Baftas 2026: One Battle After Another dominates winners list

The baftas 2026 winners were unveiled with Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another taking six awards, the most of the night. The ceremony also handed major prizes to I Swear, Sinners, Frankenstein and Hamnet, and delivered surprise wins for Robert Aramayo and Jessie Buckley.

One Battle After Another’s six awards and Paul Thomas Anderson’s tribute

One Battle After Another won the most awards with six, including best film and best director for Paul Thomas Anderson, and prizes for best cinematography, best editing, best supporting actor and best adapted screenplay. The film, described as Paul Thomas Anderson’s counterculture comedy about a washed-up revolutionary trying to protect his daughter from a ruthless military officer, was inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s Vineland and went into the ceremony with 14 nominations, the most of any contender.

Accepting best director, Anderson said: “Anybody who says movies aren’t good anymore can piss right off, because this is a great fucking year. We have a line from Nina Simone we stole in our film. She says, ‘I know what freedom is, it’s no fear. ’ Let’s keep making things without fear. ” He also paid tribute to the film’s late producer Adam Somner, who died in 2024, saying Somner found out he was sick three weeks into production and made it through production, calling that endurance “very miraculous. ”

I Swear and Robert Aramayo’s upset in the best actor category

Robert Aramayo won best actor for his performance in I Swear, the British Tourette syndrome biopic about writer and campaigner John Davidson. In one of the night’s biggest surprises, Aramayo beat Timothée Chalamet, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ethan Hawke and Michael B Jordan for the prize.

Through tears, Aramayo, who had earlier won the EE Bafta rising star award, said: “I absolutely can’t believe it, I can’t believe I’m in the same category as you never mind being stood here. ” I Swear was nominated in five categories and also won the prize for casting.

Hamnet’s Jessie Buckley makes history and the film’s British wins

Hamnet took home two awards, including outstanding British film and the leading actress prize for Jessie Buckley. Buckley is the first Irish performer to win a leading actress Bafta; critics praised her raw and intimate performance of a mother grieving the loss of her 11-year-old son. She is also in the running for a best actress award at the Oscars this March.

Accepting her Bafta, Buckley said: “This is such an incredible honour. I love what I do, I love cinema. I believe in storytelling to bring us together as a community, I believe in women’s voices to tell us those stories. Chloé Zhao, you are making history tonight as a storyteller, thank you for your uncompromising artistry. And Maggie O’Farrell, thank you for this gift of a role. ” She added she was sharing the award with her daughter, who “has been with me since she was six weeks old on the road with this. It’s the best role of my life, being your mum, and I promise to continue to be disobedient, so you can belong to a world in all your mad, complex, wildness as a young woman. ”

Hamnet is Chloé Zhao’s adaptation of the Maggie O’Farrell novel about William Shakespeare, his wife Agnes and the tragic death of their son.

Sinners and Frankenstein each secure three awards

Sinners took home three awards — best original screenplay, best original score and best supporting actress — for Ryan Coogler’s vampire thriller exploring racial and cultural erasure. coverage notes that I Swear, Sinners and Frankenstein each got three awards, while Hamnet won two.

Red carpet, nominations and selected winners and nominees

Stars at the ceremony and on the red carpet included Leonardo DiCaprio, Teyana Taylor, Paul Thomas Anderson, Sara Murphy, Chase Infiniti and Benicio del Toro, with Timothée Chalamet and Jessie Buckley also among the stars at the event. One Battle After Another drew nominations for Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Chase Infiniti and Teyana Taylor.

The published winners and nominations list named specific pairings and individuals: Chase Infiniti — One Battle After Another; Leonardo DiCaprio — One Battle After Another; Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas — Sentimental Value; Carey Mulligan — The Ballad of Wallis Island; Teyana Taylor — One Battle After Another; Benicio del Toro — One Battle After Another; Jonny Greenwood — One Battle After Another. The list also showed Winner: Sean Penn — One Battle After Another and Winner: One Battle After Another — Paul Thomas Anderson. Winner: Claire Binns, creative director of Picturehouse Cinemas and Picturehouse Entertainment, was also listed, and the Rising Star Award is distinct from the other golden Bafta trophies.

The ceremony’s mix of expected wins and upsets, from One Battle After Another’s six trophies to Robert Aramayo’s best actor victory and Jessie Buckley’s historic leading actress prize, defined the night’s coverage of the baftas 2026.