Every season, the Academy’s 10,136 active voters sit down to submit their picks from nominees across 24 categories. In years past, the Academy has come under fire with reports of voters lying about watching all the nominated films (in 2025, for instance, four Oscar voters admitted to Entertainment Weekly that they didn’t like Dune: Part Two enough to get through its almost three-hour runtime).
However, a new rule set in place this year requires that Academy members must watch all nominated films in each category to be eligible to take part in the final round of voting, which began on February 26 and ended on March 5.
The voters themselves tend to skew towards one demographic (white and American). But according to the most recent figures, the Academy body currently includes 22 percent of members who come from underrepresented communities and 21 percent international members.
As of writing, the Academy does not publicly share data on the number of voters per country. But we do know that a number of filmmakers within the Filipino film industry have been invited to join the Academy, including Brillante Mendoza and Lav Diaz.
Three of these Filipino voters agreed to talk to Rolling Stone Philippines and share their thoughts on this year’s nominees, on the condition of anonymity. To protect their privacy, the trio will be referred to as Voters 1, 2, and 3, with only gender-neutral “they/them” pronouns used.
That said, the three spoke candidly about their thoughts on this season of the Academy Awards and, as one of them suggested, it might just be a year of historic wins.
On Best Picture
Voter 1: “I voted for Marty Supreme. It’s so essentially [Josh] Safdie, and it has this distinct tone of… kinetic, Jewish-American, New Yorker anxiety. But it’s still this classic film, true to Hollywood forms like the screwball comedy. It’s not your typical, complacent, Oscar-baity type of film, either. Frankly, it’s thorny, it’s assertive. I thought it was marvelous precisely because it’s not the type of film you’d expect… it has all these prickly edges.”
Voter 2 noted that this year’s submissions were an interesting selection from across the globe, with several of them bringing a historic amount of nominations, such as Sinners’ record-breaking 16.
Voter 3: “Some of the films that lingered with me were Sinners and Hamnet, both of which explore inner conflict and moral responsibility in very powerful ways. The performances in those films carry a kind of emotional intensity that stays with you long after the credits roll. Meanwhile, One Battle After Another captures something different. The persistence and resilience of people facing overwhelming circumstances. It reminds us that cinema can hold space for both struggle and hope.”
On… That Interview With Timothée Chalamet
In a recent live conversation with Matthew McConaughey for CNN and Variety, Timothée Chalamet made a verbal faux pas when he said, “I don’t want to be working in ballet or opera where it’s like, ‘Hey! Keep this thing alive, even though no one cares about this anymore.’”
The Marty Supreme star’s comment has since sparked a significant amount of backlash, with celebrities like Whoopi Goldberg and Doja Cat even weighing in on the situation. Opera and ballet institutions, including the Metropolitan Opera and two of New York City Ballet’s principal dancers, have also responded to Chalamet’s statement.
However, as Voter 2 noted, Chalamet’s comment most likely had little impact on the way Academy members cast their ballots. According to them, Marty Supreme has been getting bad press as of late, not just because of Chalamet’s interview but also because of Safdie being accused of failing to protect an underage actor on the set of Good Time. But despite the controversies, Voter 2 noted that a significant number of the votes had already been cast by the time Chalamet sat down with McConaughey for their chat.
On Best Director
Voter 1: “PTA (short for Paul Thomas Anderson) got my vote. There is a generation of filmmakers who really grew up watching the work of PTA, and although [One Battle After Another] wasn’t my favorite PTA film — that goes to Phantom Thread or Punch-Drunk Love — I think he is a master at diving into big tones for a film. You give him a comedy or a family drama, and he’s still cohesive tonally. And he always has so much to say about contemporary America.”
On Best Animated Feature
Although KPop Demon Hunters is arguably the most popular selection out of this year’s Best Animated Feature nominees (which include Arco, Elio, Zootopia 2, and Little Amélie or the Character of Rain), Voter 2 argued that it isn’t necessarily a shoo-in for the award. According to them, it’s important to note how Netflix’s animated hit about demon-slaying K-pop idols came out of left field and how it wasn’t necessarily created to be screened in cinemas.
On Best Documentary Feature
Voter 3: “The documentary slate feels particularly urgent this year. Films like Mr. Nobody Against Putin demonstrate how vital nonfiction storytelling remains, especially in a time when journalism, truth, and democratic values are under pressure in many parts of the world. Documentaries continue to play a crucial role in bearing witness to realities that might otherwise be ignored or forgotten.”
On Best Actor
Voter 1: “I voted for [Leonardo DiCaprio]. Leo always gets the short end of the stick when it comes to his comedic performances. I don’t think he’s any less remarkable when he’s funny than when he’s giving his more dramatic performances. Look at The Wolf of Wall Street or Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. And here, especially in One Battle After Another, I feel like all the swings the movie makes would feel like whiplash if Leo weren’t there to anchor everything. Just look at that phone call scene… he makes his [comedy] look so effortless. He’s a natural.”
On Best Actress
Voter 1: “Rose Byrne, hands down. I think it’s interesting that with Marty Supreme and One Battle After Another and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You… They give us this ambivalent story about these vaguely neurotic characters. And with Rose, she plays this mother on the edge of a nervous breakdown. You know, there was a way she could have played this that could have been boastful or Oscar-baity. But Rose played it almost to the extreme. It’s a testament to her talent for tackling this very high-wire act where she had to present herself as hysterical, but still very granular. I feel like all her performances were vital to the film. It could only have worked with Rose Byrne.”
On Best International Feature
Voter 1: “Sirāt. It was truly experiential and immersive. I like films that really transport you into a very specific worldview. I might be biased because when I saw it at its premiere in New York, I was in a theatrical setting with a surround-sound system. But it was incredible.”
Overall, the three voters continued to return to how the nominees reflected the chaotic, frenzied, and complicated events that have colored the past year. As Voter 1 half-joked at the end of our phone call, they were drawn to stories of “people on the verge of breaking down, constantly harangued by their circumstances.”
But perhaps more importantly, the nominees move past just serving as reflections of a messy year. “What struck me about this year’s slate is how many of the films are grappling with questions of conscience and consequence,” said Voter 3. “Several of the nominated works seem to place individuals in moments where personal choices collide with larger historical or political forces. That tension feels very reflective of the global moment we’re living in.”
“Taken together,” Voter 3 continued, “this year’s nominations feel like filmmakers wrestling with some of the defining questions of our time: truth, power, memory, and the courage to stand by one’s convictions. At its best, cinema doesn’t just entertain, it helps us see each other more clearly, and sometimes reminds us who we are meant to be.”
