Ryan Coogler is the third Black director to win at the SEFCAS. Steve McQueen won in 2013 for 12 Years a Slave, and Barry Jenkins (Moonlight) tied with Damien Chazelle in 2016. In both cases, their films won Best Picture. In this case, Ryan Coogler wins Best Director while One Battle After Another wins Best Picture.
Of course, as you can see by the chart below, it doesn’t always translate to a Best Director win. In fact, most of the time it doesn’t. For the industry, 98 years is not long enough to give a Black director the prize. They might want to wait oh, I don’t know, 50 more years?
Sinners came in second, which shows the vote was pretty close. It also took Best Actor for Michael B. Jordan, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, and Score. You love to see it.
Go Sinners go.
Top 10 Films of 2025
1. One Battle After Another
2. Sinners
3. Marty Supreme
4. It Was Just an Accident
5. Sentimental Value
6. Hamnet
7. Train Dreams
8. Weapons
9. Frankenstein
10.The Secret Agent
Best Actor
Winner: Michael B. Jordan, Sinners
Runner-Up: Ethan Hawke, Blue Moon
Best Actress
Winner: Jessie Buckley, Hamnet
Runner-Up: Rose Byrne, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Best Supporting Actor:Winner: Benicio del Toro, One Battle After Another
Runner-Up: Sean Penn, One Battle After Another
Best Supporting Actress:
Winner: Amy Madigan, Weapons
Runner-up: Teyana Taylor, One Battle After Another
Best Ensemble:
Winner: Sinners
Runner-Up: One Battle After Another
Best Director
Winner: Ryan Coogler, Sinners
Runner-Up: Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another
Best Original Screenplay
Winner: Ryan Coogler, Sinners
Runner-Up: Joaquim Trier and Eskil Vogt, Sentimental Value
Best Adapted Screenplay
Winner: Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another
Runner-Up: Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar, Train Dreams
Best Documentary
Winner: The Perfect Neighbor
Runner-Up: Predators
Best Animated Film
Winner: KPOp Demon Hunters
Runner-Up: Zootopia 2
Best Foreign Language Film
Winner: It Was Just an Accident
Runner-Up: Sentimental Value
Best Cinematography
Winner: Autumn Arkapaw (Sinners)
Runner-Up: Michael Bauman (One Battle After Another)
Best Score
Winner: Ludwig Goransson (Sinners)
Runner-Up: Jonny Greenwood (One Battle)
