Girls on Film Awards 2025: On the red carpet with Coralie Fargeat, Charlotte Colbert and Jodhi May

This past Sunday, The Upcoming had the pleasure of attending the fourth annual Girls on Film Awards at Curzon Bloomsbury in London. There was a fantastic sense of camaraderie and positive energy in the room, as talent from across the industry came together to celebrate achievements by women and marginalised genders in cinema over the last year.

The daring, gory The Substance clinched the Best Feature award, with its creator, Coralie Fargeat, present to collect the accolade and deliver a rousing speech about putting female rage on screen, while Black Box Diaries, tackling sexual assault, not only triumphed in the Best Documentary category but its director, Shiori Ito, also received the Activist Impact Award, with her endearing video messages from Japan delighting everyone in the audience. Marianne Jean-Baptiste was recognised as Best Actress for her compelling role in Hard Truths exploring the realities of depression, and its director, Mike Leigh, received the Ally Award, acknowledging his commitment to representing women in cinema.

Other awards zeroed in on those working behind the camera, acknowledging cinematographer Hélène Louvart for her work on the sublime La Chimera, starring Josh O’Connor, and production designer Judy Becker for American epic The Brutalist. Another bona fide highlight of the night came with the award for best female orgasm on screen, which deservedly went to Nicole Kidman (with Nicole Kidman, and later Harris Dickinson) in Babygirl, and intimacy coordinator Ita O’Brien’s call to arms to write even more great scripts that put female pleasure at the forefront.

Podcast co-founders, Anna Smith and Hedda Lornie Archbold noted that “in today’s challenging world, it is more important than ever for diverse women to support each other. This year’s nominations reflect the spirit of sisterhood and the power of film to inspire, inform and create community. These awards honour the strength of storytelling in fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion.” See the full list of nominees and winners below.

We managed to grab some time with the stars in attendance on the red carpet, including Fargeat, who we did our best not to fangirl too hard, as she reflected on her unapologetic approach to calling out sexism in society through the medium of horror.

Filmmaker (She Will) and artist Charlotte Colbert shared her views on the need to move away from traditional patriarchal perspectives in cinema.

Jodhi May gave her insights into the industry as an actress, with shows like her most recent, Dune: Prophecy, a female-led sci-fi series, demonstrating some progress has been made since she started out as a child star, but there is still a long way to go to see equality on screen.

Documentary maker Sophie Compton highlighted why these awards are significant in celebrating bold and innovative work by women and non-binary people when the likes of the Oscars still overlook it.

Film producer Anna Higgs spoke about the importance of championing women in film and the best films she’s seen this year.

Nainita Desai shared her perspective as a film composer and what it meant to win an award in the past.

 

Sarah Bradbury

The Girls on Film Awards 2025 took place on 26^th January 2025. Check out the podcast here.

Full List of Winners and Nominees: 

BEST FEATURE FILM 

The Substance​

All We Imagine as Light​

Blink Twice​

Emilia Pérez​

La Chimera 

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE 

Black Box Diaries​

Copa 71​

Dahomey​

Four Daughters​

Witches 

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A LEADING ROLE 

Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Hard Truths)​

Cynthia Erivo (Wicked)​

Demi Moore (The Substance)​

Karla Sofía Gascón (Emilia Pérez)​

Mikey Madison (Anora)​

Naomi Ackie (Blink Twice) 

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A SUPPORTING ROLE 

Danielle Deadwyler (The Piano Lesson)​

Ariana Grande (Wicked)​ 

Emily Watson (Small Things Like These)​

Lesley Manville (Queer)​

Michele Austin (Hard Truths)​

Zoe Saldaña (Emilia Pérez) 

FEMALE FRIENDSHIP ON SCREEN 

All We Imagine as Light​

Chuck Chuck Baby​

The Last Showgirl​

My Old Ass​

Wicked 

ENSEMBLE CAST 

Emilia Pérez​

All We Imagine as Light​

Girls Will Be Girls​

Hoard​

Wicked Little Letters 

THE GIRLS ON FILM ALLY AWARD SPONSORED BY IMDb 

Mike Leigh (Hard Truths)​

Jacques Audiard (Emilia Pérez)​

Jon M. Chu (Wicked)​

Pedro Almodóvar (The Room Next Door)​

Sean Baker (Anora) 

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY SPONSORED BY CREWHQ 

Hélène Louvart AFC (La Chimera)​

Alice Brooks ASC (Wicked)​

Maria von Hausswolff DFF (Janet Planet)​

Polly Morgan ASC BSC (Back to Black)​

Tasha Back (In Camera) 

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN 

Judy Becker (The Brutalist)​

Emmanuelle Duplay (Emilia Pérez)​

Gemma Jackson (Lee)​

Jagna Dobesz (The Girl with the Needle)​

Suzie Davies (Conclave/Hard Truths) 

BEST COSTUME DESIGN 

Linda Muir (Nosferatu)​

Emmanuelle Youchnovski (The Substance)​

Jacqueline Durran (Blitz)​

Jocelyn Pierce (Anora)​

Rebecca Gore (Timestalker) 

BEST COMPOSER 

Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear (Moana 2)​

Andrea Datzman (Inside Out 2)​

Hildur Guðnadóttir (Joker: Folie à Deux)​

Isobel Waller-Bridge (Wicked Little Letters)​

Lucrecia Dalt (On Becoming a Guinea Fowl) 

BEST PUBLICITY CAMPAIGN 

Universal (Wicked)​

Emilia Pérez – Netflix​

Inside Out 2 – Disney​

The Substance – MUBI​

Timestalker – Vertigo 

ACTIVIST IMPACT AWARD 

Shiori Ito (Black Box Diaries)​

LFF Critics Support Fund​

MilkTea​

TAPE Collective​

Jeanie Finlay (Your Fat Friend) 

FEMALE ORGASM ON SCREEN SPONSORED BY INTIMACY ON SET 

Nicole Kidman (with Nicole Kidman, and later Harris Dickinson) (Babygirl)​

Anne Hathaway (with Nicholas Galitzine) – The Idea of You​

Kristen Stewart and Katy O’Brian – Love Lies Bleeding​

Geraldine Viswanathan (with Margaret Qualley) – Drive-Away Dolls​

Preeti Panigrahi (with Preeti Panigrahi and Kesav Binoy Kiron) – Girls Will Be Girls