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    Dorian Film Awards: ‘The Substance’ and Film’s Star Demi Moore Score Big with LGBTQ Critics

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    Allegorical Trans Chiller ‘I Saw the TV Glow,’ Netflix Doc ‘Will & Harper,’ Provocative Tennis Drama ‘Challengers’ All Notch Double-Wins

     
    Thursday Feb 13, 2025 – Los Angeles – GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, counting more than 500 entertainment critics, journalists and media icons, has announced the winners of its Dorian Film Awards. Writer-director Coralie Fargeat’s shocking Hollywood satire The Substance was crowned Film of the Year, with the Mubi release taking five Dorians in all, including star Demi Moore for Film Performance of the Year and Fargeat for Film Director of the Year. 
     
    Moore’s morph from former Brat Pack Era fixture to raw, unflinching indie movie firebrand impressed GALECA voters enough to also bestow her with the group’s Timeless Star career achievement award. Previous winners in the category, which tributes “an exemplary career marked by character, wisdom and wit,” include the likes of Jodie Foster, Jane Fonda, Nathan Lane, John Waters, Rita Moreno, Jane Fonda, George Takei and Sir Ian McKellen. 
     
    Writer-director Jane Schoenbrun’s thought-provoking horror tale I Saw the TV Glow, which had lead the Dorian hunt with 9 nominations, took LGBTQ Film of the Year as well as LGBTQ screenplay honors. Will & Harper, the irresistible road-trip documentary charting actor Will Ferrell’s enduring friendship with trans comedy writer Harper Steele, won both Documentary of the Year and LGBTQ Documentary. And Galeca members showed 40-love for Challengers, director Luca Guadagnino’s homoerotic spin on Jules and Jim. The film’s writer Justin Kuritzkes earned Screenplay of the Year, while rock legends Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for their tension-building techno score. 
     
    Wicked fans will be pleased that Dorian voters held plenty of space for the musical fantasy’s stars. The group gave Ariana Grande a pinky hug for Supporting Film Performance of the Year, Jonathan Bailey was named Rising Star, and Cynthia Erivo—who plays misunderstood, green-skinned heroine Elphaba Thropp in the hit—won LGBTQIA+ Film Trailblazer. Past recipients of the latter honor—which is meant for an artist who “inspires empathy, truth and equity”—include Janelle Monáe, Pedro Almodóvar, Isabel Sandoval and Colman Domingo. 
     
    Fun fact: Domingo, Dorian-nominated this year for Sing Sing, proved victorious over Fargeat, Schoenbrun, Guadagnino and Tilda Swinton in the race for Wilde Artist, a special accolade named in homage to Oscar Wilde reserved for “a truly groundbreaking force in entertainment.”
     
    “In our 16th year, GALECA’s members still have wicked fun toasting their favorites in film both mainstream and LGBTQ-themed,” said group president Walt Hickey. Added vice president Diane Anderson-Minshall, “I’m certain even some ultra-conservatives who are out to erase all sorts of ‘woke’ words and letters—not to mention history—are secretly taking note of our winners. Everyone appreciates the expert Q+ eye on entertainment.”
     
    Other GALECA Dorian winners this year: The trans-empowering Batman spoof The People’s Joker and writer-director-star Julio Torres’ comedy Problemista were both dubbed Unsung Film gems; director RaMell Ross’ somewhat experimental Nickel Boys was named Visually Striking Film, and the twisty animal adventure Flow—another dazzling cinematic experience—took Animated Film of the Year. 
     
    Best Non-English language film honors went to Brazil’s fact-based protest drama I’m Still Here, released by Sony Pictures Classics in the U.S. The controversy-plagued Emilia Pérez was named best LGBTQ non-English language film.
     
    GALECA: has been busy. The Society recently launched its latest $3000 Crimson Honors scholarship contest for aspiring film, TV and New York theater critics in public colleges (applications, due March 20, can be submitted via galeca.org/crimson-honors). The group has also donated $1000 to The Los Angeles Press Club’s emergency relief fund for journalists affected by the city’s devastating January fires. And the membership recently announced its choices for America’s 10 best on-air TV news journalists, among them Christiane Amanpour, David Muir, Lester Holt, Kaitlan Collins and Jacob Soboroff. 
    GALECA: THE SOCIETY OF LGBTQ ENTERTAINMENT CRITICS
    16TH DORIAN FILM AWARDS LIST OF NOMINEES
     
    FILM OF THE YEAR
    Anora (Neon)
    Challengers      (Amazon MGM Studios)
    I Saw the TV Glow (A24)
    Nickel Boys (Orion Pictures/Amazon MGM Studios)
    ⭐️ The Substance (Mubi)
     
    LGBTQ FILM OF THE YEAR
    Challengers (Amazon MGM Studios)
    Emilia Pérez (Netflix)
    ⭐️ I Saw the TV Glow     (A24)
    Love Lies Bleeding (A24)
    Queer (A24)
     
    DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR
    Brady Corbet, The Brutalist (A24)
    ⭐️ Coralie Fargeat, The Substance (Mubi)
    Luca Guadagnino, Challengers (Amazon MGM Studios)
    RaMell Ross, Nickel Boys (Orion Pictures/Amazon MGM Studios)
    Jane Schoenbrun, I Saw the TV Glow (A24)
     
    SCREENPLAY OF THE YEAR 
    — Original or adapted
    Sean Baker,  Anora (Neon)
    Coralie Fargeat, The Substance     (Mubi) 
    ⭐️ Justin Kuritzkes, Challengers (Amazon MGM Studios)
    Jane Schoenbrun, I Saw the TV Glow (A24) 
    Peter Straughan, Conclave (Focus Features) 
     
    LGBTQ SCREENPLAY OF THE YEAR
    Rose Glass and Weronika Tofilska, Love Lies Bleeding (A24)
    Justin Kuritzkes, Challengers (Amazon MGM Studios)
    Justin Kuritzkes, Queer (A24)
    ⭐️ Jane Schoenbrun, I Saw the TV Glow (A24)
    Julio Torres, Problemista (A24)
     
    NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR
    All We Imagine as Light (Sideshow / Janus Films)
    Emilia Pérez (Netflix)
    Flow (Sideshow / Janus Films)
    ⭐️ I’m Still Here (Sony Pictures Classics)
    The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Neon)
     
    LGBTQ NON-ENGLISH FILM OF THE YEAR
    Crossing (Mubi)
    ⭐️ Emilia Pérez (Netflix)
    Queendom (Greenwich Entertainment)
    Vermiglio     (Sideshow / Janus Films)
    All Shall Be Well (Strand Releasing) 
     
    UNSUNG FILM OF THE YEAR
    —To an exceptional movie worthy of greater attention
    Didi (Focus Features)
    Hundreds of Beavers (Cineverse, Vinegar Syndrome)
    My Old Ass     (Amazon MGM Studios)
    ⭐️ Problemista (A24)
    Thelma (Magnolia)
     
    UNSUNG LGBTQ FILM OF THE YEAR
    Femme (Utopia)
    My Old Ass (Amazon MGM Studios)
    National Anthem (Variance, LD Entertainment)
    ⭐️ The People’s Joker     (Altered Innocence)
    Problemista (A24)
     
    FILM PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR
    Adrien Brody, The Brutalist (A24)
    Daniel Craig, Queer (A24)
    Colman Domingo, Sing Sing (A24)
    Karla Sofía Gascón, Emilia Pérez (Netflix) 
    Cynthia Erivo, Wicked (Universal)
    Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Hard Truths     (Bleecker Street)
    Nicole Kidman, Babygirl (A24)
    Mikey Madison, Anora (Neon)
    ⭐️ Demi Moore, The Substance     (Mubi)
    Justice Smith, I Saw the TV Glow (A24)
     
    SUPPORTING FILM PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR
    Michele Austin, Hard Truths (Bleecker Street)
    Yura Borisov, Anora (Neon)
    Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain     (Searchlight Pictures)
    ⭐️ Ariana Grande, Wicked (Universal)
    Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Nickel Boys (Orion Pictures/Amazon MGM Studios)
    Jack Haven, I Saw the TV Glow (A24)
    Clarence Maclin, Sing Sing (A24)
    Guy Pearce, The Brutalist (A24)
    Margaret Qualley, The Substance (Mubi)
    Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez (Netflix)
     
    DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR
    Dahomey (Mubi)
    Daughters (Netflix)
    The Remarkable Life of Ibelin (Netflix)
    Sugarcane     (National Geographic)
    ⭐️ Will & Harper (Netflix)
     
    LGBTQ DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR
    Chasing Chasing Amy (Level 33)
    Frida (Amazon MGM Studios)
    Merchant Ivory (Cohen Media Group)
    Queendom (Greenwich Entertainment)
    ⭐️ Will & Harper (Netflix)
     
    ANIMATED FILM OF THE YEAR
    ⭐️ Flow (Sideshow / Janus Films)
    Inside Out 2 (Disney)
    Memoir of a Snail (IFC Films)
    Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (Netflix)
    The Wild Robot (Universal, DreamWorks)
     
    GENRE FILM OF THE YEAR
    For excellence in science fiction, fantasy and horror
    Dune: Part Two (Warner Bros.)
    I Saw the TV Glow     (A24)
    Nosferatu (Focus Features)
    ⭐️ The Substance     (Mubi)
    Wicked (Universal)
     
    FILM MUSIC OF THE YEAR
    The Brutalist (A24) – Daniel Blumberg
    ⭐️ Challengers (Amazon MGM Studios) – Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
    Emilia Pérez (Netflix) – Clément Ducol and Camille
    I Saw the TV Glow     (A24) – Alex G
    Wicked (Universal) – John Powell and Stephen Schwartz, et al.
     
    VISUALLY STRIKING FILM OF THE YEAR
    The Brutalist (A24)
    Dune: Part Two (Warner Bros.)
    Nosferatu (Focus Features)
    ⭐️ Nickel Boys     (Orion Pictures/Amazon MGM Studios)
    The Substance (Mubi)
     
    CAMPIEST FLICK 
    Hundreds of Beavers (Cineverse, Vinegar Syndrome)
    Madame Web (Sony)
    Megalopolis (Lionsgate)
    ⭐️ The Substance     (Mubi)
    Trap (Warner Bros.)
     
    “WE’RE WILDE ABOUT YOU!” RISING STAR AWARD
    ⭐️ Jonathan Bailey
    Vera Drew
    Karla Sofía Gascón 
    Jack Haven
    Mikey Madison
    Katy O’Brian
    Drew Starkey
     
    WILDE ARTIST AWARD
    To a truly groundbreaking force in entertainment
    ⭐️ Colman Domingo
    Luca Guadagnino
    Coralie Fargeat
    Jane Schoenbrun
    Tilda Swinton
     
    GALECA LGBTQIA+ FILM TRAILBLAZER
    For creating art that inspires empathy, truth and equity
    Vera Drew
    ⭐️ Cynthia Erivo
    Luca Guadagnino
    Jane Schoenbrun
    Julio Torres
     
    TIMELESS STAR (Career achievement award)
    Honoring an exemplary career marked by character, wisdom and wit
    ⭐️ Demi Moore
     
    Wins per studio:
    Altered Innocence – 1 
    Amazon/MGM/Orion 3
    A24 – 3
    Mubi – 5
    Netflix – 3
    Sideshow / Janus Films – 1 
    Sony Pictures Classics – 1
    Universal  – 1

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