Nothing says “Happy Valentine’s Day” to filmmakers and related film industry talent more than an Oscar nomination. Plenty of them have been feeling the love in the wake of January 22nd’s announcement of this year’s nominees.
The 98th annual Academy Awards ceremony is scheduled for Sunday, March 15th. This year’s leading contender is Ryan Coogler’s vampire thriller/social commentary Sinners with a record 16 nominations. All About Eve, Titanic and La La Land previously shared the crown of most-nominated film with 14 nods each. Being heavily nominated doesn’t always translate into Oscar gold, however. Just ask Steven Spielberg, whose 1985 adaptation of The Color Purple secured 11 nominations but came away empty-handed.
Speaking of empty-handed, the musical epic sequel Wicked: For Good was totally snubbed by the Academy. This was shocking to me and many other observers, since its predecessor was nominated last year in 10 categories and won for Best Costume Design and Best Production Design. I found queer artist Paul Tazewell’s costumes even better in For Good, especially Glinda’s. I also expected leading ladies Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande to be nominated again, and was hoping at least one of composer Stephen Schwartz's two new songs would be recognized. Some are blaming “Wicked fatigue” for these slights. I suspect the movie’s truly wicked villainess, Madame Morrible, might have had something to do with it.
In
addition to Sinners, a handful of other
powerful movies dominated the major award categories: One Battle After Another, Hamnet, Marty Supreme, the Norwegian
drama Sentimental Value, and
Guillermo Del Toro’s lavish remake of Frankenstein.
Notably, Jacob Elordi was nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category for
his memorable, scantily-clad turn as the Creature in Frankenstein.
There are several nominated 2026 movies with significant LGBTQ content or relevance. These include:
Blue Moon. Ethan Hawke gives a truly astonishing, Best Actor-nominated performance as the “omnisexual” 20th century lyricist Lorenz Hart. Robert Kaplow’s excellent original screenplay is also a contender.
Come See Me in the Good Light. American poet and activist Andrea Gibson shares their life story in this Best Documentary Feature nominee. Gibson explains how poetry intertwines personal pain and helps spread their messages about the LGBTQ community as well as human and political inequalities.
A Friend of Dorothy. The always delightful lesbian actress Miriam Margolyes headlines this contender for Best Live-Action Short. She plays Dorothy, an elderly widow in declining health whose solitary routine is unexpectedly disrupted when 17‑year‑old JJ sends a football into her garden. This leads to an unexpected connection between them.
The Secret
Agent.
This tense drama from Brazil scored several major nominations including Best
Picture, Best International Film and Best Actor (Wagner Moura). But it is also
noteworthy for the last big-screen appearance by eccentric gay actor and
longtime Palm Springs resident Udo Kier, who passed away last year.
Campier Oscar honorees this year include KPop Demon Hunters, nominated for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song (the top 40 hit “Golden”); veteran actress Amy Madigan’s appearance as the deliciously evil Aunt Gladys in Weapons; and The Ugly Stepsister, a gruesomely satirical body horror tale recognized for Best Makeup and Hairstyling.
And the most questionable nominee this year? Avatar: Fire and Ash in the Best Costume Design category. This baffles me, since most of the costumes in this sci-fi epic (as well as its predecessors) consist of military uniforms and CGI loincloths. New villain Varang sports some fancy, Cher-esque headpieces but these are the film’s only wardrobe novelty. Shout out to Spider (actor Jack Champion) though, who presumably wore an actual loincloth.
Also showing their love to a number of movies this time of year is GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (of which this writer is a member). Founded in 2009 and consisting of over 500 members, the group annually honors the best mainstream and LGTBQ+ film, television, and Broadway/Off Broadway productions via their Dorian Awards.
Here
are GALECA’s film nominees in several categories. For the full listing, visit
galeca.com. Winners will be announced on March 3rd.
FILM OF THE YEAR
Hamnet (Focus
Features)
Marty Supreme (A24)
One Battle
After Another (Warner Bros.)
Sinners (Warner
Bros.)
Sorry, Baby (A24)
LGBTQ FILM OF THE YEAR
Blue Moon (Sony
Pictures Classics)
Hedda (Amazon MGM
Studios)
Pillion (A24)
Sorry, Baby (A24)
Twinless (Lionsgate,
Roadside Attractions)
DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR
Paul
Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another
(Warner Bros.)
Ryan
Coogler, Sinners (Warner Bros.)
Jafar
Panahi, It Was Just an Accident
(Neon)
Josh
Safdie, Marty Supreme (A24)
Chloé
Zhao, Hamnet (Focus Features)
SCREENPLAY OF THE YEAR (Original or adapted)
Hamnet, Chloé Zhao,
Maggie O’Farrell (Focus Features)
Marty Supreme, Josh
Safdie, Ronald Bronstein (A24)
One Battle
After Another, Paul Thomas Anderson (Warner Bros.)
Sinners, Ryan Coogler
(Warner Bros.)
Sorry, Baby, Eva Victor
(A24)
LGBTQ SCREENPLAY OF THE YEAR
Blue Moon, Robert
Kaplow (Sony Pictures Classics)
Hedda, Nia DaCosta
(Amazon MGM Studios)
Pillion, Harry
Lighton (A24)
Sorry, Baby, Eva Victor
(A24)
Twinless, James
Sweeney (Lionsgate, Roadside Attractions)
NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR
It Was Just
an Accident
(Neon)
No Other
Choice
(Neon)
Sentimental
Value
(Neon)
Sirāt (Neon)
The Secret
Agent
(Neon)
LGBTQ NON-ENGLISH FILM OF THE YEAR
Cactus Pears (Strand
Releasing)
Misericordia (Janus Films,
Sideshow)
Sauna (Breaking
Glass)
The
Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo (Altered Innocence)
Viet and Nam (Strand
Releasing)
UNSUNG FILM OF THE YEAR
To an exceptional movie worthy of greater attention
Black Bag (Focus
Features)
If I Had Legs
I’d Kick You (A24)
Lurker (Mubi)
The Testament
of Ann Lee
(Searchlight Pictures)
Twinless (Lionsgate,
Roadside Attractions)
UNSUNG LGBTQ FILM OF THE YEAR
To an exceptional LGBTQ-themed movie worthy of
greater attention
A Nice Indian Boy (Blue Harbor
Entertainment)
Kiss of the
Spider Woman (Lionsgate, Roadside Attractions, LD Entertainment)
Peter Hujar’s
Day
(Janus)
Plainclothes (Magnolia)
The Wedding
Banquet
(Bleecker Street)
FILM PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR
Rose
Byrne, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
(A24)
Timothée
Chalamet, Marty Supreme (A24)
Leonardo
DiCaprio, One Battle After Another
(Warner Bros.)
Jessie
Buckley, Hamnet (Focus Features)
Ethan
Hawke, Blue Moon (Sony Pictures
Classics)
Michael
B. Jordan, Sinners (Warner Bros.)
Dylan
O’Brien, Twinless (Lionsgate,
Roadside Attractions)
Renate
Reinsve, Sentimental Value (Neon)
Amanda
Seyfried, The Testament of Ann Lee
(Searchlight Pictures)
Tessa
Thompson, Hedda (Amazon MGM Studios)
SUPPORTING FILM PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR
Benicio
del Toro, One Battle After Another
(Warner Bros.)
Jacob
Elordi, Frankenstein (Netflix)
Ariana
Grande-Butera, Wicked: For Good
(Universal)
Nina
Hoss, Hedda (Amazon MGM Studios)
Inga
Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Sentimental Value
(Neon)
Amy
Madigan, Weapons (Warner Bros.)
Wunmi
Mosaku, Sinners (Warner Bros.)
Sean
Penn, One Battle After Another
(Warner Bros.)
Stellan
Skarsgård, Sentimental Value (Neon)
Teyana
Taylor, One Battle After Another
(Warner Bros.)
DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR
Come See Me
in the Good Light (Apple)
Cover-Up (Netflix)
My Mom Jayne (HBO)
The Perfect
Neighbor
(Netflix)
Predators (MTV
Documentary Films)
LGBTQ DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR
Come See Me
in the Good Light (Apple)
Heightened
Scrutiny
(Fourth Act Film)
I Was Born
This Way
(JungeFilms / Goodform)
The
Librarians
(8 Above)
Liza: A Truly
Terrific Absolutely True Story (Zeitgeist Films)
ANIMATED FILM OF THE YEAR
Arco (Neon)
Elio (Disney)
KPop Demon
Hunters
(Netflix, Sony)
Little Amélie
or the Character of Rain (GKIDS)
Zootopia 2 (Disney)
CAMPIEST FLICK
Final
Destination: Bloodlines (Warner Bros.)
Kiss of the
Spider Woman (Lionsgate, Roadside Attractions, LD Entertainment)
The Housemaid (Lionsgate)
Weapons (Warner
Bros.)
Wicked: For
Good
(Universal)
“WE’RE WILDE ABOUT YOU!” RISING STAR AWARD
Odessa
A’zion
Miles
Caton
Chase
Infiniti
Tonatiuh
Eva
Victor
WILDE ARTIST AWARD
To a truly groundbreaking force in entertainment
Ryan
Coogler
Cynthia
Erivo
Jinkx
Monsoon
Jafar
Panahi
Pedro
Pascal
GALECA LGBTQIA+ FILM TRAILBLAZER
For creating art that inspires empathy, truth and equity
Gregg
Araki
Jonathan
Bailey
Kristen
Stewart
Tessa
Thompson
Eva
Victor
The Most Reverend Chris Carpenter is editor of Movie Dearest and chief contributor. He has been reviewing movies and theatre since 1996 and also contributes to Rage Monthly magazine (ragemonthly.com). He is a founding member and former Vice President of GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Critics (galeca.com) and currently serves as a nominating/voting member of its New York-based Theatre Wing. Reverend Carpenter has been an ordained minister since 1995.
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