Best Director Nominees (Screen Awards 2025)

by

As a huge movie fan, I’m really excited to hear that ScreenRant, Collider, Comic Book Resources, and MovieWeb are joining forces to create the very first Screen Awards in 2025! It sounds like they’ve put together a panel of experts from all those sites to pick the best movies and performances of the year – across fourteen different categories, no less. It’s awesome to see these publications recognizing great filmmaking!

You can find a complete list of award categories and nominees at the Screen Awards Hub. This is also where you’ll meet the judges who chose the nominees and ultimately decided the winners, who will be revealed on December 24th.

As Deputy Editor of Original Content at ScreenRant, I’m excited to introduce the nominees for Best Director this year. These five filmmakers truly stood out with their unique styles and bold projects. Below, you’ll find information about each director’s background and the recognition they’ve received for their work, both previously and especially for their latest films.

Chloé Zhao (Hamnet)

Chloé Zhao is a remarkably natural and intimate filmmaker – a quality that’s increasingly rare in a film industry often focused on flashy technical skill. (Though she’s certainly capable of that too, she doesn’t emphasize it.) As of the 2025 awards season, she’s already won two Oscars and received nominations for two more (Best Picture and Director), along with two BAFTAs, two Critics’ Choice awards, a Director’s Guild award, a Golden Globe, three Gotham Awards, and four Independent Spirit awards – not to mention numerous accolades from festivals and critics. Her latest film, Hamnet, has also received significant recognition, earning 11 Critics’ Choice nominations and 6 Golden Globe nominations.

This film, adapted from Maggie O’Farrell’s novel, beautifully weaves together the story behind a famous play with a moving depiction of love and heartbreak. While Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, and Jacobi Jupe have rightly received praise for their performances, it’s director Celine Song’s delicate and insightful portrayal of a turbulent marriage – one that begins with intense passion but is ultimately weighed down by painful memories – that truly captivates audiences.

Joachim Trier (Sentimental Value)

Joachim Trier is a highly celebrated filmmaker, having received an Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay, four nominations at Cannes, and two Cesar nominations. Despite this impressive record, he finds himself among an exceptionally talented group of peers. His film recently won the Grand Prix at Cannes and is now nominated for Best Director and Screenplay at the Golden Globes. Critics’ groups across North America – from Atlanta to Toronto, including those in Boston, Phoenix, Washington D.C., and the National Board of Review – have consistently named the film among the year’s best, with several awarding it the title of Best International Feature.

Given the strong competition, does he truly deserve the win? Absolutely. Trier skillfully weaves together the past and present, reality and imagination, to document both the making of what could be a legendary director’s last film, and the complicated attempt by a distant father to reconnect with the daughters deeply impacted by his years of being away – and even by his presence when he was around.

Paul Thomas Anderson (One Battle After Another)

Paul Thomas Anderson is no stranger to awards. He’s been nominated for 11 Oscars and 8 BAFTAs (winning a BAFTA for the screenplay of Licorice Pizza), and has received top director and screenplay awards from prominent critics groups in cities like Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York, as well as the National Board of Review. And that was before his latest film, One Battle After Another, which has already earned Best Film from the NFCC, and both Film and Director awards from the National Society of Film Critics, the National Board of Review, and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.

Is all the hype justified? Currently, it boasts a 95% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, meaning only 5% of the 420+ reviews are negative. But looking at the film itself, Anderson manages to blend the exciting visual style of his older movies – like the dynamic car chase in the finale – with the direct and emotionally powerful storytelling of his recent work.

Ryan Coogler (Sinners)

As a fan, I think Ryan Coogler really stands out among this year’s directing nominees. He’s amazing at making films that are both deeply personal and hugely entertaining – he manages to blend intimate, specific stories with a broad appeal. You can see this so clearly in Sinners, which is one of the reasons it’s connected with so many people this year. He brings such a unique and heartfelt touch to everything he does, from Fruitvale Station onward, and it really shows.

Despite being a runner-up for many critics’ awards, Sinners has received significant recognition with 17 nominations from the Critics Choice Association, 7 Golden Globe nominations, and 6 Grammy nominations. While the competition is strong, many believe this is the project’s year to win, particularly since it has also been a huge commercial success, earning over $368 million and ranking among the year’s ten highest-grossing films.

Zach Cregger (Weapons)

Zach Cregger truly impressed after his successful debut with Barbarian. His follow-up, Weapons, is a complex and ambitious horror film, similar in scope to Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia, weaving together multiple storylines around a captivating central mystery. Many considered it the best horror film of the year, even surpassing Sinners, and firmly established Cregger as a highly original and talented filmmaker.

Cregger’s film, Weapons, has been widely praised by critics, earning accolades from groups in cities like Austin, Chicago, and New York. With a 93% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on over 380 reviews, it also received two Golden Globe nominations: one for Amy Madigan’s performance as Aunt Gladys and another recognizing its cinematic and commercial success. A Golden Globe win would be a significant upset, challenging the current frontrunners, but even being considered among such strong contenders is a great achievement.

Read More

2025-12-22 20:01