2026 BAFTA Nominations Are In: ‘One Battle After Another’ Leads
The 2026 BAFTA Film Award nominations have officially been unveiled, and this year’s lineup signals a powerful convergence of British storytelling and awards-season momentum.
Announced Tuesday ahead of the February 22 ceremony at London’s Royal Festival Hall, the nominations crown Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another as the most-nominated film of the year, earning 14 nods. Close behind is Ryan Coogler’s Sinners with 13 nominations, continuing its record-breaking awards run after becoming the Academy’s most-nominated film in Oscar history.
But one of the morning’s most historic moment belongs to Chloé Zhao, whose Shakespeare-inspired drama Hamnet landed 11 nominations, making it the most-nominated film ever by a female director in BAFTA history.
Best Film: Auteurs Dominate the Field
The Best Film category reads like a festival programmer’s dream, with the typical prestige heavyweights side by side:
Hamnet
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Sentimental Value
Sinners
Josh Safdie’s manic table tennis comedy Marty Supreme, anchored by Timothée Chalamet, continues to thrive, matching Hamnet with 11 nominations. Meanwhile, Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein and Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value follow closely behind with eight nods each, reaffirming BAFTA’s ongoing embrace of emotionally expansive, director-driven cinema.
British Films Get Their Moment
While international auteurs dominated the top categories, British cinema made a meaningful showing in Outstanding British Film, one of BAFTA’s most closely watched races.
Standouts include:
I Swear, Kirk Jones’ open-hearted drama about Tourette syndrome, which earned five nominations, including a Leading Actor nod for Robert Aramayo and a Supporting Actor mention for Peter Mullan.
The Ballad of Wallis Island, a tender, quietly devastating favorite, secured three nominations, including Outstanding British Film, Adapted Screenplay, and Supporting Actress for Carey Mulligan.
The latter has emerged as a favorite, a deeply British story about grief, music, and connection that feels cut from the same cloth as Local Hero and I Know Where I’m Going!.
Acting Races: Breakouts, First-Timers, and Heavyweights
Leading Actor
The Leading Actor lineup blends global stars with deeply British performances:
Robert Aramayo (I Swear)
Timothée Chalamet (Marty Supreme)
Leonardo DiCaprio (One Battle After Another)
Ethan Hawke (Blue Moon)
Michael B. Jordan (Sinners)
Jesse Plemons (Bugonia)
Leading Actress
The Leading Actress race is equally stacked, featuring:
Jessie Buckley (Hamnet)
Rose Byrne
Kate Hudson (Song Sung Blue)
Chase Infiniti (One Battle After Another)
Renate Reinsve (Sentimental Value)
Emma Stone (Bugonia)
This year also marks a significant wave of first-time BAFTA nominees, including Michael B. Jordan, Chase Infiniti, Odessa A’zion, Teyana Taylor, Robert Aramayo, and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, a sign of BAFTA’s openness to emerging and international talent.
Craft Categories Cement the Front-Runners
Across technical categories, the same heavyweights continue to dominate. Frankenstein, Sinners, Marty Supreme, and One Battle After Another repeatedly appear in cinematography, production design, sound, editing, and score, signaling where BAFTA’s craft branches are leaning.
Meanwhile, Wicked: For Good surfaced in costume design and makeup and hair, despite being absent from top categories, mirroring its uneven performance across awards season.
Top Nominees at a Glance
14 nominations: One Battle After Another
13 nominations: Sinners
11 nominations: Hamnet, Marty Supreme
8 nominations: Frankenstein, Sentimental Value
Looking Ahead to BAFTA Night
Hosted by Alan Cumming, the 2026 BAFTA Film Awards will take place Sunday, February 22, at London’s Royal Festival Hall. With auteur cinema ascendant, British films surging, and several historic milestones already set, the ceremony is shaping up to be a major bellwether for the remainder of awards season.
If this year’s nominations prove anything, it’s that BAFTA is leaning confidently into bold storytelling, grief-stricken Shakespeare, blood-soaked vampire allegories, and all.
