
Oscars 2025: The shortlist revealed for 10 major categories
Ahead of the biggest night in cinema, the Academy Awards have announced a shortlist of the first major award categories for the 2025 Oscars ceremony.
This comes months ahead of the ceremony, which is set to take place in Los Angeles on Sunday, March 5th, 2025. Though the shortlist for nominations has been extensive, not all of them will make the final cut and the nominees haven’t yet been determined. Members of the Academy will vote on them before the subsequent nominees are announced in due course.
The list as it stands includes the major awards for ‘Best Documentary Feature’ and ‘Best Documentary Short’. Among the nominees include ‘Best Makeup and Hairstyling’ and ‘Best Visual Effects’. Only members of the Music Branch are permitted to vote for nominations. Of the shortlist of 15 films for both nominations, the Academy had 169 features submitted for the award as well as 104 shorts for the category. While the ‘Best Makeup and Hairstyling’ currently features ten films, only five will be selected for final nominations.
The Academy has also shone a light on the music department in the nominations for ‘Best Sound’, ‘Best Original Score’ and ‘Best Original Song’. Among the original songs include Elton John’s song ‘Never Too Late’ from the documentary of the same name, as well as ‘Beyond’ from the long-awaited sequel to Disney’s Moana.
Of the 145 scores that have been submitted, only 20 of them have advanced to the shortlist. Among the voters, only those in the music department are allowed to vote for the musical selections.
In the major categories thus far, the Broadway adaptation of Wicked has earned four separate nominations for ‘Best Visual Effects’, ‘Best Sound’, ‘Best Original Score’ and ‘Best Makeup and Hairstyling’. Other recurring nominations have included Denis Villeneuve’s latest entry in the Dune saga, Dune Part Two, as well as Ridley Scott’s long-awaited sequel to his 2000 film, Gladiator II.
Familiar faces have also shown up in the ‘Best Original Score’ shortlist, including Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’s work for the movie Challengers, as well as Danny Elfman’s returning to the dark world of Tim Burton for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. The final list of Academy Award nominations is set to be revealed on January 17th, 2025.
Oscars 2025: The shortlist for nominations
‘Documentary Feature Film’
The Bibi Files
Black Box Diaries
Dahomey
Daughters
Eno
Frida
Hollywoodgate
No Other Land
Porcelain War
Queendom
The Remarkable Life of Ibelin
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
Sugarcane
Union
Will & Harper
‘Documentary Short Film’
Chasing Roo
Death by Numbers
Eternal Father
I Am Ready, Warden
Incident
Instruments of a Beating Heart
Keeper
Makayla’s Voice: A Letter to the World
Once upon a Time in Ukraine
The Only Girl in the Orchestra
Planetwalker
The Quilters
Seat 31: Zooey Zephyr
A Swim Lesson
Until He’s Back
‘International Film Feature’
Brazil – I’m Still Here
Canada – Universal Language
Czech Republic – Waves
Denmark – The Girl with the Needle
France – Emilia Pérez
Germany – The Seed of the Sacred Fig
Iceland – Touch
Ireland – Kneecap
Italy – Vermiglio
Latvia – Flow
Norway – Armand
Palestine – From Ground Zero
Senegal – Dahomey
Thailand – How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies
United Kingdom – Santosh
‘Makeup and Hairstyling’
The Apprentice
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
A Different Man
Dune: Part Two
Emilia Pérez
Maria
Nosferatu
The Substance
Waltzing with Brando
Wicked
‘Original Score’
Alien: Romulus
Babygirl
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Blink Twice
Blitz
The Brutalist
Challengers
Conclave
Emilia Pérez
The Fire Inside
Gladiator II
Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1
Inside Out 2
Nosferatu
The Room Next Door
Sing Sing
The Six Triple Eight
Wicked
The Wild Robot
Young Woman and the Sea
‘Original Song’
‘Forbidden Road’ – Better Man
‘Winter Coat’ – Blitz
‘Compress/Repress’ – Challengers
‘Never Too Late’ – Elton John: Never Too Late
‘El Mal’ – Emilia Pérez
‘Mi Camino’ – Emilia Pérez
‘Sick In The Head’ – Kneecap
‘Beyond’ – Moana 2
‘Tell Me It’s You’ – Mufasa: The Lion King
‘Piece By Piece’ – Piece by Piece
‘Like A Bird’ – Sing Sing
‘The Journey’ – The Six Triple Eight
‘Out Of Oklahoma’ – Twisters
‘Kiss The Sky’ – The Wild Robot
‘Harper And Will Go West’ – Will & Harper
‘Animated Short Film’
Au Revoir Mon Monde
A Bear Named Wojtek
Beautiful Men
Bottle George
A Crab in the Pool
In the Shadow of the Cypress
Magic Candies
Maybe Elephants
Me
Origami
Percebes
The 21
Wander to Wonder
The Wild-Tempered Clavier
Yuck!
‘Live Action Short Film’
Anuja
Clodagh
The Compatriot
Crust
Dovecote
Edge of Space
The Ice Cream Man
I’m Not a Robot
The Last Ranger
A Lien
The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent
The Masterpiece
An Orange from Jaffa
Paris 70
Room Taken
‘Sound’
Alien: Romulus
Blitz
A Complete Unknown
Deadpool & Wolverine
Dune: Part Two
Emilia Pérez
Gladiator II
Joker: Folie à Deux
Wicked
The Wild Robot
‘Visual Effects’
Alien: Romulus
Better Man
Civil War
Deadpool & Wolverine
Dune: Part Two
Gladiator II
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Mufasa: The Lion King
Twisters
Wicked
Never Miss A Scene
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