Two branches of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released their first-ever shortlists this year: the Casting Branch and the Cinematography Branch. The latter featured few surprises as Oscar-winning contenders “Train Dreams” (Adolpho Velso), “Frankenstein” (Dan Lausten), “Hamnet” (Lukasz Zal), “One Battle After Another” (Michael Brauman), and “Sinners” (Autum Durald) made the cut. Intriguing additions to the list included “Sirât” (Mauro Herce), “Nouvelle Vague” (David Chambille), “Die My Love” (Seamus McGarvey), and, in a major surprise, “Song Sung Blue” (Amy Vincent).
Notable omissions include “Hedda,” “The Secret Agent,” “Jay Kelly,” “Is This Thing On?,” “Resurrection,” and “28 Years Later,” among others.
It should be noted, this category’s shortlist is determined by a voting scale that allows between 10 and 20 films. 16 titles made it this year.
This year’s shortlisted works are as follows:
“Ballad of a Small Player”
“Bugonia”
“Die My Love”
“F1”
“Frankenstein”
“Hamnet”
“Marty Supreme”
“Nouvelle Vague”
“One Battle after Another”
“Sentimental Value”
“Sinners”
“Sirât”
“Song Sung Blue”
“Sound of Falling”
“Train Dreams”
“Wicked: For Good”
The 2026 Academy Award nominations will be announced on Thursday, January 22.
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