The action intensifies as one battle after another receives 14 BAFTA nominations to Sinners’ 13 | Baftas 2026

Sinners may have made history last week, when it became the first film ever to receive 16 Oscar nominations, but it was its awards season rival, One Battle After Another, which proved to be a narrow winner in Tuesday’s Bafta nominations.

Paul Thomas Anderson’s countercultural comedy heads into the competition with 14 nominations, while Ryan Coogler’s vampire thriller has 13 nods. Meanwhile, Marty Supreme and Hamnet are close behind in nominations with 11 each, while Frankenstein and Sentimental Value each have eight nods.

Tourette’s British comedy “I Swear” received a surprise five nominations, including best actor for Robert Aramayo; There were also three nominations each for British comedy/musical drama The Ballad of Wallis Island and Bromley BDSM biker romance Billion.

Shock was largely absent from the announcement, partly because the Baftas acting shortlist is number six, rather than the Oscars’ five – allowing room for names like Hamnet

In fact, the blockbuster sequel didn’t fare as poorly as it did last Thursday, when it returned from Oscar nominations empty-handed, instead getting nods for costume design, hair and makeup, but no love for Cynthia Erivo or Ariana Grande.

Other stars who failed to make the cut include Jennifer Lawrence for Die My Love, George Clooney for Jay Kelly, Sidney Sweeney for Christie, Dwayne Johnson for The Smashing Machine, and Julia Roberts for After the Hunt.

While Leonardo DiCaprio remains the second nominee to win Best Actor, after Marty Supreme’s Timothée Chalamet, his seventh mention in the category means he now shares the all-time BAFTA award record with Michael Caine, Daniel Day-Lewis, Peter Finch, Dustin Hoffman, Jack Lemmon and Laurence Olivier. Given his age and work rate, DiCaprio seems the most likely to break this record.

Aramayo is a dark horse in this category, but a nomination would significantly boost the profile of the 33-year-old formerly known as young Ned Stark on Game of Thrones. In Swear, he plays John Davidson, a leading Scottish Tourette Syndrome campaigner. The critically acclaimed Kirk Jones biopic – which was also a moderate success at the box office – is also a nominee for Outstanding British Film, original screenplay, Peter Mullan supporting actor, and ensemble cast.

Bafta chairwoman Sarah Bott told The Guardian that the film’s success was testament to the audience’s appetite for “moving, authentic stories about lived experience that really resonate”. Meanwhile, the continued dominance of Sinners and One Battle also suggests that audiences are eager to find points of connection in a “fractured and confusing world.”

“These two films are also a triumph of cinema,” she said. “What you see on the big screen today is the elevation of genre filmmaking into something wholesome, poignant and thought-provoking – while also being a huge popcorn movie explosion.”

This year’s nominations skewed slightly in favor of homegrown films, even outside of the Outstanding British Film and Premiere categories, with Emily Watson and Carey Mulligan nominated for Supporting Actress, Bellion and Wallis Island in the Adapted Screenplay category.

But with the exception of Aramayo, none of this year’s main acting nominees are British, nor are any of the six directors nominated for this award. Only two of those — Coogler, and Hamnet’s Chloe Zhao — are not white, and Zhao is the only woman.

Bott said this result “shows that there is still a journey to go on for deliverables, and also highlights the importance of maintaining the intervention at the longlist stage.” As part of Bafta’s behind-the-scenes overhaul in 2020, the organization introduced measures including quotas to ensure gender equality for directors in initial selection.

This marks the first year of the Academy Awards offering some of its own version of these innovations, including a Choice Actor award as well as mandatory viewing so you can vote in the second-round category. Bafta’s insistence that voters watch 15 random films is still paying off in terms of the spread of competing titles: 46 in 2026, four more than in 2025.

Film committee vice-chair Anthony Andrews added that he was encouraged to note that more than half of the documentaries shortlisted this year were directed by women.

This year’s BAFTA Awards ceremony will be held on February 22, hosted by Alan Cumming, succeeding David Tennant. The Oscars follow three weeks later, on March 15, hosted by returning MC Conan O’Brien.