The first 2025 Oscar shortlists are here

We’ve been getting a clearer picture of what the Oscars race will look like given all the lead-up award show nominations (like the Golden Globes) that have come out so far. But now we have an even clearer picture with the release of shortlists for 10 categories from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Those categories include Documentary Feature Film, Documentary Short Film, International Feature Film, Makeup and Hairstyling, Music (Original Score), Music (Original Song), Animated Short Film, Live Action Short Film, Sound and Visual Effects.

How it works is this: Academy members (in some cases only members from a specific branch, like the Documentary Branch or the Makeup Artists and Hairstylists Branch) narrowed down the pool of films to shortlists of between 10 and 20 nominees. For instance, the shortlist for Documentary Feature Film came from a pool of 169 eligible films. Next, members of the Documentary Branch will vote from the shortlist of 15 films to put forward five nominees. 

In certain cases, Academy members were required to meet a minimum viewing requirement to be eligible to vote for the category’s shortlist, and are further required to watch all the shortlisted films in order to vote for the final nominations. In some of the craft categories, like Makeup and Hairstyling and Visual Effects, members of the relevant branches “will be invited to view excerpts and interviews with the artists from each of the shortlisted films” before voting for the final nominations. You can read more about the nitty-gritty voting details for each category here, and check out the shortlists below. 

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 Feature Film

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

Music (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

Music (Original Song)

“Forbidden Road” from Better Man
“Winter Coat” from Blitz
“Compress/Repress” from Challengers
“Never Too Late” from Elton John: Never Too Late
“El Mal” from Emilia Pérez
“Mi Camino” from Emilia Pérez
“Sick In The Head” from Kneecap
“Beyond” from Moana 2
“Tell Me It’s You” from Mufasa: The Lion King
“Piece By Piece” from Piece by Piece
“Like A Bird” from Sing Sing
“The Journey” from The Six Triple Eight
“Out Of Oklahoma” from Twisters
“Kiss The Sky” from The Wild Robot
“Harper And Will Go West” from 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