Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine as Light took top honors at the 2025 International Cinephile Society (ICS) Awards, winning best picture, director, and ensemble. The film, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and won the Grand Prix, has continued to receive recognition, earning nominations at the Golden Globes and BAFTAs.
The ICS recognized Kapadia’s film for its portrayal of “the voices, the faces, the night-lit trains of modern India.” The story follows women from different generations who form a quiet bond as they navigate personal and cultural challenges.
Nickel Boys, RaMell Ross’s Oscar-nominated drama about Black teenagers trapped in an abusive reform school, won best adapted screenplay for Ross and Joslyn Barnes, who based the script on Colson Whitehead’s novel. The film also received the cinematography award for Jomo Fray’s work.
Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths won multiple awards, including best actress for Marianne Jean-Baptiste, who portrays a woman struggling to trust and connect with her family. Michele Austin, playing her sister, won best supporting actress, while Leigh earned best original screenplay.
Abou Sangaré won best actor and breakthrough performance for his role in Souleymane’s Story, in which he plays a Guinean immigrant cycling through Paris while awaiting a crucial asylum interview. He shared the best actor award with Mahmood Bakri for To a Land Unknown, a Palestinian drama-thriller where Bakri plays an immigrant stuck in Athens. Aram Sabbagh, portraying Bakri’s cousin struggling with addiction, won best supporting actor.
Albert Serra’s Afternoons of Solitude won best documentary and editing. Constance Tsang’s Blue Summer Palace won best feature debut. The film, which premiered at Cannes Critics’ Week, explores the lives of Chinese immigrants working at a massage parlor in Queens before their aspirations are disrupted by tragedy.
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Bertrand Bonello’s sci-fi romance The Beast, starring Léa Seydoux and George MacKay, won best production design for Katia Wyszkop. Adapted from a Henry James novella, the film presents striking cityscapes spanning different time periods.
Gints Zilbalodis’s Flow, which won at both the Golden Globes and Oscars, took the animated film award. The Latvian feature, a dialogue-free story about a cat’s journey in a post-flood world, was released by Sideshow and Janus Films. It won over The Wild Robot, Inside Out 2, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, and Memoir of a Snail in the category.
