At the NBR Awards, emotional speeches by Jafar Panahi and Ryan Coogler stir the room

NEW YORK (AP) — An emotional plea by Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi and moving words from Ryan Coogler on the violence in Minneapolis stirred a National Board of Review Awards ceremony Tuesday in which Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” was again crowned the best film of the year.

Coming two days after Sunday’s Golden Globes, the annual, untelevised New York gala, held in the cavernous midtown banquet all Cipriani 42nd Street and hosted by Willie Geist, played out as a more intimate and frank-spoken alternative.

The winners themselves were already announced, so the night was always going to belong to “One Battle After Another.” The National Board of review, a group that is made up of film enthusiasts and dates to 1909, not only named it 2025’s best film but awarded the best actor prize to Leonardo DiCaprio, best director to Anderson, best supporting actor to Benicio Del Toro and breakthrough performer to Chase Infiniti.

Yet in an ongoing parade of awards for “One Battle After Another,” its night at the NBRs still stood out. The surprise presenter of the movie’s best film award was Martin Scorsese, who praised “the audacity” of Anderson’s narratives and the accomplishment of his latest.

“Like all great films, it can’t really be compared to anything else,” Scorsese said. “It stands alone. It’s a great American film.”

Anderson, trying to take in the wealth of honors, attempted to describe what “ One Battle After Another,” his father-daughter tale of revolution, might represent. His answer came in pointing out his own daughter, sitting at his table.

“I don’t know what our movie is about, but I do know it’s about loving your kids,” Anderson said.

For many of the honorees, the world outside the starry banquet weighed heavily. Coogler’s speech was among the night’s most poignant. The “Sinners” director was honored for his screenplay for the vampire thriller and was introduced by the film’s star, longtime collaborator Michael B. Jordan.

Both were honored 13 years earlier by the board for their first movie together, “ Fruitvale Station.” Recalling that film, based on the true story of the 2009 killing of Oscar Grant by a Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer in Oakland, California, Coogler turned to the recent fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an immigration enforcement agent in Minneapolis.

“I was young and naive, and I thought the movie was going to change the world and make it so you didn’t see people executed by civil service on camera anymore,” Coogler said. “I was proven wrong again and again. And it’s tough to be here and not think about Minnesota.”

“I can’t be here and not think about Renee,” Coogler added.

Still, the ceremony’s most powerful words came from Panahi, the dissident Iranian filmmaker who for nearly two decades worked clandestinely in his native country while being placed under house arrest and jailed. Panahi’s latest, “ It Was Just an Accident,” was awarded best international film.

The movie, inspired by Panahi's own imprisonment, is a revenge drama about stopping the cycle of violence and oppression in Iran. On Tuesday the death toll from a nationwide crackdown on demonstrators in that country surpassed 2,500, according to activists.

“As we stand here, the state of Iran is gunning down protesters and a savage massacre continues blatantly on the streets of Iran,” Panahi said. “Today the real scene is not on screens but on the streets of Iran. The Islamic Republic has caused a bloodbath to delay its collapse.”

“This is no longer a metaphor,” he continued. “This is not a story. This is not a film. This is a reality written with bullets day after day.”

Panahi called on the film community to speak out and “use any voice and any platform you have.”

“Today, cinema has the power to stand by defenseless people,” Panahi said. “Let’s stand by them.”

Panahi’s remarks, delivered through an interpreter, shook the audience. And when the next award went to Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar, for adapted screenplay for their plaintive Pacific Northwest period drama “Train Dreams,” the filmmakers seemed to cut short their speech, which was partially about how making the movie and then promoting it through awards season meant sacrificing time with their young children.

“When the world is kind of burning down, it can feel frivolous at times,” Bentley said. “I just want to say thank you most of all to Mr. Panahi for reminding us for what we can do with the medium and why it can be worth doing.”

Jafar Panahi attends the National Board of Review Awards gala at Cipriani 42nd Street on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Leonardo DiCaprio attends the National Board of Review Awards gala at Cipriani 42nd Street on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Ryan Coogler attends the National Board of Review Awards gala at Cipriani 42nd Street on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Chase Infiniti attends the National Board of Review Awards gala at Cipriani 42nd Street on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Michael B. Jordan attends the National Board of Review Awards gala at Cipriani 42nd Street on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Benicio Del Toro attends the National Board of Review Awards gala at Cipriani 42nd Street on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Leonardo DiCaprio attends the National Board of Review Awards gala at Cipriani 42nd Street on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Sara Murphy, from left, Teyana Taylor, Paul Thomas Anderson, and Chase Infiniti pose in the press room with the award for best motion picture – musical or comedy for "One Battle After Another" during the 83rd Golden Globes on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African soldiers deployed to high-crime areas have dismantled illegal gold mining operations in a community near Johannesburg, forcing some illegal miners to flee and abandon their equipment.

Police and the army recovered various tools used by illegal miners, including generators and drill machines — equipment documented by an Associated Press photographer on Thursday.

Makeshift trenches with food supplies and utensils belonging to the miners were also dismantled, with clothing items left behind after the miners fled the site in Randfontein, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) to the west of Johannesburg.

The operations were part of a rare move by the government to deploy soldiers in some of the country's most crime-ridden areas, including in the Western Cape province that includes the city of Cape Town and the economic hub province of Gauteng.

With dozens of abandoned mine shafts lining the outskirts of Johannesburg, illegal mining is rife in the area as heavily armed crime syndicates and informal miners known as “zama zamas” enter the shafts in search of leftover deposits of gold or other precious minerals.

It is illegal to mine without a government license, and in some places, the conditions are dangerous.

Other provinces with abandoned shafts, like the North West and Mpumalanga, have also experienced high levels of illegal mining, sometimes with tragic consequences.

Authorities say there are an estimated 30,000 illegal miners in South Africa, operating in some of its 6,000 abandoned mine shafts.

The government has noted an increase in illegal mining, which it estimates is worth more than $4 billion a year just in gold lost to criminal syndicates.

The trade is believed to be predominantly controlled by migrants from neighboring Lesotho, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique, stoking anger among South African communities against both the criminal bosses and foreigners living in the local community.

Responding to questions from lawmakers on Thursday, President Cyril Ramaphosa said the deployment of the troops would take place alongside other measures, such as strengthening anti-gang units and illegal mining task teams.

“The police will also be working with the National Prosecuting Authority on multi-disciplinary task teams to target the leadership, finances, firearms and logistics of these criminal networks,” Ramaphosa said.

South African National Defense Force soldiers recover a generator left behind by illegal miners, during a patrol in Randfontein, in Johannesburg, South Africa, Thursday, March 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

A South African National Defense Force soldier patrols in a dense bush where illegal miners are operating, in Randfontein, in Johannesburg, South Africa, Thursday, March 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

South African National Defense Force soldiers retrieve clothing and food stock left by illegal miners, in Randfontein, in Johannesburg, South Africa, Thursday, March 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

South African National Defense Force soldiers and police officers cross a water stream used by illegal miners, during a patrol in Randfontein, in Johannesburg, South Africa, Thursday, March 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

South African National Defense Force soldiers and police officers load recovered generators and machinery left behind by illegal miners, during a patrol in Randfontein, west of Johannesburg, South Africa, Thursday, March 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)