The people who create the worlds we get lost in at the movies are getting their moment. The Set Decorators Society of America (SDSA) has announced the nominees for its 2026 awards, celebrating the best in production design and set decoration from films released last year. Winners for these honors will be announced at a ceremony in Los Angeles on February 21, 2026.
The list is a mix of major awards season players and huge blockbusters, showing how important every detail on screen is, from a superhero’s lair to a 1970s table tennis club. Films in the running include Marty Supreme, One Battle After Another, Sinners, and Frankenstein, alongside big hits like Avatar: Fire and Ash and Superman. This award is a major predictor for the Oscars, with SDSA winners going on to win the Academy Award for Best Production Design in four of the last five years.
The Complete List of 2026 SDSA Film Nominees
The awards are split into four main categories based on a film’s genre and setting. Here is the full list of nominees for the SDSA Awards for Film 2025, honoring movies released between January 1 and December 31, 2025.
Best Décor/Design of a Contemporary Feature Film
This category is for films set in the modern world. The nominees are:
- Bugonia: Set Decoration by Prue Howard; Production Design by James Price.
- F1: Set Decoration by Andrew McCarthy SDSA & Véronique Melery; Production Design by Mark Tildesley & Ben Munro.
- Jay Kelly: Set Decoration by Véronique Melery & Meg Everist; Production Design by Mark Tildesley.
- One Battle After Another: Set Decoration by Anthony Carlino SDSA; Production Design by Florencia Martin.
- Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery: Set Decoration by Kathryn Pyle; Production Design by Rick Heinrichs.
Best Décor/Design of a Period Feature Film
These films transport audiences to a specific time in the past. The nominees are:
- Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale: Set Decoration by Linda Wilson; Production Design by Donal Woods.
- Hamnet: Set Decoration by Alice Felton SDSA; Production Design by Fiona Crombie.
- Marty Supreme: Set Decoration by Adam Willis; Production Design by Jack Fisk.
- Sinners: Set Decoration by Monique Champagne SDSA; Production Design by Hannah Beachler.
- Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere: Set Decoration by Kris Moran; Production Design by Stefania Cella.
Best Décor/Design of a Fantasy or Science Fiction Feature Film
This category builds worlds of pure imagination. The nominees are:
- Avatar: Fire and Ash: Set Decoration by Vanessa Cole; Production Design by Dylan Cole & Ben Procter.
- The Fantastic Four: First Steps: Set Decoration by Jille Azis; Production Design by Kasra Farahani.
- Frankenstein: Set Decoration by Shane Vieau SDSA; Production Design by Tamara Deverell.
- How to Train Your Dragon: Set Decoration by Daniel Birt SDSA; Production Design by Dominic Watkins.
- Superman: Set Decoration by Rosemary Brandenburg SDSA; Production Design by Beth Mickle.
Best Décor/Design of a Comedy or Musical Feature Film
These films use design to enhance humor and song. The nominees are:
- Freakier Friday: Set Decoration by Brandi Kalish SDSA; Production Design by Kay Anna Lee.
- Kiss of the Spider Woman: Set Decoration by Andrew Baseman SDSA; Production Design by Scott Chambliss.
- The Phoenician Scheme: Set Decoration by Anna Pinnock; Production Design by Adam Stockhausen.
- Roofman: Set Decoration by Kendall Anderson SDSA; Production Design by Inbal Weinberg.
- Wicked: For Good: Set Decoration by Lee Sandales; Production Design by Nathan Crowley.
Inside the Designs: What Makes These Films Stand Out
The nomination list tells us which films are recognized, but the stories behind the sets show why they are celebrated. For the movie Marty Supreme, which follows a 1970s table tennis champion, production designer Jack Fisk and director Josh Safdie worked to recreate authentic period spaces. One key set was based on the real-life Lawrence’s Broadway Table Tennis Club.
For Bugonia, production designer James Price explained the challenge was creating starkly different worlds for the characters: a sleek corporate office, an ultra-modern home, and a time-trapped house that needed to feel “old and rancid.” He noted that within these spaces, clues about the story and characters were hidden in plain sight.
The fantasy and horror genres presented unique challenges. For Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, production designer Tamara Deverell committed to a fully practical approach. “We had 20 sculptors at any given moment working,” she said, noting the director’s rule against green screens in favor of everything being handmade from scratch. For Sinners, designer Hannah Beachler built a world filled with deep cultural research, folklore, and hidden details that go beyond a typical vampire movie.
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The Road to the Oscars
The SDSA Awards are more than just a separate honor. They have become one of the most reliable indicators of success at the Academy Awards in the Best Production Design category. Last year’s winners, the team behind Wicked, used their SDSA Award as a springboard to winning the Oscar.
The awards calendar shows the next steps. Final voting begins on January 19, 2026, and closes on January 26, 2026. All attention will then turn to the awards ceremony in Los Angeles on February 21, where the winners will be announced just before the final Oscar voting begins.
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