The British Academy’s ceremony in London, hosted by Alan Cumming, saw ‘I Swear’ star Robert Aramayo surprise the star-studded crowd with two wins in one night, in addition to a casting honor for the film.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s political thriller One Battle After Another won six honors at the BAFTA Film Awards on Sunday, with Ryan Coogler’s vampire horror drama Sinners earning three, setting a record for the most honors for a movie from a Black filmmaker. And Kirk Jones’ Tourette Syndrome advocate dramedy I Swear stunned the crowd at the ceremony, hosted by Alan Cumming, the presenter and producer of The Traitors U.S., at London’s Royal Festival Hall, winning two honors voted on by the industry and a third one voted on by the public.
The film’s star, Robert Aramayo, in fact, left the event with two statuettes, one for Rising Star, the other for best actor, a star-studded category, in which his win was met with audible gasps by the audience. The other award for I Swear came in the best casting category.
The BAFTA nominations had set up a thrill ride for the British Academy honors, with One Battle After Another earning 14 nods, narrowly edging out Sinners with 13, and Chloé Zhao’s Shakespearean heartbreaker Hamnet and Josh Safdie’s ping-pong caper Marty Supreme with 11 nods each.
At the end of the night, One Battle After Another could celebrate half a dozen BAFTAs, namely for best film, best director, best adapted screenplay, best cinematography, editing, as well as best supporting actor Sean Penn.
The best supporting actress honor on Sunday went to Wunmi Mosaku for Sinners, which was also honored with the best original screenplay BAFTA for Coogler and the best original score award. Sinners followed up its record as the most-nominated film by a Black director in the British Academy’s history with a record three wins. Coogler also became the first Black winner of an original screenplay BAFTA on Sunday.
Three BAFTAs also went to Frankenstein, namely for production design, costumes, and make-up & hair. And Hamnet was honored twice, as the Outstanding British Film of the year, with star Jessie Buckley also winning the best leading actress award.
At the BAFTA Film Awards 2025, Conclave (best film) and The Brutalist (best director and actor) had won four honors each.
BAFTA chair Sara Putt opened the 2026 festivities Sunday night, lauding this year’s nominees and thanking them for providing audiences with “windows into other worlds and sometimes, yes, a respite from this one.” And she touted the excellence they have shown, “no algorithms involved.”
A pre-recorded sketch, starring Cumming discussing marketing ideas for the BAFTAs on a video call with Brian Cox, Warwick Davis, Ken Jeong, Jacobi Jupe, Hannah Waddingham, dog LaLa, a muted and video-less Leo DiCaprio, and Paddington Bear then opened the entertainment portion of the night.
In his opening monologue, Cumming ran through the topics covered by this year’s nominees. “Whatever happened to escapism? I’m exhausted,” he concluded. “It’s almost as though, I don’t know, there are events going on in the real world that are influencing filmmakers. Anyone else, like you Americans in particular?” Cumming then invited everyone in attendance to join him in a collective primal scream at world events.
Director David Borenstein accepted the honor for best documentary for his Mr. Nobody Against Putin with another U.S. reference, saying: “No matter how dark things get, whether in Russia or on the streets of Minneapolis, we always face a moral choice.”
Among other political comments during Sunday’s ceremony, My Father’s Shadow director Akinola Davies Jr., who won the Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer honor with his writer and brother Wale Davies, ended his acceptance speech with the words, “Free Palestine!”
Also on Sunday, Clare Binns, the creative director of Picturehouse Cinemas and Picturehouse Entertainment and “a driving force in the distribution of films in the U.K.,” was honored with the Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema Award at the ceremony. The world needs more neighborhood cinemas, she told the BAFTA crowd. And she lauded the late Robert Redford for founding the Sundance Institute and Sundance Film Festival, saying: “He knew that above all, we should be prepared to take risks.”
And Donna Langley, the NBCUniversal Entertainment chair and the first British woman to run a major Hollywood studio, received the BAFTA Fellowship, the British Academy’s highest honor, telling the audience that “decency is a superpower.”
At the end of a big BAFTA Awards night for One Battle After Another, director Paul Thomas Anderson, who had received a standing ovation, lauded the strong movies of the past year and had this message for people who say movies are no good anymore: “You can p*** right off!”
Check out the full 2026 BAFTA honors in London below. The winners are highlighted in bold in all announced categories.