Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet continues its triumphant run through awards season, with 11 nominations, including best film, for the 2026 Bafta Awards. That breaks the record for a title directed by a woman.
Jessie Buckley, from Co Kerry, lands in best actress for her role as a grieving Agnes Shakespeare and will proceed to the ceremony next month as strong favourite.
Her costar Paul Mescal, unexpectedly left out of last week’s Oscar nominations, safely secures a berth in best supporting actor. The Co Kildare actor’s omission from the American awards was probably the biggest surprise in the big categories.
There is Irish success elsewhere in the list read out by David Jonsson and Aimee Lou Wood at the headquarters of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, in the West End of London.
Myrid Carten’s searing documentary A Want in Her, about the author’s return to Ireland to reconnect with her troubled mother, is mentioned in outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer. Originally from Donegal, Carten is an artist and film-maker of some versatility.
Element Pictures, the all-conquering Ireland-based production company, competes in the same race with Akinola Davies jnr’s African drama My Father’s Shadow and Harry Lighton’s much-admired biker romp Pillion. My Father’s Shadow, hugely acclaimed at Cannes, is a coproduction with the UK and Nigeria. Lighton’s debut feature also landed in the best-British-film and best-adapted-screenplay races.
Element has also had notable success with Yorgos Lanthimos’s Bugonia. The off-centre satirical thriller has taken five nominations: adapted screenplay, score, director, actress for Emma Stone and, for Jesse Plemons, best supporting actor.
The team will be disappointed not to repeat their best-picture nod at the Oscars, but, with just five nominations to the Academy Awards’ 10, Bafta was always a bigger ask.
Ethan Hawke has landed in best actor for Richard Linklater’s Blue Moon, shot largely in Ireland with the participation of Wild Atlantic Pictures, but Andrew Scott has missed out on a plausible supporting-actor nomination for the same film.
In the 20th century the Bafta ceremony took place in April or May, after the Oscars, but in 2001 it moved to February – and, with the American and British academies sharing a wedge of voters, came to be seen as a reliable pointer to the prizes that matter most.
Awards watchers have been puzzled by the decision to move this year’s nominations back after the Oscar nods. (The ceremony in London will still precede the Los Angeles bash.) This week’s announcement ends up, for prognosticators, being more of a footnote than a predictor.
As at Oscar, the highest-scoring films are Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another and Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, though the top two have switched places for the Bafta chart.
One Battle After Another is on top, with 14 nominations. Sinners follows close behind, with 13, then Hamnet, with 11.
Zhao’s film, as a British coproduction, could reasonably be seen as mild favourite for best film with this electorate.
Leonardo DiCaprio, up in best actor for One Battle After Another, now equals, with seven nominations in the category, the all-time record – shared with the distinguished likes of Daniel Day-Lewis and Laurence Olivier.
The British breakout that did not trouble Oscar is Kirk Jones’s irresistible I Swear. That funny, moving film, starring Robert Aramayo as a Tourette syndrome advocate, competes in five races, including best British film – which, on previous form, it could win, even if Hamnet, also nominated, gets best overall film.
Alan Cumming, this year’s host, will reveal all at the Royal Albert Hall, in London, on Sunday, February 22nd.
Baftas 2026: The nomineesBest filmHamnetMarty SupremeOne Battle After AnotherSentimental ValueSinnersOutstanding British film28 Years LaterThe Ballad of Wallis IslandBridget Jones: Mad About the BoyDie My LoveH Is for HawkHamnetI SwearMr BurtonPillionSteveBest directorBugonia – Yorgos LanthimosHamnet – Chloé ZhaoMarty Supreme – Josh SafdieOne Battle After Another – Paul Thomas AndersonSentimental Value – Joachim TrierSinners – Ryan CooglerBest leading actressJessie Buckley – HamnetRose Byrne – If I Had Legs I’d Kick YouKate Hudson – Song Sung BlueChase Infiniti – One Battle After AnotherRenate Reinsve – Sentimental ValueEmma Stone – BugoniaBest leading actorRobert Aramayo – I SwearTimothée Chalamet – Marty SupremeLeonardo DiCaprio – One Battle After AnotherEthan Hawke – Blue MoonMichael B Jordan – SinnersJesse Plemons – BugoniaBest supporting actressOdessa A’zion – Marty SupremeInga Ibsdotter Lilleaas – Sentimental ValueWunmi Mosaku – SinnersCarey Mulligan – The Ballad of Wallis IslandTeyana Taylor – One Battle After AnotherEmily Watson – HamnetBest supporting actorBenicio del Toro – One Battle After AnotherJacob Elordi – FrankensteinPaul Mescal – HamnetPeter Mullan – I SwearSean Penn – One Battle After AnotherStellan Skarsgård – Sentimental ValueOutstanding debut by a British writer, director or producerThe Ceremony – Jack King (director, writer), Hollie Bryan (producer), Lucy Meer (producer)My Father’s Shadow – Akinola Davies jnr (director), Wale Davies (writer)Pillion – Harry Lighton (director, writer)A Want in Her – Myrid Carten (director)Wasteman – Cal McMau (director), Hunter Andrews (writer), Eoin Doran (writer)Best film not in the English languageIt Was Just an AccidentThe Secret AgentSentimental ValueSirātThe Voice of Hind RajabBest documentary2000 Meters to AndriivkaApocalypse in the TropicsCover-UpMr Nobody Against PutinThe Perfect NeighborBest animated filmElioLittle AmélieZootropolis 2Best children’s and family filmArcoBoongLilo & StitchZootropolis 2Best original screenplayI Swear – Kirk JonesMarty Supreme – Ronald Bronstein, Josh SafdieThe Secret Agent – Kleber Mendonça FilhoSentimental Value – Eskil Vogt, Joachim TrierSinners – Ryan CooglerBest adapted screenplayThe Ballad of Wallis Island – Tom Basden, Tim KeyBugonia – Will TracyHamnet – Chloé Zhao, Maggie O’FarrellOne Battle After Another – Paul Thomas AndersonPillion – Harry LightonBest original scoreBugoniaFrankensteinHamnetOne Battle After AnotherSinnersBest production designFrankensteinHamnetMarty SupremeOne Battle After AnotherSinnersBest special visual effectsAvatar: Fire and AshF1FrankensteinHow to Train Your DragonThe Lost BusBest soundF1FrankensteinOne Battle After AnotherSinnersWarfareBest castingI SwearMarty SupremeOne Battle After AnotherSentimental ValueSinnersBest cinematographyFrankensteinMarty SupremeOne Battle After AnotherSinnersTrain DreamsBest editingF1A House of DynamiteMarty SupremeOne Battle After AnotherSinnersBest costume designFrankensteinHamnetMarty SupremeSinnersWicked: For GoodBest make-up and hairFrankensteinHamnetMarty SupremeSinnersWicked: For GoodBest British short animationCardboardSolsticeTwo Black Boys in ParadiseBest British short filmMagid/ZafarNeil Armstrong and the LangholmitesNostalgieTerenceThis Is EndometriosisWelcome Home FrecklesEE Rising Star award (voted for by the public)Robert AramayoMiles CatonChase InfinitiArchie MadekwePosy Sterling