One Battle Wins Again with NSFC

Ethan Hawke was named Best Actor
for Blue Moon from the National
Society of Film Critics.

One Battle After Another continues winning battles among film awards, taking four prizes from the National Society of Film Critics including Best Picture, Best Director (Paul Thomas Anderson), Supporting Actor (Benicio Del Toro) and Supporting Actress (Teyana Taylor). Ethan Hawke was named Best Actor for his performance as the ill-fated lyricist Lorenz Hart in Blue Moon and Kathleen Chalfant won Best Actress as an elderly woman struggling with memory issues in Familiar Touch. One Battle has already won Best Picture from the New York Film Critics Circle, the National Board of Review and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. This quadruple crown increases its Oscar chances, but does not guarantee a win on Hollywood's biggest night. Of the three previous films that achieved all four top prizes--Schindler's List, L.A. Confidential and The Social Network--only first won the Best Picture Oscar.

The Society, which is made up of more than 60 of the country’s most prominent movie critics, held its 59th annual awards voting meeting on Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. Critics voted at in-person gatherings in Los Angeles and New York, and also participated virtually from across the country.

A complete list of the winners follows:

Best Picture: “One Battle After Another”

Runners-up:
“Sinners”
“The Secret Agent”

Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson, “One Battle After Another”

Runners-up:
Jafar Panahi, “It Was Just an Accident”
Richard Linklater, “Blue Moon” and “Nouvelle Vague”

Best Actress: Kathleen Chalfant, “Familiar Touch”

Runners-up:
Rose Byrne, “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You”
Renate Reinsve, “Sentimental Value”

Best Supporting Actress: Teyana Taylor, “One Battle After Another”

Runners-up:
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, “Sentimental Value”
Wunmi Mosaku, “Sinners”

Best Actor: Ethan Hawke, “Blue Moon”

Runners-up:
Wagner Moura, “The Secret Agent”
Michael B. Jordan, “Sinners”

Best Supporting Actor: Benicio del Toro, “One Battle After Another”

Runners-up:
Delroy Lindo, “Sinners”
Stellan Skarsgård, “Sentimental Value”

Best Screenplay: Jafar Panahi, “It Was Just an Accident”

Runners-up:
Robert Kaplow, “Blue Moon”
Kleber Mendoça Filho, “The Secret Agent”

Best Film Not in the English Language: “The Secret Agent”

Runners-up:
“It Was Just an Accident”
“Sentimental Value”

Best Nonfiction Film: “My Undesirable Friends: Part I — Last Air in Moscow”

Runners-up:
“The Perfect Neighbor”
“Orwell: 2+2=5”

Best Cinematography: Autumn Durald Arkapaw, “Sinners”

Runners-up:
Aldolpho Veloso, “Train Dreams”
Michael Bauman, “One Battle After Another”

Best Experimental Film: “Morning Circle” (Basma al-Sharif)

Special Award For a Film Awaiting U.S. Distribution: “Landmarks” (Lucrecia Martel)

Film Heritage Awards:
Cinema Tropical, for its tireless efforts to distribute, program and promote Latin American cinema in the U.S.
The Film Desk, for releasing key movies from all over the world, in 35mm prints and on home video, and publishing books that have enriched the public’s knowledge of cinema.
Ken and Flo Jacobs, an irreplaceable, gravitational center of the American avant-garde, with a shared artistic sensibility that helped define experimental cinema.