This year’s array of best director candidates for the Academy Award includes a trio making their category debut, a former winner, and a four-time nominee who must be favourite.
At the end of 2025, you might have expected Guillermo del Toro (Frankenstein) or Yorgos Lanthimos (Bugonia) to be in the final five. However, Josh Safdie moved into contention following the December release of Marty Supreme and the Oscar buzz around Timothée Chalamet’s dazzling performance as a charismatic hustler out to achieve greatness. It’s Safdie’s first nomination in any category and the first film made solo since 2008 and the 2024 split with co-directing sibling Benny.
Joachim Trier received a screenplay nomination for The Worst Person in the World (2021), but his nod for Sentimental Value is the first for directing. The story of a reunion between two sisters and their estranged film-maker father (played by Swedish veteran Stellan Skarsgård) has garnered four acting nominations, with only Skarsgård in the shake-up for a statuette. Trier will likely miss out, although the film has a chance of copping the Academy Award for best international feature, and is available on Mubi now.
A winner at the 2021 Oscars for NomadlandChloé Zhao became only the second woman to receive the Academy Award after Kathryn Bigelow broke that particular glass ceiling for The Hurt Locker in 2010. The Chinese film-maker’s second nomination as director is for Hamnetthe adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s novel about the fallout from the tragic death of Shakespeare’s son, for which both women are nominated in the best adapted screenplay category. However, Hamnet’s chances of success lie with Irish actress Jessie Buckley, whose performance as Will’s grieving wife Agnes seems destined for Oscar glory.
Ryan Coogler accepts the Original Screenplay Award for ‘Sinners’ on stage during the EE BAFTA Film Awards 2026 at The Royal Festival Hall on February 22, 2026 in London, England.” data-item-name=”Ryan Coogler accepts the Original Screenplay Award for ‘Sinners’ on stage during the EE BAFTA Film Awards 2026 at The Royal Festival Hall on February 22, 2026 in London, England.” title=”Ryan Coogler accepts the Original Screenplay Award for ‘Sinners’ on stage during the EE BAFTA Film Awards 2026 at The Royal Festival Hall on February 22, 2026 in London, England.” src=”aspect-ratio:1 / 0.6661290322580645;object-fit:contain” loading=”lazy” width=”700″ height=”466.2903225806452″ data-testid=”image-img”/>Previously nominated as a producer (Judas and the Black Messiah) and a songwriter (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), Ryan Coogler (Creed) gets his first director nomination for hit horror flick Sinners. Only the seventh Black director to be nominated after John Singleton for Boyz n the Hood in 1992, who was then followed by Lee Daniels (Precious), Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave), Barry Jenkins (Moonlight)Jordan Peele (Get Out) and Spike Lee (BlacKkKlansman), Coogler is the second favourite. However, Sinners has a record 16 Oscar nominations and wins likely elsewhere, including Coogler for his genre-blending original screenplay about twin brothers confronting racism and vampirism in 1930s Mississippi.
And the winner will be… Paul Thomas Anderson for black comedy thriller One Battle After Anotherthe film-maker’s fourth Oscar nomination as director after There Will Be Blood, Phantom Thread and Licorice Pizza and his 14th in total, but with no wins. That is sure to change with Anderson also up for best film and his adapted screenplay about a befuddled ex-revolutionary (Leonardo DiCaprio) on the run from his military nemesis (a superb Sean Penn). With all the main awards bodies (Golden Globes, Directors Guild and, most recently, Bafta) all voting for Anderson, the indications are that one of the finest film-makers of his generation will be celebrating on 15 March.
