2025 Oscars: Best Cinematography Predictions

Nominations voting is from January 8-12, 2025, with official Oscar nominations announced January 17, 2025. Final voting is February 11-18, 2025. And finally, the 97th Oscars telecast will be broadcast on Sunday, March 2, and air live on ABC at 7 p.m. ET/ 4 p.m. PT. We update our picks throughout awards season, so keep checking IndieWire for all our 2025 Oscar predictions.

The State of the Race

“Dune: Part Two” (Warner Bros.) is the early Best Cinematography favorite, joined by such standouts as “Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell” (Kino Lorber), “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” (Warner Bros.), “Civil War (A24), and “Challengers” (Amazon MGM Studios), which was shot on Kodak film.

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But there are a slew of other Oscar hopefuls shot on film: “Anora” (Neon), “Kinds of Kindness” (Searchlight Pictures), “I Saw the TV Glow” (A24), “Sing Sing” (A24), “Queer” (A24), “The Brutalist” (Focus Features), “Saturday Night” (Sony Pictures), “Maria” (Netflix), and “Nosferatu” (Focus Features).

“Dune” Oscar-winning cinematographer Greig Fraser returns for “Part Two,” Denis Villeneuve’s more lavish sequel, in which Paul (Timothée Chalamet) leads the nomadic Fremen in battle on Arrakis as a prelude to their holy war. Think “Lawrence of Arabia” in space. It’s a bigger world with more planets, more set pieces, and more action. This time, the large-format film was presented entirely in the expanded IMAX aspect ratio with the Alexa mini LF and Alexa 65 digital cameras using spherical lenses.

The desert contained an expanded color palette for the immense battle sequences and the romance between Paul and Chani. The moment when Paul rides atop the sandworm for the first time to complete his Fremen rite of passage was shot practically in the desert as part of a separate “worm” unit, with Chalamet standing on a platform with gimbals and surrounded by an industrial fan that blew sand on the set. In addition, Fraser experimented with an infrared black-and-white look for the gladiator fight sequences with Feyd-Rautha (Austin Butler) on the artificial Harkonnen planet of Giedi Prime. Fraser used the Alexa 65 with special filtering and monochrome desaturation.

“Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell” (winner of the 2023 Cannes Camera d’Or) is the remarkable feature debut of Vietnamese director Pham Thien An. The three-hour odyssey, defined by great stillness, is one of the most audacious films of the year. Unassuming Thi?n (Lê Phong V? ) leaves Saigon with his 5-year-old nephew and returns to his country village after the death of his sister-in-law. Through a series of encounters, he starts coming out of his shell and experiences a spiritual awakening.

“Inside” was filmed by cinematographer ?inh Duy H?ng primarily in long, static shots for objective observation, but there are also sustained ethereal shots of the countryside and nature. The color palette is saturated or soft, depending on the mood. One of the highlights is an erotic flashback with Thi?n’s ex-girlfriend, Th?o (Nguy?n Th? Trúc Qu?nh), on a wet balcony that explains a lot about why he moved to Saigon and why she took her vows as a nun.

“Furiosa” marks the first collaboration between director George Miller and cinematographer Simon Duggan, who brings more visual scope and dimension to the titular hero’s badass origin story (played by Alyla Browne as a child and teenager and Anya Taylor-Joy as an adult). He paired the Alexa 65 with the Arri Rental Prime DNA to help expand the Wasteland and connect it to the fortified towns surrounding the Citadel. Shooting in Australia provided a harder look than anticipated. The skies are intense, and the clouds are very defined. As far as the intense action with a lot more motorcycles, the cameras were constantly moving with the characters and vehicles, benefiting from the Edge Arm tracking vehicle and another for the crane and dolly work; then they used the Steadicam, hand-held, and rig shots when it required a more nimble touch.

With “Challengers,” director Luca Guadagnino tackles the competitive nature of tennis with a love triangle involving former tennis prodigy-turned-coach Zendaya, her husband and slumping tennis champ Mike Faist, and tennis rival Josh O’Connor, who is her ex-lover and his former best friend. Shot in 35mm by Thai cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, the movie subjectively focuses on their relationships and rivalries. While the matches reflect their changing emotional and personal dynamics, the scenes off the court achieve their own natural tension and colorful look. They storyboarded the tennis action with Brad Gilbert, the tennis consultant who coached the actors and choreographed the action. The tennis was about camera speed and dexterity. The lighting team even came up with an inspired solution to cover the court and grandstand: a pair of Magni scissor lifts with two 100K SoftSuns on each. However, the final 10 minutes utilize a glass floor to enable a partial view of the players in constant motion.

Alex Garland’s “Civil War” is a surreal road trip through the dystopian nightmare of guerilla warfare that rips the country apart and culminates with the final assault on D.C. and The White House. Cinematographer Rob Hardy creates an authentic-looking combat aesthetic based on newsreel footage and real combat photography, which mostly avoids tracks and dollies in favor of elegant hand-held shots. In fact, they reversed engineered sequences that were adaptable to sequences that were planned as military operations. Additionally, they cunningly used still photography cutaways by jaded combat photographer Kirsten Dunst and aspiring photographer Cailee Spaeny, who play out an “All About Eve” dynamic.

Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Kinds of Kindness” is a triptych fable about the loss of free will set in alternate realities, with a cast led by Jesse Plemons, Emma Stone, and Willem Dafoe. What links the three chapters — “The Death of R.M.F.,” “R.M.F. Is Flying,” and “R.M.F. Eats a Sandwich” — is the presence of the silent, bearded R.M.F. (Yorgos Stefanakos). Shot by go-to cinematographer Robbie Ryan in 35mm (using black-and-white for dream sequences), the black comedy is a far cry from “Poor Things” and “The Favourite,” with their ultra-wide camera angles and tight framing. The director recommended anamorphic lenses, which were a good fit for the American setting and introspective tone, with characters often isolated in empty rooms.

“Blitz” (Apple TV+), from British director Steve McQueen, concerns Londoners during the Blitz of World War II and stars Saoirse Ronan, Elliott Heffernan, and singer/songwriter Paul Weller in his acting debut. It centers on youngster Heffernan, sent to the countryside for safekeeping, who’s determined to reunite with his mother (Ronan) and grandfather (Weller) at their home in London. It’s shot by French cinematographer Yorick Le Saux and follows McQueen’s acclaimed World War II doc, “Occupied City,” which provided the director with an understanding of the detailed atmospherics of war that he could apply here.

“Anora,” Sean Baker’s acclaimed rom-com (winning the Cannes Palme d’Or), finds Mikey Madison as a Russian-American stripper who marries Russian royalty and then has to fight off her infuriated in-laws. Shot in 35mm anamorphic by go-to cinematographer Drew Daniels, he achieves a ’70s vibe with the help of negative flashing in such locations as Brooklyn, Coney Island, and Las Vegas.

“I Saw the TV Glow” marks the latest meta-cultural exploration of suburban teen angst by director Jane Schoenbrun. Set in the late 1990s to 2000s, the horror film follows Owen (Justice Smith) and Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine), who bond over their love over the late-night kid’s show “The Pink Opaque” and slowly realize that the show’s bizarre reality has overtaken their own after its cancelation. Shot in 35mm by cinematographer Eric K. Yue, the look contrasts a grim reality with a cotton candy-like hyper-reality as a glimmer of hope.

“Megalopolis” (Lionsgate), Francis Ford Coppola’s $120 million epic sci-fi passion project drawing parallels between the fall of Rome and the collapse of America, is set in a New York-like metropolis called New Rome. After an accident destroys the decaying city, an architect (Adam Driver) with the power to control time attempts to rebuild it as a utopia despite regressive opposition. The film was shot by the director’s frequent cinematographer, Mihai M?laimare Jr., with the Alexa 65 and Alexa LF (and Alexa Mini LF for second unit) to convey something radically different: imagery that is more metaphorical by design with the look of a woven mural or tapestry.

Director Greg Kwedar’s fact-based drama “Sing Sing,” about a theater troupe of inmates at Sing Sing, led by Colman Domingo, was filmed inside the Correctional Facility. Cinematographer Pat Scola shot the film in gritty 16mm with the Arri 416 and Arri SR3 to capture the grounded authenticity of the environment and the visceral, free-wheeling quality of the performances, mainly spent rehearsing the epic time-traveling farce “Breakin’ the Mummy’s Code.”

As for the rest: “Gladiator II” (Paramount), Ridley Scott’s sequel to his Oscar winner, concerns Lucius (Paul Mescal), the former heir to the Empire, forced to enter the Colosseum after his home is conquered by the tyrannical emperors who now lead Rome. The epic is shot by cinematographer John Mathieson, who began his collaboration with Scott on “Gladiator,” with even greater grandeur.

“Joker: Folie à Deux” (Warner Bros.), Todd Phillips’ musical thriller, picks up with Arthur/Joker (Joaquin Phoenix) facing the death penalty for multiple murders and striking up a delusional romance with Lady Gaga’s Harley Quinn while incarcerated in Arkham Asylum. They experience musical escape together. Oscar-nominated “Joker” cinematographer Lawrence Sher returns with visual inspiration from Coppola’s “One From the Heart.”

“The Piano Lesson,” director Malcolm Washington’s adaption of the August Wilson play, starring John David Washington and Samuel L. Jackson, was shot by cinematographer Michael Gioulakis. It explores the lives of the Charles family in Depression-era 1936 Pittsburgh and the importance of the cherished family heirloom: a piano documenting the family history through carvings made by their enslaved ancestor.

“Conclave” (Focus Features), director Edward Berger’s follow-up to his Oscar-winning “All Quiet on the Western Front,” is a thriller adapted from the Robert Harris novel about a Cardinal (Ralph Fiennes) tasked with finding a successor to the deceased Pope, who harbored a dangerous secret. The film is shot by French cinematographer Stéphane Fontaine (“Jackie”).

“Maria,” Pablo Larraín’s biographically-inspired drama about opera singer Maria Callas (Angelina Jolie), takes place during her final years in Paris in the ’70s. It continues the director’s cycle of psychological portraits (“Jackie,” “Spencer”) and contains a visual concept that fuses the ’40s through the ’70s period with surreal musical sequences. It’s shot in both 16mm and 35mm by Oscar-nominated cinematographer Ed Lachman (“El Conde”).

“Queer,” Guadagnino’s much-anticipated adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ semi-autobiographical novella, was also shot by Mukdeeprom. It’s about disconnected gay American expatriates in post-World War II Mexico City, and concerns heroin user William Lee (Daniel Craig) falling for the much younger and enigmatic Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey), who go on a surreal odyssey together.

The Brutalist,” from director Brady Corbet (“Vox Lux”), is a “Fountainhead”-inspired, 215-minute epic shot in 70mm by go-to cinematographer Lol Crawley. It stars Adrien Brody as László Tóth, a Hungarian Jew and Auschwitz survivor who struggles as a visionary architect before being offered a massive project by Guy Pearce’s Lee Van Buren.

“Nickel Boys” (Amazon MGM Studios), RaMell Ross’ adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, explores two Black teenagers, Elwood (Ethan Herisse) and Turner (Brandon Wilson), who become friends as wards of a barbaric juvenile reform school in Jim Crow–era Florida. The film is a sensory experience about their different perspectives — hope and despair — and shot by cinematographer Jomo Fray (“All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt”) as an experiment in docu-poetry.

“A Complete Unknown” (Searchlight Pictures), James Mangold’s Bob Dylan biopic starring Timothée Chalamet, chronicles the folk star’s rise in New York’s West Village in 1961 to the controversial 1965 Newport Folk Festival, where he turned electric. Shot by frequent cinematographer Phedon Papamichael with period naturalism and chiaroscuro during performances.

“Saturday Night,” from director Jason Reitman, chronicles the lead-up to the premiere of NBC’s iconic late-night sketch comedy show on October 11, 1975. Gabriel LaBelle pivots from playing Steven Spielberg in “The Fabelmans” to “SNL” creator/producer Lorne Michaels, sharing the spotlight with an ensemble cast portraying the legendary comedy troupe that became famous on the show. The film was shot in 16mm to authenticate the period vibe by Reitman’s go-to cinematographer, Eric Steelberg.

“Nosferatu,” director Robert Eggers’ passion project, is a reworking of the legendary silent vampire film by F.W. Murnau (later remade by Werner Herzog in 1979) and stars Bill Skarsg?rd as the infamous Count Orlok, Lily-Rose Depp as Ellen Hutter, and Nicholas Hoult as her husband, Thomas Hutter. Shot in 35mm by the director’s frequent cinematographer Jarin Blaschke, the film boasts a desaturated look reminiscent of 19th-century Romanticism.

“Wicked” (Universal), Jon M. Chu’s adaptation of the Broadway musical fantasy by Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman, explores the teen friendship between the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch that turns into a rivalry. Cynthia Erivo stars as Elphaba Thropp, the misunderstood girl born with green skin, and Ariana Grande plays the popular Galinda Upland. Made at England’s new Sky Studios in Elstree, the musical reunites Chu with rising cinematographer Alice Brooks, who last collaborated together on “In the Heights.” But this colorful, hyperreal extravaganza is definitely a horse of a different color, in which Brooks was guided by the illustrations in L. Frank Baum’s “Oz” novel.

Potential nominees are listed in alphabetical order; no film will be deemed a frontrunner until we have seen it.

Frontrunners

“Challengers” (Sayombhu Mukdeeprom)
“Civil War” (Rob Hardy)
“Dune: Part Two” (Greig Fraser)
“Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” (Simon Duggan)
“Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell” (?inh Duy H?ng)

Contenders

“Anora” (Drew Daniels)
“Blitz” (Yorick Le Saux)
“The Brutalist” (Lol Crawley)
“A Complete Unknown” (Phedon Papamichael)
“Conclave” (Stéphane Fontaine)
“Nickel Boys” (Jomo Fray)
“Gladiator II” (John Mathieson)
“I Saw the TV Glow” (Eric K. Yue)
“Joker: Folie à Deux” (Lawrence Sher)
“Kinds of Kindness” (Robbie Ryan)
“Maria” (Ed Lachman)
“Megalopolis” (Mihai M?laimare Jr.)
“Nosferatu” (Jarin Blaschke)
“The Piano Lesson” (Michael Gioulakis)
“Queer” (Sayombhu Mukdeeprom)
“Saturday Night” (Eric Steelberg)
“Sing Sing” (Pat Scola)
“Wicked” (Alice Brooks)

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