"I Saw the TV Glow" leads the 16th annual Dorian Award nominations
Tuesday, January 21, 2025 at 11:00PM
NATHANIEL R in Anora, Challengers, Dorian Awards, I Saw the TV Glow, LGBTQ+, Nickel Boys, The Substance

by Nathaniel R

I SAW THE TV GLOW © A24

Oopsie. While celebrating Paul Newman's centennial we forgot to mention another round of nominations. This time it's GALECA: THE SOCIETY OF LGBTQ ENTERTAINMENT CRITICS taking on the challenge of naming "best" this and than of the year. This group, which includes over 500 entertainment journalists (including some of us here at TFE) and media personalities, showered I Saw the TV Glow with nominations. Perpetually overperforming gonzo horror satire The Substance was a close second.  

For my part I'm grateful that the category list has been expanded to make the awards more LGBTQ centric, because what is the point of any critics groups if they don't have a specific point of view/ place of origin apart that differentiates them from other critics groups? See the nominee list after the jump...

FILM OF THE YEAR

 

LGBTQ FILM OF THE YEAR

QUEER © A24

 

Challengers and I Saw the TV Glow get double film of the year nominations, but the rest of the LGBTQ list changes. On that front I find it interesting that Emilia Perez couldn't crack the non-queer "Best" category, given how well it's been performing elsewhere. It could well be that several trans critics speaking out against it made GALECA more wary about it's actual merits. Since I haven't been writing much you might not be aware that though I admire the big swing, I don't think it's particularly strong in the execution apart from Zoe Saldana's leading performance. 

DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR

Corbet is the only contender who isn't up for Film of the Year honors, which only shows his strength yet again moving toward the Oscar competition.

SCREENPLAY OF THE YEAR 
— Original or adapted

I rewatched Challengers the other day and I am of two minds about the film (still). On the one hand it's a ton of fun with sexy performances and playful filmmaking but on the other the constant ADHD time jumping still gets on my nerves, a little time jumping goes a long long way but it's never enough for this screenplay! 

LGBTQ SCREENPLAY OF THE YEAR

CHALLENGERS © Amazon MGM Studios

Again you see Emilia Perez struggling with this group. It's the only "Film" nominee to miss this category. In super happy news, it's replaced by the infinitely superior Problemista. In a just world, Problemista would be an absolute lock for screenplay honors everywhere and yet it's scarcely mentioned. I was thrilled by this nod and it happened even without my vote as a major stan (Dumb confession: I had my ballot already to go but was saving it for the final night to squeeze in two more movies for the "unsung film" nominations and then promptly forgot until a few hours after the cut-off. ARGH. 

NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR

It'll be interesting to see whether or not Oscar rubber-stamps the wide support of these five pictures (of course, it can't honor All We Imagine... in Best International Film given that it wasn't submitted but the film could place elsewhere). 

LGBTQ NON-ENGLISH FILM OF THE YEAR

A fine group here and hopefully this brings attention to the lesser-known pictures (i.e. everything that isn't Emilia Perez). I'm worried about Vermiglio missing at the Oscars because a) it absolutely deserves a nomination but b) I never hear anyone talking about it the way people talk about its competitive set. 

UNSUNG FILM OF THE YEAR
—To an exceptional movie worthy of greater attention

Very fun group, no? 

UNSUNG LGBTQ FILM OF THE YEAR

PROBLEMISTA © A24

 

Again I'm delighted that I wasn't the only Problemista fanatic among Dorian voters. That said I was hoping for more obscure pictures to show up here and I wish that you couldn't get double nominations in the unsung categories (thankfully the rules have changed to prevent 'unsung' nominees that are also up for the regular Film of the Year category as it previously begged the question "how is this unsung when it's being showered with top nominations?". I was trying to squeeze a few pictures from the reminder list that I was only vaguely aware of and I'm glad I did.

FILM PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR

 

 

I say this with love -- since I am a fan of Justice Smith and thought he deserved Emmy recognition for Genera+ion  -- but I do not get why he keeps being honored for this film. He's solid in it, sure, but "best"? The character forces him into a very limited range and doesn't really open up to offer additional complexities. The twin stars of this movie are clearly the director and her crew,  and Bridget Lundy-Payne's monologuing prowess.

In better news Nicole Kidman scored here for her best work in some years now. 

SUPPORTING FILM PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR

HARD TRUTHS © Bleecker Street

 

Yay for Michele Austin making this list... but a real bummer that every critics group under the sun has absolutely no problem pretending along with the publicists that protagonists are "supporting" in their own movie. Ah well, at least 50% of them are supporting players. 

DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR

I'm suddenly regretting my Oscar predictions because it's close to this but no way will Oscar voters align this closely. 

LGBTQ DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR

A nice surprise to see Merchant Ivory here. I was surprised that the film really dug into the marriage (albeit without the license) of the filmmaking team. 

ANIMATED FILM OF THE YEAR

My exact predictions for the Oscar lineup... but then it doesn't feel super competitive this year with these five way out front, give or take the possible disruption of Moana 2 if voters get lazy. 

GENRE FILM OF THE YEAR
For excellence in science fiction, fantasy and horror

WICKED © Universal

 

FILM MUSIC OF THE YEAR

 

VISUALLY STRIKING FILM OF THE YEAR

THE SUBSTANCE © MUBI

 

CAMPIEST FLICK 

 

“WE’RE WILDE ABOUT YOU!” RISING STAR AWARD

 

WILDE ARTIST AWARD
To a truly groundbreaking force in entertainment

 

GALECA LGBTQIA+ FILM TRAILBLAZER
For creating art that inspires empathy, truth and equity

What do you make of this year's nominee list and who would you vote for? 

Article originally appeared on The Film Experience (http://thefilmexperience.net/).
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