3rd Annual Rozcars

third time's the charm, or what have you

With this being the third installation of the Rozcar Awards, I think it officially counts as tradition, but here is a reiteration/regurgitation of the voting rules and structure for anyone who might be joining us for the first time! (If you already know the drill, feel free to scroll down to get to the nominations! They’re right after the image.)

For the past two years, I’ve “hosted” my own film awards via Instagram story polls and posted the results on Substack. This is usually in verbal defiance of the Academy Awards, but I think this year we have less beef than normal? Regardless, since these are a product of my own beautiful mind, besides the common Oscars categories, we have a handful of others - including some new this year - and we’re swapping the usual gendered acting categories for something a little more genre-based as an experiment.

The format of 2025’s polling and results system seemed to work well, so we’ll be using that again. Nominations are dropping today (February 8th) and voting will begin March 8th on my Instagram stories, taking place daily throughout the week until final results are posted on March 15th, coinciding with the “real” Oscars. Since Insta is the easiest/most accessible source for voting in the Rozcars, I will be making my account (@/rozzyevangelina) public on March 8th, in case anyone who doesn’t already know me wants to participate.

While I watched over sixty 2025 releases at the time of publication, there are still a handful that I really wanted to see but haven’t yet, including: Eleanor the Great, The Ugly Stepsister, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, Train Dreams, The Secret Agent, and It Was Just an Accident. I expect that these might contain major categorical oversights, but that will be something for future Rozzy to moan about when she watches them down the line. On principle, I won’t nominate anything that I haven’t actually seen.

Rambling over with! Here are the nominees! <3

Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Drama*:

Elle Fanning - Sentimental Value
Mia Goth - Frankenstein
Jacobi Jupe- Hamnet
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas - Sentimental Value
Delroy Lindo - Sinners
Wunmi Mosaku - Sinners
Teyana Taylor - One Battle After Another
Benicio del Toro - One Battle After Another

Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Comedy*:

Adria Arjona - Splitsville
Michael Cera - The Phoenician Scheme
Ariana Grande - Wicked: For Good
Paul Walter Hauser - Americana
Dylan O’Brien - Twinless
Da’Vine Joy Randolph - Eternity
Ethan Slater - Wicked: For Good
Zoe Winters - Materialists

Best Performance in a Leading Role in a Drama*:

Jessie Buckley - Hamnet
Chase Infiniti - One Battle After Another
Jennifer Lawrence - Die My Love
Renate Reinsve - Sentimental Value
Amanda Seyfried - The Testament of Ann Lee
Tessa Thompson - Hedda
Tonatiuh - Kiss of the Spider Woman
Eva Victor - Sorry, Baby

Best Performance in a Leading Role in a Comedy*:

Everett Blunck - Griffin in Summer
Olivia Colman - The Roses
Benedict Cumberbatch - The Roses
Cynthia Erivo - Wicked: For Good
Ethan Hawke - Blue Moon
Josh O’Connor - Wake Up Dead Man
Robert Pattinson - Mickey 17
Mia Threapleton - The Phoenician Scheme

****I need everyone to be really cool about how fast-and-loose I’m using the terms “drama” and “comedy.” While drafting this I literally had them sectioned as “Leading Role leaning Comedy,” “Supporting Role leaning Drama,” etc., so… I am fully aware some of these are harder to place in a dichotomy of Drama vs. Comedy. If you’re dying to know my exact reasoning for a particular placement, feel free to ask. Otherwise just accept the vibes!

Young Actor:

Everett Blunck - Griffin in Summer
Shannon Mahina Gorman - Rental Family
Jacobi Jupe - Hamnet
Benjamin Pajak - The Life of Chuck

Ensemble Cast:

Eternity
Hamnet
Hell of a Summer
One Battle After Another
The Phoenician Scheme
Sinners
The Testament of Ann Lee
The Wedding Banquet

Scene of the Year:

Hamnet - “Hamlet Act 5”
The Life of Chuck - “Buskers Forever”
One Battle After Another - “Car Chase”
Sinners - “Musical Séance”
Sorry, Baby - “The Year with the Good Sandwich”
Splitsville - “Slapstick Fight with Carey and Paul”
Superman - “Lois Interviews Superman”
Wake Up Dead Man - “Jud’s Phone Call with Louise”

New category this year, replacing the essence of “Scene Stealer” from Rozcars past. This feels self-explanatory enough, but online this year, I noticed a lot of movie conversation surrounding particular scenes from films as opposed to the overall body of work, with specific praises being lauded toward several seminal moments as the “scene of the year.” These are the defining film moments for me from 2025, and I think that the cultural conversation would largely agree. (Scenes represented below.)

Hamnet

The Life of Chuck

One Battle After Another

Sinners

Sorry, Baby

Splitsville

Superman

Wake Up Dead Man

Animated Feature Film:

Arco
The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie
Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
Zootopia 2

Romantic-Comedy:

Eternity
Oh, Hi!
The Roses
Splitsville

Queer Rep:

Blue Moon
Griffin in Summer
Hedda
I Wish You All the Best
Kiss of the Spider Woman
The Wedding Banquet

You can let “representation” mean whatever the fuck you want it to mean here. Go crazy with it. There were just an abundance of gay movies out this year, and I wanted to highlight the ones that were most impactful to me.

Popcorn Flick:

Anaconda
The Fantastic 4: First Steps
Hell of a Summer
M3GAN 2.0
Novocaine
Superman
Thunderbolts*
Wicked: For Good

SOMETIMES MOVIES ARE MADE TO BE SEEN IN A BIG REACTIVE CROWD!!! POPCORN FLICKS KEEP THEATERS ALIVE AND ARE TO BE LOVED AND RESPECTED!!!!! HAVE FUN AT DA MOVIES!!!!!!!!

Film Editing:

Blue Moon - Sandra Adair
Die My Love - Toni Froschhammer
Hedda - Jacob Secher Schulsinger
One Battle After Another - Andy Jurgensen
Sorry, Baby - Alex O’Flinn & Randi Atkins
Splitsville - Sara Shaw
The Testament of Ann Lee - Sofía Subercaseaux
Wake Up Dead Man - Bob Ducsay

Cinematography:

Die My Love - Seamus McGarvey
Eternity - Ruairí O’Brien
Hamnet - Łukasz Żal
Hedda - Sean Bobbitt
Sinners - Autumn Durald Arkapaw
Sorry, Baby - Mia Cioffi Henry
Twinless - Greg Cotten
Wake Up Dead Man - Steve Yedlin

Production Design:

Eternity - Zazu Myers & Janessa Hitsman
The Fantastic 4: First Steps - Kasra Farahani & Jille Azis
Hamnet - Fiona Crombie & Alice Felton
Hedda - Cara Brower & Stella Fox
Kiss of the Spider Woman - Scott Chambliss & Andrew Baseman
Materialists - Anthony Gasparro & Amy Beth Silver
Sentimental Value - Jørgen Stangebye Larsen & Catrine Gormsen
The Testament of Ann Lee - Sam Bader & Mercédesz Nagyváradi

Costume Design:

Eternity - Angus Strathie
Frankenstein - Kate Hawley
Hedda - Lindsay Pugh
Kiss of the Spider Woman - Colleen Atwood & Christine L. Cantella
The Phoenician Scheme - Milena Canonero
Sinners - Ruth E. Carter

Makeup and Hairstyling:

Blue Moon - David Atherton, Liz Byrne, & Linda Gannon
Eternity - Christopher Pinhey & Julie McHaffie
Frankenstein - Mike Hill, Cliona Furey, & Jordan Samuel
Hedda - Sharon A. Martin, Francesco Alberico, & Niamh O’Loan
Kiss of the Spider Woman - Maya Hardinge, Michelle Johnson, & Sofía Sellanes
Novocaine - Christa Schoeman, Lise-Marie Bothma, Clinton Aiden Smith, & Lian van Wyk

Choreography:

Kiss of the Spider Woman - Christopher Scott, Sergio Trujillo, & Brandon Bieber
The Life of Chuck - Mandy Moore
Sinners - Aakomon Jones
Testament of Ann Lee - Celia Rowlson-Hall

Stunt Coordination:

Ballerina - Jackson Spidell, Jan Petrina, Domonkos Pardanyi, Jeremy Marinas, Kyle Gardiner, Stephen Dunlevy, Jayson Dumenigo, & Kevin Dean
Novocaine - Kerry Gregg, Stanimir Stamatov, & Paul Hampshire
Splitsville - Tyler Hall & Dave Mckeown
Thunderbolts* - Can Aydin, Nick Benseman, James Chung, Jenn Grundstad, Michael Hugghins, Ralf Koch, Heidi Moneymaker, Renae Moneymaker, & Noon Orsatti

Best Sound:

Die My Love - Tim Burns, Paul Davies, Grace Wong, Zoltan Kadnar, Ron Osiowy, & Ed Hamilton
Hamnet - Maximilian Behrens, Johnnie Burn, Brendan Feeney, Rashad Hall-Heinz, Simon Carroll, & Katrina Schiller
The History of Sound - Ruy García, Eugene Gearty, Patrick J. Southern, Craig Mann, & Christopher Brooks
Kiss of the Spider Woman - Juan Frau, Ruy García, Mathew Price, E. Gedney Webb, Emily Gilmer, & Isaac Derfel
Little Amélie or the Character of Rain - Pierre Aretino, Fanny Bricoteau, & Kévin Feildel
Novocaine - Sylvain Bellemare, Jean-François Sauvé, Bret Killoran, Bernard Gariépy Strobl, Nico Louw, & Scott Hedrick
Sinners - Chris Welcker, Benjamin A. Burtt, Felipe Pacheco, Brandon Proctor, & Steve Boeddeker
The Testament of Ann Lee - Levente Udud, Linus Gidstedt, Steve Single, Andrew Neil, Markus Stemler, Dylan Burgess, Danny Allin, & Joseph Cunningham

Best Original Song:

KPop Demon Hunters - “Golden” by EJAE, Mark Sonnenblick, Joong Gyu Kwak, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Jeong Hoon Seo, & Teddy Park
Materialists - “My Baby (Got Nothing At All)” by Michelle Zauner
Sinners - “I Lied to You” by Ludwig Göransson & Raphael Saadiq
Sinners - “Pale, Pale Moon” by Brittany Howard & Ludwig Göransson
Snow White - “Waiting on a Wish” by Benj Pasek, Justin Paul, & Jack Feldman
The Testament of Ann Lee - “All is Summer” by Daniel Blumberg
The Testament of Ann Lee - “Clothed By The Sun” by Daniel Blumberg
Wicked: For Good - “No Place Like Home” by Stephen Schwartz

Best Original Score:

Eternity - David Fleming
The Fantastic Four: First Steps - Michael Giacchino
Frankenstein - Alexandre Desplat
Hedda - Hildur Guðnadóttir
One Battle After Another - Jonny Greenwood
Sinners - Ludwig Göransson
The Testament of Anne Lee - Daniel Blumberg
Wake Up Dead Man - Nathan Johnson

Best Needledrop:

Anaconda - “I Don’t Wanna Wait” by Paula Cole
Die My Love - “In Spite of Ourselves” by John Prine & Iris DeMent
I Wish You All the Best - “Closer to Fine” by Indigo Girls
Novocaine - “Power Lines” by Telekinesis
Superman - “Punkrocker (feat. Iggy Pop)” by Teddybears
Wake Up Dead Man - “Skimbleshanks: The Railway Cat” by Andrew Lloyd Webber

Renamed from “Best Use of a Non-Original Song” (which was clunky as hell @ past Rozzy), but same principle.

Writing Adapted Screenplay:

Die My Love - Enda Walsh, Lynne Ramsay, & Alice Birch
Hamnet - Chloé Zhao & Maggie O’Farrell
Hedda - Nia DaCosta
Kiss of the Spider Woman - Bill Condon & Fred Ebb
Little Amélie or the Character of Rain - Liane-Cho Han, Aude Py, Maïlys Vallade, & Eddine Noël
One Battle After Another - Paul Thomas Anderson
The Roses - Tony McNamara
The Wedding Banquet - James Schamus & Andrew Ahn

Writing Original Screenplay:

Blue Moon - Robert Kaplow
Griffin in Summer - Nicholas Colia
The Phoenician Scheme - Wes Anderson
Sentimental Value - Eskil Vogt & Joachim Trier
Sorry, Baby - Eva Victor
Splitsville - Michael Angelo Covino & Kyle Marvin
The Testament of Ann Lee - Mona Fastvold & Brady Corbet
Wake Up Dead Man - Rian Johnson

Directorial Debut:

Americana - Tony Tost
Arco - Ugo Bienvenu
The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie - Peter Browngardt
Griffin in Summer - Nicholas Colia
Hell of a Summer - Billy Bryk & Finn Wolfhard
Little Amélie or the Character of Rain - Maïlys Vallade & Liane-cho Han
I Wish You All the Best - Tommy Dorfman
Sorry, Baby - Eva Victor

Director:

Die My Love - Lynne Ramsay
Hamnet - Chloé Zhao
Hedda - Nia DaCosta
Materialists - Celine Song
Sentimental Value - Joachim Trier
Sinners - Ryan Coogler
Sorry, Baby - Eva Victor
The Testament of Ann Lee - Mona Fastvold

Best Picture:

Die My Love
Eternity
Hamnet
Hedda
Kiss of the Spider Woman
Sentimental Value
Sinners
Sorry, Baby
The Testament of Ann Lee
Wake Up Dead Man

Favorite Film:

What was your favorite movie of 2025, based on pure enjoyment alone?