Predators

Best Animated Film

Winner: KPOp Demon Hunters

Runner-Up: Zootopia 2

Best Foreign Language Film

Winner: It Was Just an Accident

Runner-Up: Sentimental Value

Best Cinematography

Winner: Autumn Arkapaw (Sinners) 

Runner-Up: Michael Bauman (One Battle After Another)

Best Score

Winner: Ludwig Goransson (Sinners) 

Runner-Up: Jonny Greenwood (One Battle)