These are the best indie movies snubbed by the Oscars this year

“Long live independent film!” is what Anora’s Sean Baker exclaimed when he accepted the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2025. Indie movies have long been a part of the award conversation—1996’s Fargo, Sofia Coppola’s 2003 film debut Lost In Translation, and 2008’s Slumdog Millionaire all won major awards; while most recently 2020’s Parasite and 2023’s Everything Everywhere All At Once won Best Picture—but there are still plenty more movies that fly under the radar every year that deserve more love and attention.

And while you’ve likely heard about—and seen—most of this years’ Oscars contenders, like Yorgos Lanthimos’ Bugonia, or Josh Safdie’s Marty Supreme; you may have missed some of the year’s most original indie movies. Below, we’ve rounded up some of our favorite under-the-radar films from 2025, from highly anticipated directorial debuts to heart-wrenching dramas and hilarious dark comedies.

Sorry, Baby

Writer and director Eva Victor, who also stars in the movie, set out to make a film about sexual assault without showing any violence—but doesn’t shy away from the the pain it causes. Sorry, Baby follows Agnes (Victor) a graduate student who’s stuck in the wake of her trauma. Told in chapters across three timelines, the story focuses on the kind of friendship that can save your life and help you heal. Also starring Naomi Ackie and Lucas Hedges, it’s both heartbreaking and hilarious—and one of the best films of the year.

Twinless

This dark comedy from writer-director James Sweeney, examines the unique grief that comes with the loss of a twin. Dylan O’Brien gives a career-best performance as Roman, a hypermasculine man reeling from the death of his brother, Rocky. When Roman meets Dennis (Sweeney) at a support group, the two connect over their shared traumas. But what begins as an unlikely friendship turns into something far more unexpected and twisted. It’s funny, sad, shocking, vulnerable, and refreshingly original.

Eternity

Eternity imagines the afterlife as a place where souls must decide who—and where—they want to spend forever with. Newly arrived Joan (Elizabeth Olsen) is forced to make a difficult decision—her husband of 65 years (Miles Teller) or her first love (Callum Turner), who died young and waited decades for their reunion. Full of charm and whimsy, this heartfelt flick is the super sweet rom-com we’ve all been craving.

The Mastermind

Set in a quiet Massachusetts suburb in 1970, The Mastermind follows J.B. Mooney (Josh O’Connor), an unemployed father and amateur art thief. Upon casing the local museum and enlisting accomplices, he plans the perfect heist—until everything goes wrong. The slow unraveling of events that follow are unnerving yet funny, set to a vibrant, jazzy soundtrack.

Highest 2 Lowest

Spike Lee’s latest flick is an adaption of Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 police procedural crime film, High to Low, which is based off of Evan Hunter’s 1959 novel, King’s Ransom. Set in New York City, Denzel Washington stars as David King, a successful music mogul, whose son is kidnapped and held for ransom. But an unfortunate mix-up in the scheme leads to a life-or-death moral dilemma for David. With memorable performances from Jeffrey Wright and A$AP Rocky, this fast paced crime thriller is captivating from beginning to end.

Urchin

Harris Dickinson (Babygirl, Triangle of Sadness) makes his writer-directorial debut with an immersive film about the cyclical nature of addiction. Urchin follows Mike (Frank Dillane) as he navigates homelessness and sobriety in London. Raw and vulnerable, the film investigates how mental health and trauma can affect one’s trajectory.

Oh, Hi

Haven’t we all been in a situationship that made us a little bit insane? Oh, Hi is a comedy that explores the trials and tribulations of miscommunication and mismatched expectations of a new couple. Iris (Molly Gordon) and Isaac (Logan Lerman) are having the perfect first trip upstate together—until Isaac admits he didn’t know they were in a relationship. Determined to change his mind, Iris goes to hilarious and increasingly unhinged lengths to keep their relationship intact. It’s laugh-out-loud funny and sure to have you on the edge of your seat.

The History of Sound

In this quietly devastating queer love story starring Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor based on a short story by Ben Shattuck, Lionel and David are two music students who fall in love in 1917 New England, only to be pulled apart by World War I. Years later, they reconnect and embark on a journey through Maine to collect folk songs from their fellow countrymen. It’s a slow-burning film about first love and the way it echoes across a lifetime.

The Chronology of Water

Kristen Stewart’s directorial debut is a relentlessly honest and raw film about survival. Adapted from Lidia Yuknavitch’s memoir of the same name, Imogen Poots stars as a woman who struggles to cope as an adult after an abusive childhood. In her desire to escape her trauma, she immerses herself in competitive swimming, sexual exploration, addiction, and writing. It’s experimental, poetic, and likely to be divisive in its truth-telling.

Die My Love

Jennifer Lawrence is transfixing as a new mother slowly consumed by postpartum depression in the unflinchingly honest Die My Love. Adapted from Ariana Harwicz’ 2012 novel of the same name, the story dissects the brutal reality of how isolating and dehumanizing motherhood can be. For Grace (Lawrence), motherhood itself is not the catalyst in her decline, rather the shift in how the world views her. Also starring Robert Pattinson and LaKeith Stanfield, this film is raw, feral, and impossible to look away from.

Eddington

Indie-horror darling Ari Aster re-imagines the neo-Western with a dark, satirical twist. Set in a small town in New Mexico during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Eddington follows a bitter political race between the local sheriff (Joaquin Phoenix) and the town’s incumbent mayor (Pedro Pascal) that quickly fractures the community. Neighbors begin to turn on one another and political tensions spiral in this story about paranoia, power, and personal grudges.

This article originally appeared in harpersbazaar.com

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