One Battle After Another was on Tuesday named Best Film by the New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC), giving the Warner Bros production its second major prize in two days after winning at the Gotham Awards.
The Paul Thomas Anderson-directed film also earned Benicio Del Toro the NYFCC award for Best Supporting Actor, contributing to a strong showing for Warner Bros, which secured four wins overall. Amy Madigan was named Best Supporting Actress for Weapons, while Autumn Durald Arkapaw won Best Cinematography for Sinners.
Founded in 1935, the NYFCC is the oldest critics’ group in the United States and is often viewed as an early indicator of awards-season momentum, though it has not matched the Oscars on Best Picture since The Artist in 2011.
Jafar Panahi won Best Director for It Was Just an Accident, which earlier claimed the Cannes Palme d’Or. The award came days after the Iranian filmmaker was sentenced in absentia by the Tehran Islamic Revolutionary Court to one year in prison and a two-year travel ban during his awards-season travel for France’s International Film Oscar submission.
At the Gotham Awards on Monday, Panahi won Best Screenplay and dedicated the honour to filmmakers “deprived of the right see and be seen”.
Kleber Mendonça Filho’s The Secret Agent was named Best International Film. Wagner Moura, the film’s lead, received Best Actor. Carson Lund’s Eephus, revolving around an extended recreational baseball game played on a field facing demolition, won Best First Film.
Rose Byrne was named Best Actress for If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.
Last year, the NYFCC named The Brutalist as Best Picture. The winners list aligned with the Oscars on several key prizes, including Best Actor for Adrien Brody and Best Supporting Actor for Kieran Culkin.
Here is the complete list of winners at NYFCC 2025:
Film: One Battle After Another
Director: Jafar Panahi, It Was Just an Accident
Actor: Wagner Moura, The Secret Agent
Actress: Rose Byrne, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Supporting Actor: Benicio Del Toro, One Battle After Another
Supporting Actress: Amy Madigan, Weapons
Screenplay: Josh Safdie and Ronald Bronstein, Marty Supreme
Animated Film: KPop Demon Hunters
Cinematography: Autumn Durald Arkapaw, Sinners
Non-Fiction Film: My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow
International Film: The Secret Agent
First Film: Eephus
Student Prizes: London Xhudo (NYU) and Tan Zhiyuan (The New School)
Special Prizes: Museum of the Moving Image; Screen Slate