BAFTA Awards 2026: A Glimpse At The Strongest Contenders

In recent times, the BAFTAs have mostly been claimed by Hollywood. This year, there’s only one British actor, Robert Aramayo, in the leading actor race, whereas the best actress category has none. The two most-talked about films—Sinners and One Battle After Another—follow in suit with the highest nominations. Rather than a comprehensive showcase of the best British talent, the award has cemented itself as a strong precursor to the Academy Awards. 13 of the last 15 best actor winners at the BAFTA Awards have gone on to repeat their success at the Oscars, as well as 10 of the last 12 BAFTA best actress winners.

Ahead of the award ceremony, here are the films to look out for:

Paul Thomas Anderson’s magnum opus kicks off with Teyana Taylor’s Perfidia Beverly Hills unleashing fiery radical energy which even the screen itself struggles to hold. Inspired by Pynchon’s Vineland, this counterculture epic is a frantic, thrilling meditation on racial politics, revolution across eras, passing the baton of resistance from one generation to the next, the shifts in this renewal over time. Even when resignation and defeatism seem to creep in, Anderson combines his heroes, played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Chase Infinti, into a rallying cry of hope.

Joachim Trier reunites with The Worst Person In The World star Renate Reinsve for a wise, unsentimental film about regret, the lingering shadow of our decisions, questioning if art can deliver healing and re-anchor us with our loved ones. Trauma, memory, history seamlessly blend in a drama with one of the year’s best ensembles—Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, Elle Fanning and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas. The film won the Grand Prix at Cannes and was the most awarded title at the European Film Awards.

Ryan Coogler’s ambitious, stylised period vampire drama reimagines the horror of Black life in America with sheer gutsiness. There’s celebration of Black culture and history, lent crackling genre twists. Lushness of Black music and spirit peaks in an audacious midpoint sequence where revellers from the past and visions of the future are summoned together. It’s what the movies are meant for.

Oliver Laxe’s stomach-churning Cannes Jury Prize-winning road thriller circles a father in search of his missing daughter. Setting out with his son in the quest, Luis travels the deserts of Morocco and teams with a group of ravers that might or might not know where his daughter is. Best to step in without prior knowledge, the film twists and lurches dangerously in a wild metaphysical journey, imploding with rapid severity. It’s a mad, existential trip that’s simultaneously tough and tender and tragic.

In his Palme d’Or-winning masterpiece, Jafar Panahi turns a revenge saga on its head, lacing it as a caustic, dark parable around morality and the reach of vigilantism. An Iranian ex-torturer is kidnapped by his victims who demand justice for their lifelong scars. Should the ex-political prisoners resort to the same violence to punish or forgive? Is it even the interrogator they assume they know? Moral dilemmas prop up a tense, scathingly ferocious and compulsively layered drama probing the limits of revenge and the weight of conscience. The absurdity is the cherry on top.

Kleber Mendonça Filho takes us to 1970s Brazil at the height of the military dictatorship. Led by Narcos star Wagner Moura as an academic forced into hiding after a clash with a federal officer, the drama corrals dissidents in an epic, luxurious span, even bunging in gonzo detours. Ardent cinephilia pulses through the film as genre conventions dissolve and blur between languid dramas, conspiracy thriller templates and surreal diversions. It’s a sprawling canvas with every beat lusciously etched in a heated, brooding mix.

Chloe Zhao’s magnificent adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s eponymous novel has sorrow almost too raw and wrenching to watch. Yet, none of it appears manipulative; rather, it is geared to nature and its cycles. As William Shakespeare’s wife, Agnes, deals with the death of a child, art and life meld on the road to a stunning, cathartic climax where collective solace arrives for the bereaved mother. Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal are as emotionally committed as utterly transcendent. The ending lifts the film to exalting heights.

Timothee Chalamet delivers a career-best performance in Josh Safdie’s manic blast of a movie. Spun around a table tennis prodigy recklessly chasing greatness, it’s the ultimate ode to New York’s breathless energy where ambition and high leaps promise reward. Daniel Lopatin’s anachronistic, all-timer score is key to the anti-sports biopic whose protagonist spares no time to slow down to survey his trail of damage.