Writer and photographer Katherine Oktober Matthews joins Elysia to discuss this year's writing and directing nominees for the 2026 Academy Awards. After they each unleash some of their hottest takes breaking down the three categories, they reconvene after the credits for a separate spoiler-filled discussion of eight of the nominees (01:47:05).

Note: All film discussion in this episode is spoiler-free (until the separate post-credits spoiler section)!

Links discussed:

• Katherine's writing and photography
• Elsewhere: A Personal Essay in Words and Photos
• The Emotion Mixer
• Oscars 2025: Live-Action Shorts & the Emotion Mixer (with Katherine)
• The Craft (1996) & The Craft: Legacy (2020) (with Katherine)
• Interview w/ Hamnet author – Not Just the Tudors podcast

Subscriber bonuses:

• What is real witchcraft? (with Marilyn, and a Katherine double-Macbeth cameo)
• Hamnet – WhachaWachin (with spoilers)

The nominees:

Best Original Screenplay (00:10:37.453)

• Ryan Coogler – Sinners (HBO Max, our coverage)
• Josh Safdie & Ronald Bronstein – Marty Supreme (to rent)
• Joachim Trier & Eskil Vogt – Sentimental Value (to rent, our coverage [subscribers])
• Jafar Panahi w/ Mehdi Mahmoudian, Shadmehr Rastin, & Nader Saïvar – It Was Just an Accident (Hulu)
• Robert Kaplow – Blue Moon (Netflix)

Best Adapted Screenplay (00:45:19.607)

• Paul Thomas Anderson – One Battle After Another (HBO Max, our coverage: pt. 1, pt. 2, pt. 3) – based on: The novel Vineland by Thomas Pynchon
• Chloé Zhao & Maggie O'Farrell – Hamnet (to rent, our coverage [subscribers]) – based on: The novel Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
• Guillermo del Toro – Frankenstein (Netflix, our coverage) – based on: The novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
• Clint Bentley & Greg Kwedar – Train Dreams (Netflix) – based on: The novella Train Dreams by Denis Johnson
• Will Tracy – Bugonia (Peacock) – based on: The film Save the Green Planet! (2003) by Jang Joon-hwan

Best Director (01:25:21)

• Paul Thomas Anderson – One Battle After Another (HBO Max, our coverage: pt. 1, pt. 2, pt. 3)
• Ryan Coogler – Sinners (HBO Max, our coverage)
• Chloé Zhao – Hamnet (to rent, our coverage [subscribers])
• Joachim Trier – Sentimental Value (to rent, our coverage [subscribers])
• Josh Safdie – Marty Supreme (to rent)

Other films mentioned: Fruitvale Station (2013, Starz), Creed (2015, to rent), Uncut Gems (2019, Netflix), The Smashing Machine (Prime), The Worst Person in the World (2021, Kanopy / Tubi / etc.), Me and Orson Welles (2008, Plex / to rent), Twinless (Hulu), No Other Choice (to rent), The Long Walk (Starz, to rent), Civil War (2024, Prime / Hulu, our coverage), Shakespeare in Love  (1998, Paramount+ / etc.), Frankenstein & Bride of Frankenstein (1931 & 1935, YouTube, our coverage), Sing Sing (2024, Prime), CODA (2021 [BP winner], Apple), La Familie Bélier (2014, YouTube), Phantom Thread (2017, Mubi [NL] / to rent), Nonnas (Netflix); hive minds (TV): Star Trek: The Next Generation (Paramount+) & Pluribus (Apple)

The 98th Academy Awards will air Sunday, March 15, 2025 at 7 pm ET (on ABC/Hulu in the US) – where it's aired around the world

Check how many Oscar nominees you've seen at OscarsDeathRace.com – or with extended stats via DeathRaceTracking.com

Oscars 2026 coverage

Nominations + Best Picture preview

Live-Action, Animated, & Documentary Shorts 

Production Design, Costumes, Makeup & Hair

International Features

Documentary Features

Animated Features

Score & Original Song

Cinematography, VFX, Editing, Sound

Adapted & Original Screenplay, Director (this episode)

Lead & Supporting Actor & Actress, Casting

Ceremony reactions + Best Picture rankings

Deep dives into 2026 Oscar nominees

Sinners

One Battle After Another – pt. 1, pt. 2, pt. 3

Frankenstein

Weapons

Shorts: “Two People Exchanging Saliva,” “Jane Austen’s Period Drama,” “The Singers,” “Retirement Plan,” and “The Girl Who Cried Pearls”

For subscribers: 

Hamnet – WhachaWachin (with spoilers)

Leiden IFF – WhachaWachin (Sentimental Value, If I Had Legs I Would Kick You, Arco)

Additional awards coverage

BAFTA shorts

BAFTA features

Independent Spirit Awards

Revisit Oscars 2024 & 2025: links in these show notes

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