Bafta 2026 film awards longlists hope to avoid diversity criticism #BaftasSoWhite | film

For now, the BAFTA Film Awards appear to have avoided further criticism over their long-running diversity crisis after revealing their longlists on Friday.

Although Bafta overhauled its awards voting system in 2020 after allegations of “systemic racism”, anger resurfaced in 2023 after no people of color won awards. The longlists, which represent an intermediate stage on the way to the final nominations, where each category is determined by a different combination of member voting and jury selection, suggest that some progress has been made.

In the list of directors, which BAFTA required to include 50% women, the long list found a place for Chloe Zhao (Hamnet), Kathryn Bigelow (House of Dynamite), Lynn Ramsay (Die My Love), Hikari (Rental Family), and Kaouther Ben Hania (The Voice of Hind Rajab). Including Ryan Coogler (Sinners), the roster features four people of color; However, BAFTA does not appear to have targets for this. Juke-joint Horror Sinners performed strongly overall, finishing in second place with 14 entries on the longlist.

However, representation longlists appear to have performed less well in terms of diversity, with seven people of color out of 40 longlists included. Cynthia Erivo (Wicked: For Good), who was left out of the Screen Actors Guild nominees (formerly the Screen Actors Guild), found places alongside Chase Infiniti (One Battle After Another) and Tessa Thompson (Hedda) on the Best Actress list, while Sinners’ Michael B. Jordan, Wunmi Mosaku, Delroy Lindo, and Teyana Taylor (Battle After Another) were included elsewhere.

In 2025, Bafta said it had achieved its five-year target of 20% of members from ethnic minorities, 12% from the deaf, disabled and neurodivergent community, and 10% from the LGBT community. However, it fell short of its goal of 50% female membership, saying 43% were women.

In the overall longlist entries for the 2026 awards, Paul Thomas Anderson’s Battle After Battle currently ranks best; Starring Leonardo DiCaprio in a film adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s novel Vineland; He appeared 16 times, in contention for awards including Best Picture, Best Director for Anderson, Best Actor and Actress for DiCaprio and Infiniti.

The melancholy Shakespearean dramas Hamnet and Sinners were also well represented in the longlist, each receiving 14 entries. Hamnet, directed by Chow and starring Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley, was shortlisted for Best Picture, Outstanding British Film, Best Director for Chow and Best Actor and Actress for Mescal and Buckley. Likewise, Sinners is up for Best Picture, Best Director for Coogler, and Best Actor for Michael B. Jordan.

Other strong performers included Marty Supreme (13 entries, including Timothée Chalamet for Best Actor), and Pogonia and Frankenstein with 12 entries each. The longlist appears to confirm the momentum of Wicked: For Good’s faltering awards season; Despite its commercial success, the film still leads with only eight entries, although these include Erivo and Ariana Grande for Best Actress and Supporting Actress respectively.

Final nominations will be announced on January 27, and award winners will be announced on February 22 at a ceremony at the Royal Festival Hall in London hosted by actor Alan Cumming.