16th Dorian Film Awards: Demi Moore, Ariana Grande + More Score Big with LGBTQ Critics

GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, counting more than 500 entertainment critics, journalists and media icons, has announced the winners of its 16th Dorian Film Awards. Note – I am a proud voting member of GALECA. From our Executive Director John Griffiths: 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.

We are the champions, my friends And we’ll keep on fighting till the end

We congratulate all the winners at the #DorianAwards2025 Film Awards. Well deserved. pic.twitter.com/utV9xWTmg2 — GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (@DorianAwards) February 13, 2025

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 taleI 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 Almodovar, 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. 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 • 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.