The 2025 MIM Awards for International Movies

Main section of the Magical International Movie Awards 2025. ‘The Seed of the Sacred Fig’ is at the top of the list, but it had tough competition.

Have you seen them?

2024 was another exceptional year for movies. The best deserve the invisible MIM Awards we give them!

Although it’s April Fool’s Day, there’s nothing foolish about these directors and actors. Biggest applause goes to those who risked their freedom to tell us their stories (more about that under Storytelling from Beyond).

Nowhere else are you going to find all genres and languages; from art to horror, low budget indie to big studio, festival winners to those under the radar, and from English to Russian.

The top moviemakers, actors, scenes, genre and theme winners can be found below the ‘13 Magical Movies’.

Click the links to view the trailers.

MIM AWARDS 2025

MAIN SECTION: INTERNATIONAL MOVIES

13 MAGICAL MOVIES

1. The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Dir Mohammad Rasoulof, Iran, female oppression drama)

2. I'm Still Here (Dir Walter Salles, Brazil, political oppression biopic)

3. Red Rooms (Dir Pascal Plante, Canada, unique serial killer court thriller)

4. Anora (Dir Sean Baker, USA, empowerment crime action romcom)

5. The Master and Margarita (Dir Michael Lockshin, USA-Russia, fantasy drama romance)

6. Day of the Fight (Dir Jack Huston debut, USA, redemption drama)

7. Black Dog (Dir Hu Guan, China, crime drama)

8. Crossing (Dir Levan Akin, Georgia-Sweden set Turkey, gay family drama)

9. The Outrun (Dir Nora Fingscheidt, Germany but English, indie, redemption drama)

10. Ru (Dir Charles-Olivier Michaud, Canada, Vietnamese immigrant child drama)

11. Didi (Dir Sean Wang, USA, indie, Taiwanese coming-of-age teen drama)

12. Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World (Dir Radu Jude, Romania, snarky dialogue drama)

13. The Devil's Bath (Dirs Severin Fiala & Veronika Franz, Austria historical psychological drama thriller)

Compiling this list was agony. How could ‘Love According to Dalva’ (France), ‘The Girl with the Needle’ (Denmark), ‘All We Imagine as Light (India), ‘Chile 1976’, and ‘Pandemonium’ (France) be excluded. ‘Wild Robot’ (USA) and ‘Flow’ (Lithuania) were perfect animations, and ‘Dune 2’ faultless. But you’ll find those names in the Awards section.

There are always underrated or underexposed movies, especially indies, but notable mainstream was also rejected. ‘Joker - Folie à Deux’ may not be a teenager’s wet action dream but it’s a well shot drama with excellent lead actors. That it was nominated for so many Raspberry Awards is indication of how dumb society has become.

Director Pablo Larraín has made many well received English and Spanish movies, from ‘Jackie’ to ‘The Club’ so it was surprising that his ‘Maria’ biopic never received more applause, especially since Angelina Jolie delivered one of the year’s finest performances.

On the indie side, debut director Christy Hall shot ‘Daddio’ inside a taxi, an intimate dialogue between Sean Penn and Dakota Johnson. Two people talking isn’t a marketing campaign, but in a better world it would be. Mafia movies get abnormal attention but ‘Fresh Kills’ didn’t. Maybe because the usually macho topic focused on the effect of a criminal father/husband on his female family members i.e., more drama than blood. I applaud director, writer and actor Jennifer Esposito who mortgaged her house to fund it.

Owing to politics, ‘The Master and Margarita’ is the most overlooked masterpiece. It scarcely received critical attention from both the West and Russia. That gives an inkling of what it must be like to be its torn American Russian director.

The most overrated blockbuster was ‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’. Nothing came close to its ridiculousness and lack of drama. It was a madhouse desert porn movie that forgot to undress.

Following its masochism was ‘The Substance’. Love for an invigorated Demi Moore, but the movie was too much for too long. If 20 minutes had been cut it would have been more effective. It got the hype, but there were many better independent horrors e.g., ‘Longlegs’ and ‘Late Night With the Devil’ (note that ‘The MIM Awards for Horror and Thrillers’ will be posted next week).

STORYTELLING FROM BEYOND

Actors Soheila Golestani and Missagh Zareh are being held by Iran regime

Crew Bravery: ‘The Seed of the Sacred Fig’ - Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof was in solitary confinement when he imagined the story. After shooting it in secret, he was sentenced to 8 years imprisonment but escaped Iran on foot over 28 days, and was kidnapped in between. Several crew and cast members fled the country too. Two of the four leads, Soheila Golestani and Missagh Zareh did not. Golestani is under house arrest, awaiting a ‘trial’ wherein it will be decided if she should be flogged 74 times and sent to prison. Does anyone have info about Missagh Zareh, who played her husband in the movie?

Crew Bravery #2: ‘My Favourite Cake’ - A gentle film about a widowed and lonely old lady having dinner with a taxi driver whilst not wearing the hijab resulted in the interrogation and temporary detention of the cast and crew. Their travel permits were revoked. All were to be on trial in March 2025, but the outcome is not available online. The charges include promoting prostitution and propaganda against the government.

Crew Commitment: ‘Caught by the Tides’ (used 21 years of footage)

ACTORS

Actor Michael Pitt delivers in this indie gem!

Men:

• Winner: Michael Pitt (‘Day of the Fight’)

• Runner-up: Joaquin Phoenix (‘Joker - Folie à Deux’)

Women:

• Winner: Saorise Ronan (‘The Outrun’) & Jessica Lange (‘The Great Lillian Hall’) [tie]

• Runner-up: Ilinca Manolache (‘Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World’)

Teens:

• Winner: Izaac Wang (‘Didi’)

• Runner-up: Maite Aguilar (‘Alemania’)

Kids:

• Winner: Zoe Ziegler (‘Janet Planet’)

• Runner-up: River Price-Maenpaa (‘North of Normal’) and Nykiya Adams (‘Bird’) [tie]

Support:

• Winner: Jeremy Strong (as Roy Cohn in ‘The Apprentice’)

• Runner-up: Yura Borisov (‘Anora’ – you should also see him in ‘Compartment No.6’)

Breakthrough:

• Winner: Mikey Madison (‘Anora’)

• Runner-up: Saura Lightfoot-Leon (‘Hoard’)

Ensemble:

• Winner: ‘Saturday Night’

• Runner-up: ‘Christmas Eve in Miller's Point’ & ‘His Three Daughters’ [tie]

I’m Still Living & Delivering:

• 94-year-old June Squibb for her first leading role in the heartwarming ‘Thelma’.

• 94-year-old Clint Eastwood for directing ‘Juror #2’.

• 75-year-old Jessica Lange for her performance in ‘The Great Lillian Hall’.

MOVIEMAKERS

Sean Baker directed the multi-genre crowd favourite ‘Anora’

• Best Movie: ‘The Seed of the Sacred Fig’

• Best Movie Director: Sean Baker for ‘Anora’

• Best Debut Male Director: Jack Huston for ‘Day of the Fight’

• Best Debut Female Director: Emmanuelle Nicot for ‘Love According to Dalva’

Words:

• Best Screenplay: ‘Saturday Night’

• Most Original Screenplay: ‘Chuck Chuck Baby’

• Cleverest Screenplay: ‘Pandemonium’

• Best Dialogue: ‘Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World’

• Most Interesting Character: Kelly-Anne in ‘Red Rooms’ (performed by Juliette Gariépy)

Audio & Visual:

• Cinematography: It’s too difficult to choose a winner. ‘Nickel Boys’ is clearly unique.‘Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell’ painted mood more than the narrative. Then there’s the astounding black and white movies ‘Nosferatu’, ‘Day of the Fight’, ‘The Brutalist’ and ‘The Girl With the Needle’.

• Sound: ‘Dune - Part 2’

• Special Effects: ‘Dune - Part 2’

MEMORABLE SCENES

• The scariest was meeting Billy, Hell’s torturer, in ‘Pandemonium’. That’s one of the most disturbing this century.

• The sewer incident in ‘The Girl With the Needle’ was shocking. There’s also the child being traumatically separated from her father in ‘Love According to Dalva’, a double impact when the viewer later finds out why.

• Screwball hilarity when the leads in ‘Molli and Max in the Future’ accidentally share a taxi and catch-up on what they’ve been doing for years, her joining a cult and becoming a witch, and him having a relationship with a robot.

• The best opening scenes were the drug-filled drive with title credits in ‘MadS’, and the herd of canines derailing a bus in ‘Black Dog’. ‘Kneecap’ was inventive.

GENRE GREAT

The best historical movie, and one of the best thrillers

Action:

• Winner: ‘Dune - Part 2’ (Canada/USA)

• Runner-up: ‘Monkey Man’ (UK set India)

Animation:

• Winner: ‘Wild Robot’ and ‘Flow’ [tie]

• Runner-up: ‘The Boy and the Heron’ (Japan) and ‘Memoir of a Snail’ (Australia) [tie]

Comedy:

• Winner: ‘My Old Ass’ (USA)

• Runner-up: ‘Hundreds of Beavers’ (USA)

Comedy Romcom:

• Winner: ‘Anora’ (USA)

• Runner-up: ‘Molli and Max in the Future’ (USA)

Crime:

• Winner: ‘Anora’ (USA)

• Runner-up: ‘Fresh Kills’ (USA)

Drama:

• Winner: ‘The Seed of the Sacred Fig’ (Iran)

• Runner-up: ‘I'm Still Here’ (Brazil)

Fantasy:

• Winner: ‘Bird’ (UK)

• Runner-Up: ‘Alienoid: Return to the Future’ (Korea) [watch Alienoid first]

Historical:

• Winner: ‘The Devil’s Bath’ (Austria)

• Runner-up: ‘The Girl With the Needle’ (Denmark)

Horror:

• Winner: ‘Pandemonium’ (France)

• Runner-up: ‘Nosferatu’ (USA) and ‘MadS’ (France) [tie]

Musical:

• Winner: ‘Joker - Folie à Deux’ (USA)

• Runner-up: ‘Chuck Chuck Baby’ (UK)

Mystery:

• Winner: ‘Caddo Lake’ (USA)

• Runner-up: ‘Only the River Flows’ (China)

Romance:

• Winner: ‘Touch’ (Iceland)

• Runner-up: ‘Vermiglio’ (Italy) and ‘Loveable’ (Norway)

SciFi:

• Winner: ‘Dune - Part 2’ (Canada/USA)

• Runner-up: ‘Molli and Max in the Future’ (USA)

Thriller:

• Winner: ‘Red Rooms’ (Canada)

• Runner-up: ‘Naga’ (Saudi Arabia) (tie)

War:

• Winner: ‘Civil War’ (USA)

• Runner-up: ‘Number 24’ (Norway)

Western:

• Winner: ‘The Settlers’ (Chile)

• Runner-up: ‘The Dead Don’t Hurt’ (Mexico but mostly English)

THEME TREMENDOUS

A well handled tale of grief

Adventure:

• Winner: ‘The Three Musketeers - Part II: Milady’ (France)

• Runner-up: ‘The Count of Monte Christo’ (France)

Ageism:

• Winner: ‘The Great Lillian Hall’ (USA)

• Runner-up: ‘My Favourite Cake’ (Iran) and ‘Mamacruz’ (Venezuela/Spain) [tie]

Art Cinema:

• Winner: ‘Caught by the Tides’ (China)

• Runner-up: ‘The Brutalist’ (USA)

Biopic:

• Winner: ‘I'm Still Here’ (Brazil)

• Runner-up: ‘Chile 1976’ (Chile) and ‘A Complete Unknown’ (USA) [tie]

Book or Stage Adaption:

• Winner: ‘The Master and Margarita’ (USA/Russia)

• Runner-up: ‘His Three Daughters’ (USA)

Child:

• Winner: ‘Ru’ (Canada)

• Runner-up: ‘Love According to Dalva’ (France)

Dialogue:

• Winner: ‘Daddio’ (USA)

• Runner-up: ‘The Room Next Door’ and ‘Hard Truths’ (UK) [tie]

Family:

• Winner: ‘I'm Still Here ‘(Brazil)

• Runner-up: ‘Christmas Eve in Miller's Point’ (USA)

Female:

• Winner: ‘The Girl With the Needle’ (Denmark)

• Runner-up: ‘In Her Place’ (Chile) and ‘All We Imagine as Light’ (India) [tie]

Friendship:

• Winner: ‘A Real Pain’ (USA set Germany)

• Runner-up: ‘The Room Next Door’ (USA)

Gay:

• Winner: ‘Crossing’ (Georgia-Sweden set Turkey)

• Runner-up: ‘Chuck Chuck Baby’ (UK)

Grief:

• Winner: ‘Ghostlight’ (USA)

• Runner-up: ‘His Three Daughters’ (USA) and ‘The Graduates’ [tie]

Immigration:

• Winner: ‘Ru’ (Canada/Vietnam)

• Runner-up: ‘Opponent’ (Sweden/Iran)

Music:

• Winner: ‘A Complete Unknown’ (USA)

• Runner-up: ‘Kneecap’ (Ireland)

Political:

• Winner: ‘The Seed of the Sacred Fig’ (Iran)

• Runner-up: ‘I'm Still Here ‘(Brazil)

Religion:

• Winner: ‘Conclave’ (Germany/UK)

• Runner-up: ‘Kidnapped, The Abduction of Edgardo Mortara’ (Italy)

Sex & Sexuality:

• Winner: ‘Last Summer’ (France)

• Runner-up: ‘Mamacruz’ (Venezuela/Spain)

Sport:

• Winner: ‘Day of the Fight’ (USA)

• Runner-up: ‘The Fire Inside’ (USA)

Teen:

• Winner: ‘Didi’ (USA)

• Runner-up: ‘Nickel Boys’ (USA)

BEST MINISERIES

Chan-wook Park, director of ‘Oldboy’ and ‘The Handmaiden’, returns with a layered miniseries.

• Winner: ‘The Sympathizer’ (Korea/USA)

• Runner-up: ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’ (Colombia)

BEST SERIES

• Winner: ‘Slow Horses’ S4 (UK)

• Runner-up: ‘Shogun’ S1 (USA)

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