The 2026 BAFTAs Were Surprising (In a Mostly Good Way!)

The 80th British Academy Film Awards took place last night, with Alan Cumming emceeing the occasion in an array of fabulous outfits and handing out Hula Hoop crisps to a delighted Emma Stone. I’ve grumbled many times before on this site about how the BAFTAs have gotten increasingly uninteresting. They tend to focus more on being an Oscars precursor than caring about British cinema, and often they’re somehow even less diverse than their American counterparts, which is saying something. So, colour me surprised when they decided to throw a few highly welcome curveballs our way this year.

There were a few expected wins, of course. One Battle After Another gave Paul Thomas Anderson the threepeat sweep of Best Film, Director, and Adapted Screenplay. Ryan Coogler took home Best Original Screenplay for Sinners and Jessie Buckley continued her sweep of Best Actress for Hamnet. But then there were wins I certainly didn’t see coming. Sean Penn won Best Supporting Actor for One Battle After Another over Stellan Skarsgard and his small beers loving co-star Benicio del Toro. Wunmi Mosaku took home Best Supporting Actress for Sinners and received a rapturous response in the room. Paddington Bear was on stage (with his own wee podium!) to award Best Children’s & Family film to Boong, a coming-of-age drama from India.

And to the surprise of pretty much everyone, Best Actor did not go to Timothee Chalamet or Leonardo DiCaprio but to Robert Aramayo. You may recognise him as the young Eddard Stark in Game of Thrones or as Elrond in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. He took home this award AND the Rising Star trophy (the only award voted on by the British public) for I Swear, a biopic about John Davidson, the Scottish campaigner for Tourette syndrome. It’s one hell of a star-making performance. His Scottish accent alone was award worthy, and I do not say that lightly. What a delight to see him win this award and for BAFTA to resist the temptation to stay within the Oscars’ trajectory. That may be because it’s a surprisingly unpredictable year, one where many of the big categories are not set in stone, but I’ll take it.

The evening had some deeply dark moments too. John Davidson was present with the I Swear team and yelled a few times at people on stage. When Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo walked on to present an award, he yelled the N word. He left the ceremony soon afterward, and Cumming issued an apology and explanation. Tourette syndrome can cause some patients to yell out obscene things involuntarily, including slurs. Davidson obviously cannot help it (watch the documentary on his life for details on how his condition impacts his life), but that doesn’t lessen the pain felt by two Black performers just trying to do their jobs.

I still have complaints, of course. It continues to be condescending as all hell that a ton of the awards aren’t broadcast live and we only get a six-second bite of the winners’ speeches in these very brief montages. Imagine thinking we don’t want or need to see, say, Best Animated Feature or the short films. It was also a largely apolitical night, alas. Cumming hinted at the beauty of diversity but it was hard to ignore how blah a lot of people’s speeches felt in the current climate. One report from Deadline said that the BBC would be monitoring the ceremony closely for politically-charged speeches. Talk about trying to keep one’s head in the sand.

Here are the winners of the 80th BAFTA Awards.

BEST FILM
One Battle After Another

BEST DIRECTOR
Paul Thomas Anderson — One Battle After Another

BEST ACTOR
Robert Aramayo — I Swear

BEST ACTRESS
Jessie Buckley — Hamnet

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Sean Penn — One Battle After Another

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Wunmi Mosaku — Sinners

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Sinners

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
One Battle After Another

BEST ANIMATED FILM
Zootopia 2

BEST FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Sentimental Value

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Mr. Nobody Against Putin

BEST CASTING
I Swear

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
One Battle After Another

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Frankenstein

BEST HAIR AND MAKE-UP
Frankenstein

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Frankenstein

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Avatar: Fire and Ash

BEST SOUND
F1

BEST EDITING
One Battle After Another

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Sinners

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
Hamnet

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH DIRECTOR, PRODUCER, OR WRITER
Akinola Davies Jr. and Wale Davies — My Father’s Shadow

BEST BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION
Two Black Boys in Paradise

BEST BRITISH SHORT FILM
This is Endometriosis

BEST CHILDREN’S AND FAMILY FILM
Boong

EE RISING STAR AWARD

BAFTA FELLOWSHIP
Donna Langley

OUTSTANDING BRITISH CONTRIBUTION TO CINEMA
Clare Binns