The 26th Annual Black Reel Awards ceremony, presented by the Foundation for the Augmentation of African-Americans in Film (FAAAF) and honoring the best films of 2025, took place during a virtual ceremony on February 16, 2026.

The film nominations were announced on December 18, 2025. Ryan Coogler's supernatural horror film Sinners led with a record-breaking twenty-one nominations, followed by Highest 2 Lowest with eleven, and 40 Acres and On Becoming a Guinea Fowl, both with nine each. The category for Outstanding Independent Documentary was introduced.

Sinners was the most awarded film of the ceremony history with fourteen accolades, surpassing the previous record of ten awards won by Black Panther in 2019. The film also won all three acting categories, becoming the first film to achieve it since the categories merged into gender neutral in 2024. Ludwig Göransson became first person to win Outstanding Score and Original Song in the same year on the ceremony history. Autumn Durald Arkapaw became the first woman to win Outstanding Cinematography.

Film nominees Outstanding Film Outstanding Director Sinners – Zinzi Coogler, Sev Ohanian, and Ryan Coogler, producers Hedda – Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Gabrielle Nadig, Nia DaCosta, and Tessa Thompson, producers Highest 2 Lowest – Todd Black and Jason Michael Berman, producers One of Them Days – Issa Rae, Deniese Davis, Sara Rastogi, James Lopez, and Poppy Hank, producers Wicked: For Good – Marc Platt and David Stone, producers | valign="top"| Ryan Coogler – Sinners Nia DaCosta – Hedda Spike Lee – Highest 2 Lowest Rungano Nyoni – On Becoming a Guinea Fowl R.T. Thorne – 40 Acres Outstanding Lead Performance Outstanding Supporting Performance Michael B. Jordan – Sinners as Elijah "Smoke" Moore / Elias "Stack" Moore Danielle Deadwyler – 40 Acres as Hailey Freeman Cynthia Erivo – Wicked: For Good as Elphaba Thropp André Holland – Love, Brooklyn as Roger Chase Infiniti – One Battle After Another as Willa Ferguson / Charlene Calhoun Dwayne Johnson – The Smashing Machine as Mark Kerr Jonathan Majors – Magazine Dreams as Killian Maddox Keke Palmer – One of Them Days as Dreux Tessa Thompson – Hedda as Hedda Gabler Denzel Washington – Highest 2 Lowest as David King Wunmi Mosaku – Sinners as Annie Miles Caton – Sinners as Samuel "Sammie" Moore Regina Hall – One Battle After Another as Deandra / "Lady Champagne" Damson Idris – F1 as Joshua Pearce David Jonsson – The Long Walk as Peter "Pete" McVries Delroy Lindo – Sinners as Delta Slim Da'Vine Joy Randolph – Eternity as Anna A$AP Rocky – Highest 2 Lowest as Archie/Yung Felon Teyana Taylor – One Battle After Another as Perfidia Beverly Hills Jeffrey Wright – Highest 2 Lowest as Paul Christopher Outstanding Breakthrough Performance Outstanding Ensemble Miles Caton – Sinners as Samuel "Sammie" Moore Susan Chardy – On Becoming a Guinea Fowl as Shula Naya Desir-Johnson – Sarah's Oil as Sarah Rector Damson Idris – F1 as Joshua Pearce Chase Infiniti – One Battle After Another as Willa Ferguson / Charlene Calhoun Jayme Lawson – Sinners as Pearline A$AP Rocky – Highest 2 Lowest as Archie/Yung Felon Abou Sangaré – Souleymane's Story as Souleymane SZA – One of Them Days as Alyssa Tyriq Withers – Him as Cameron "Cam" Cade Sinners – Francine Maisler 40 Acres – Stephanie Gorin Highest 2 Lowest – Kim Coleman On Becoming a Guinea Fowl – Isabella Odoffin One of Them Days – Nicole Abellera and Jeanne McCarthy |- ! width="50%"| Outstanding Short Film ! width="50%"| Outstanding Documentary Feature |- | valign="top"| The Devil is Busy – Geeta Gandbhir and Christalyn Hampton, directors Jules – Tiffany Abney, director Walk in the Light – Princella Smith, director | valign="top"| The Perfect Neighbor – Geeta Gandbhir, director Being Eddie – Angus Wall, director In Whose Name? – Nico Ballesteros, director Orwell: 2+2=5 – Raoul Peck, director Songs From the Hole – Contessa Gayles, director |- ! width="50%"| Outstanding International Film ! width="50%"| Outstanding Independent Film |- | valign="top"| On Becoming a Guinea Fowl (Zambia, United Kingdom, Ireland) – Rungano Nyoni My Father's Shadow (United Kingdom) – Akinola Davies Jr. Night Call (Belgium) – Michiel Blanchart Souleymane's Story (France) – Boris Lojkine We Were Here – The Untold History of Black Africans in Renaissance Europe (Germany) – Fred Kudjo Kuwornu | valign="top"| 40 Acres – R.T. Thorne, director Love, Brooklyn – Rachael Holder, director Magazine Dreams – Elijah Bynum, director My Father's Shadow – Akinola Davies Jr., director On Becoming a Guinea Fowl – Rungano Nyoni, director |- ! width="50%"| Outstanding Screenplay ! width="50%"| Outstanding First Screenplay |- | valign="top"| Sinners – Ryan Coogler Hedda – Nia DaCosta On Becoming a Guinea Fowl – Rungano Nyoni One of Them Days – Syreeta Singleton 40 Acres – R.T. Thorne | valign="top"| One of Them Days – Syreeta Singleton The Knife – Nnamdi Asomugha My Father's Shadow – Akinola Davies Jr. and Wale Davies On Becoming a Guinea Fowl – Rungano Nyoni 40 Acres – R.T. Thorne |- ! width="50%"| Outstanding Emerging Director ! width="50%"| Outstanding Voice Performance |- | valign="top"| R.T. Thorne – 40 Acres Akinola Davies Jr. – My Father's Shadow Rachael Holder – Love, Brooklyn Kahlil Joseph – BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions Rungano Nyoni – On Becoming a Guinea Fowl Zoe Saldaña – Avatar: Fire and Ash as Neytiri Danielle Brooks – The Bad Guys 2 as Kitty Kat Quinta Brunson – Zootopia 2 as Dr. Fuzzby Idris Elba – Zootopia 2 as Chief Bogo Anthony Ramos – The Bad Guys 2 as Mr. Piranha Outstanding Score Outstanding Soundtrack Sinners – Ludwig Göransson Freaky Tales – Raphael Saadiq Hedda – Hildur Guðnadóttir Highest 2 Lowest – Howard Drossin The Eyes of Ghana – Kris Bowers | valign="top"| Sinners Freaky Tales Highest 2 Lowest One of Them Days Wicked: For Good Outstanding Original Song Outstanding Cinematography "I Lied to You" from Sinners – Miles Caton, performer; Raphael Saadiq and Ludwig Göransson, writers "Highest 2 Lowest" from Highest 2 Lowest – Aiyana-Lee Anderson, performer; Aiyana-Lee Anderson and Nicole Daciana Anderson, writers "Last Time (I Seen the Sun)" from Sinners – Miles Caton and Alice Smith, performers; Miles Caton, Alice Smith and Ludwig Göransson, writers "Pale, Pale Moon" from Sinners – Brittany Howard, performer; Brittany Howard and Ludwig Göransson, writers "Sinners" from Sinners – Rod Wave, performer; Darius Povillunas, Kyris D'Asia, Rod Wave and Tarkan Kozluklu, writers Sinners – Autumn Durald Arkapaw My Father's Shadow – Jermaine Canute Bradley Edwards Him – Kira Kelly After the Hunt – Malik Hassan Sayeed Seeds – Brittany Shyne Outstanding Editing Outstanding Costume Design Sinners – Michael P. Shawver The Smashing Machine – Ronald Bronstein and Benny Safdie BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions – Kahlil Joseph, Luke Lynch and Paul Rogers Him – Taylor Joy Mason Seeds – Malika Zouhali-Worrall Wicked: For Good – Paul Tazewell 40 Acres – Charlene Akuamoah On Becoming a Guinea Fowl – Estelle Don Banda Sinners – Ruth E. Carter Highest 2 Lowest – Francine Jamison-Tanchuck Outstanding Production Design Outstanding Hairstyling & Makeup Sinners – Hannah Beachler, production designer; Monique Champagne, set decorator Captain America: Brave New World – Ramsey Avery, production designer; Rosemary Brandenburg, set decorator Hedda – Cara Brower, production designer; Stella Fox, set decorator The Smashing Machine – James Chinlund, production designer; Marcia Calosio, Mike Keel and Frank Okay, set decorators Wicked: For Good – Nathan Crowley, production designer; Lee Sanders, set decorator Sinners – Ken Diaz, Mike Fontaine, Sian Richards, and Shunika Terry My Dead Friend Zoe – Amber Aprin and Mele Egbe 40 Acres – Antonio Hines and Chancelle Mulela The Smashing Machine – Kazu Hiro, Felix Fox and Mia Neal One of Them Days – Vonda K. Morris and Nikki Wright Outstanding Independent Documentary We Were Here – The Untold History of Black Africans in Renaissance Europe – Fred Kudjo Kuwornu BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions – Kahlil Joseph, director The Eyes of Ghana – Ben Proudfoot, director Fatherless No More – Kayla Johnson Seeds – Brittany Shyne, director

Films with multiple nominations and awards

The following films received multiple nominations: + Nominations Film 21 Sinners 11 Highest 2 Lowest 9 40 Acres On Becoming a Guinea Fowl 8 One of Them Days 6 Hedda 5 My Father's Shadow Wicked: For Good 4 One Battle After Another The Smashing Machine 3 BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions Him Love, Brooklyn Seeds 2 Magazine Dreams F1 Souleymane's Story The Bad Guys 2 Zootopia 2 The Eyes of Ghana We Were Here – The Untold History of Black Africans in Renaissance Europe

The following films received multiple awards:

+ Awards Film 14 Sinners 2 40 Acres

References

External links Official website