Deadline for submitting ballots is March 4.
Take Nine: It’s time once again to pick your favorites for the annual C&I Movie & TV Awards. Or as we still like to call them: The Cowboys.
Nominations for the ninth edition of the awards have been culled by a C&I committee from films and TV productions that premiered, or continued, during the calendar year of 2025. But, as always, you have the final word as you vote for your favorites in various categories.
You can go to our website and cast your digital ballot until midnight Wednesday, March 4. Winners will be announced online Friday, March 6, and in the June/July 2026 issue of Cowboys & Indians.
The nominations include:
FILM
BEST PICTURE
Americana — Writer-director Tony Tost’s seriocomic neo-western about cultural clashes, violent confrontations, and the competition for control of a Native American artifact brings out the best in a remarkably diverse cast that includes Sydney Sweeney, Zahn McCalrnon and singer-songwriter Halsey.
Broke — Wyatt Russell (Kurt’s son) gives the performance of his career so far as a none-too-successful bronc rider who’s forced to reconsider some bad life choices (and reconnect with his dad, played by Dennis Quaid) in writer-director Carlyle Eubanks’ fascinating and affecting indie rodeo drama
The Comeback Trail — A hilarious spoof of moviemaking — specifically, western moviemaking — featuring a perfectly cast Robert De Niro as an unscrupulous producer who tries to get out of debt by making a new movie with a crotchety retired cowboy star (Tommy Jee Jones), then collect on a massive insurance policy after the actor “accidentally” dies. Not surprisingly, nothing goes according to plan.
East of Wall — Filmmaker Kate Beecroft skillfully intertwines fact and fiction with her award-winning drama. Mother-and-daughter horse ranchers Tabatha and Porshia Zimiga, and members of their extended makeshift family, play versions of themselves as they do their best to keep their business running in the Badlands of South Dakota,
Eastern Western — Bulgarian-born, American-based co-directors Biliana and Marina Grozdanova’s remarkable independent production follows Igor, a widowed Eastern European immigrant, and his toddler son Ivo, whom we meet as they struggle to survive an unforgivingly harsh winter in the American frontier of the 1880s. He reluctantly agrees to pack up and follow a cowboy friend moving westward to explore allegedly greener pastures.
Eddington — Call it a crazy quilt of neo-western, twisty film noir, and something-to-offend everyone social satire, and you won’t be far off the mark. Ari Aster’s boldly ambitious dark dramedy imagines the political and personal disruptions that erupted in the fictional New Mexico town of Eddington in 2020. It was such a quiet, friendly town. But when the COVID-19 pandemic began — triggering lockdowns, masking, and six-foot separations — some citizens went … well, a little crazy.
The Last Rodeo — Veteran actor Neal McDonough (Yellowstone, Tulsa King) is compellingly credible as the star of Jon Avnet’s thoroughly predictable but irresistibly engaging faith-based drama about a former champion bull rider who comes out of retirement to raise money for his granddaughter’s medical treatments.
Long Shadows — A notorious gunfighter (Dermot Mulroney) reluctantly agrees to mentor a young man determined to avenge the murder of his parents. Or does he? Actor William Shockley (Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman)’s first effort as a feature film director has a sneaky twist that will keep audiences talking long after the closing credits.
The Unholy Trinity — A naïve and untested young man (Brandon Lessard) is caught between a forthright sheriff (Pierce Brosnan) and a smooth-talking outlaw (Samuel L. Jackson) in 1870s Montana. Director Richard Gray’s satisfying follow-up to his Murder at Yellowstone City (2022) is another well-crafted western that breathes fresh life in genre cliches and conventions.
Where the Wind Blows — Here’s the sort of unabashedly old-fashioned western that you can show people who complain, “They sure don’t make ’em like they used to.” Trevor Donovan shines as a hunky cowboy who comes to the aid of an old friend’s widow (Ashley Elaine) shortly after her husband’s death, and finds himself inextricably entwined in her efforts to adopt two orphans.
ACTOR
Pierce Brosnan, The Unholy Trinity
Paul Walter Hauser, Americana
Neal McDonough, The Last Rodeo
Pedro Pascal, Eddington
Joaquin Phoenix, Eddington
Wyatt Russell, Broke
ACTRESS
Sarah Cortez, Long Shadows
Ashley Elaine, Where the Wind Blows
Emma Stone, Eddington
Sydney Sweeney, Americana
Rumer Willis, Trail of Vengeance
Tabatha Zimiga, East of Wall
DIRECTOR
Ari Aster, Eddington
Kate Beecroft, East of Wall
Carlyle Eubank, Broke
Richard Gray, The Unholy Trinity
Biliana and Marina Grozdanova, Eastern Western
Tony Tost, Americana
SCREENPLAY
Kate Beecroft, East of Wall
Carlyle Eubank, Broke
Biliana and Marina Grozdanova, Eastern Western
Ari Lester, Eddington
Tony Tost, Americana
Lee Zachariah, The Unholy Trinity
SUPPORTING ACTOR
Tommy Lee Jones, The Comeback Trail
Samuel L. Jackson, The Unholy Trinity
Scoot McNairy, East of Wall
Dermot Mulroney, Long Shadows
Zahn McClarnon, Americana
Dennis Quaid, Broke
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Jacqueline Bisset, Long Shadows
Jennifer Ehle, East of Wall
Halsey, Americana
Michelle Hurd, Where the Wind Blows
Deirdre O'Connell, Eddington
Porshia Zimiga, East of Wall
TELEVISION
1923 — The second and final season of Taylor Sheridan’s well-received Yellowstone prequel showcased an excellent cast led by Harrison Ford, Helen Mirren, Julia Schlaepfer, and Brandon Sklenar.
9-1-1: Nashville — The popular TV franchise finds a new home in Music City, where emergencies might involve superstar guest stars (like Kane Brown in the premier episode) and series regulars like singer-actress LeAnn Rimes.
The Abandons — Producer Kurt Sutter (Sons of Anarchy, Mayans M.C.) is credited as creator of this Netflix series with Lena Headey (Game of Thrones) and Gillian Anderson (The X-Files) front and center as mothers on opposite sides of a bloody feud in 1850s Oregon. The large cast also includes C&I reader favorite Michael Greyeyes and Manhunt star Patton Oswalt in recurring roles.
American Primeval — Directed by Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights, Lone Survivor) and written by Mark L. Smith (The Revenant), this was a singularly intense and sometimes shockingly graphic limited-run series about the dark side of Manifest Destiny in the 1850s Utah Territory.
Billy the Kid — Tom Blyth rode tall in the title role during the third and final season of this highly addictive western series created, written, and executive produced by Michael Hirst (Vikings, The Tudors, Elizabeth).
Dark Winds — A great neo-western series just keeps getting better all the time. And really, it’s long past time for Emmy Award voters (among others) to recognize the soulful artistry of lead actor Zahn McClarnon in the role of Navajo Police Lt. Joe Leaphorn.
Elkhorn — Future U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt (Mason Beals) continued to earn his spurs as a cowboy near Medora, North Dakota, in the second season of this award-winning INSP drama, which won the Best Series and Best Actor prizes in last year’s C&I Movie and TV Awards.
Landman — As Tommy Norris, a Texas oil company Mr. Fix-It constantly beset by personal and professional crises, C&I cover star Billy Bob Thornton continued to kick ass, take names, and chew scenery for a second season of Taylor Sheridan’s shamelessly (and sometimes shockingly) entertaining drama.
The Last Frontier — A modern-day lawman (Jason Clarke) leads a manhunt throughout the Alaskan wilderness for dangerous convicts who survived a prison-transport airplane crash in The Last Frontier, an ingeniously plotted limited-run series produced for Apple TV+.
Ransom Canyon — The Netflix publicists called it right when they promoted this serialized drama based on the novels of Jodi Thomas as “a romance-fueled family drama and contemporary western saga that charts the intersecting lives of three ranching families, all set against the rugged expanse of Texas Hill Country.”
Untamed — Eric Bana kept us hooked for all six episodes of this mystery-thriller as Kyle Turner, an Investigative Services Branch agent of the National Parks Service who battles personal demons while investigating a suspicious death near the El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite.
ACTOR
Eric Bana, Untamed
Mason Beals, Elkhorn
Jason Clarke, The Last Frontier
Josh Duhamel, Ransom Canyon
Harrison Ford, 1923
Zahn McClarnon, Dark Winds
ACTRESS
Gillian Anderson, The Abandons
Betty Gilprin, American Primeval
Lena Headey, The Abandons
Jessica Matten, Dark Winds
Helen Mirren, 1923
Julia Schlaepfer, 1923
SUPPORTING ACTOR
Dominic Cooper, The Last Frontier
Timothy Dalton,1923
Jeff DuJardin, Elkhorn
Jon Hamm, Landman
Brandon Sklenar, 1923
Kiowa Gordon, Dark Winds
Dallas Goldtooth, The Last Frontier
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Deanna Allison, Dark Winds
Jennifer Elfman, Dark Winds
Simone Kessell, The Last Frontier
Ari Lartner, Landman
Aminah Nieves, 1923
LeeAnn Rimes, 9-1-1: Nashville
DOCUMENTARY
Free Leonard Peltier — Leonard Peltier, a Native American activist jailed for decades after a disputed conviction, faces his twilight years as a new generation fights for his release from prison before it’s too late. Spoiler alert: Peltier was released shortly before Free Leonard Peltier premiered at last year’s Sundance Film Festival, just in time for directors Jesse Short Bull and David France to include the good news in this outstanding Oscar-worthy documentary.
Jim Thorpe: Lit By Lightning — Director Chris Eyre focuses on the man behind the legend, the truths behind the embellishments, to offer an enlightening and engrossing portrait of a man who repeatedly overcame adversity and exploitation, who endured setbacks and humiliations with his pride and perseverance undiminished, to forge his legacy as an enduringly inspirational icon.
Last Take: Rust and The Story of Halyna — Director Rachel Mason’s grimly riveting documentary tells the story behind the story of cinematographer Hayla Hutchins’ accidental death on set during production of the indie western Rust.
Remaining Native — Director Paige Bethmann’s justly acclaimed coming-of-age documentary is presented from the perspective of Ku Stevens, a 17-year-old Native American runner living on the Yerington Paiute reservation in Northwest Nevada. Ku is determined to fulfill his dream of becoming a collegiate athlete, even as the memory of his great grandfather’s escape from an Indian boarding school begins to connect his past, present, and future.
Sitting Bull — Michael Spears makes an indelible impact as the eponymous warrior in this docuseries’ dramatically powerful and scrupulously well-researched scripted sequences, eloquently expressing the iconic warrior’s exhortations and emotions even as he speaks non-subtitled Lakota dialogue.
