BAFTA-2026: "One Battle After Another" Wins Most Awards, "Mr. Nobody Against Putin" Named Best Documentary
The film "One Battle After Another" won in six categories, despite being nominated in 14. It received the BAFTA for Best Film, Anderson was named Best Director, and Sean Penn's work was recognized as Best Supporting Role.
Leonardo DiCaprio and director Paul Thomas Anderson. Photo: Tristan Fewings/BAFTA/Getty Images for BAFTA
The anticipated triumph of this year's British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards ceremony was director Paul Thomas Anderson's film "One Battle After Another". In the "Best Documentary" category, the film Mr. Nobody Against Putin by Ural geography teacher Pavel Talankin and American documentarian David Borenstein won, writes the BBC.
Anderson's film, starring DiCaprio in the lead role, with Sean Penn and Benicio Del Toro in supporting roles, tells the story of a revolutionary who became an alcoholic and plunges back into battle when his daughter is pursued by a corrupt police officer. "One Battle After Another" was one of the big cinematic events of last year and received positive reviews from critics.
The film "One Battle After Another" won in six categories — despite being nominated in 14. It received the BAFTA for Best Film, Anderson was named Best Director, and Sean Penn's work was recognized as Best Supporting Role (the actor was not present at the ceremony). Additionally, the film won awards for Best Editing, Best Cinematography, and Best Adapted Screenplay.
"Anyone who says that cinema is no longer worth [expletive] can go further. Let's make movies and not be afraid of anything!" Anderson said during the ceremony.
Before this, he had never received an award in this category. His only BAFTA prize remained the "mask" for the 2022 film "Licorice Pizza" in the Best Original Screenplay category.
Anderson's work was also named Best Film at the recent Golden Globes ceremony and is nominated for several Oscars, which will be awarded on March 15.
Films with the most awards this year:
"One Battle After Another" — 6
"Sinners" — 3
Film about Russian propaganda — best documentary
The BAFTA award for Best Documentary went to the film "Mr. Nobody Against Putin", which Talankin made in his school in a small town near Chelyabinsk. The film tells the story of the work of Russian propaganda after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Talankin left Russia, taking the filmed material with him, and then, together with Borenstein, edited it into a documentary. Their work is also nominated for an Oscar.
During the awards ceremony, Borenstein addressed Talankin, saying: "Thank you for showing me: no matter how dark things look — in Russia or on the streets of Minneapolis, we always face a moral choice." "It doesn't matter who we are, there is power in our actions. To quote J. R. R. Tolkien, 'Courage is found in unlikely places.' We need more 'Mr. Nobodys'," the director added.
Among the contenders for the BAFTA prize in this category was also the film by Ukrainian director Mstyslav Chernov, who received an Oscar in 2024 for "20 Days in Mariupol" — a film about the siege of Mariupol by Russian troops.
His "2000 Meters to Andriivka", which tells the story of the failed Ukrainian counter-offensive in the summer of 2023, was nominated for the Best Documentary award this year.
Other winners this year
Unexpected success at the BAFTA ceremony awaited the film "I Swear" (its English title is based on a wordplay, as the phrase "I swear" can mean "I curse," but more often it is used in the meaning "I promise you").
It tells the story of John Davidson, a Scottish activist who fights for awareness about Tourette's syndrome (one of the nervous system disorders in which people sometimes involuntarily shout expletives).
The lead actor in this film, Robert Aramayo, was named Best Actor — in this category, he beat Hollywood stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Timothée Chalamet.
Davidson himself, about whom the BBC made a documentary in 1989 called "John's Not Mad," was present at the ceremony.
In addition, the horror film "Sinners" won in three categories: Best Supporting Actress (Wunmi Mosaku), Best Original Screenplay, and Best Film Music. Mosaku became the first British actress in four years to receive a BAFTA in this category.
"Sinners," also nominated for several Oscars, somewhat changes the traditional approach, according to which horror films usually do not succeed at awards ceremonies.
The film tells the story of twin brothers (played by one actor) who return to 1930s Mississippi to open a bar, which is then attacked by bloodthirsty vampires.
Guillermo del Toro's film "Frankenstein" — another adaptation of Mary Shelley's classic novel — received three awards for Best Production Design, as well as Best Makeup and Best Costume Design.
This film, made for the Netflix streaming service, notably features a ship frozen in Arctic ice, as well as Frankenstein's laboratory atop a Victorian water tower.
Chloé Zhao's film "Hamnet", whose plot is based on Maggie O'Farrell's novel of the same name, received awards in three categories. It is a fictionalized story of the life of William Shakespeare's son, who died at the age of 11.
Irish actress Jessie Buckley was named Best Actress for her role as Agnes Shakespeare (she previously also received a Golden Globe for it).
"Hamnet" was also named Outstanding British Film.
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