How to Watch All of the Major BAFTA 2026 Nominees
At the end of January, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts announced its slate of nominees for the 79th annual BAFTA awards. The ceremony (which will be available to stream for free on BBC iPlayer) is set to take place on February 22 at the Royal Festival Hall, in London’s Southbank Centre. Viewers can expect to see many of the familiar faces of this year’s awards circuit—some of whom will be hoping to gain momentum in the lead-up to the Oscars.
Like every year, those A-list stars will share the spotlight with a host of British and Irish talent who, for whatever reason, didn’t quite make the cut for those glittering L.A. galas. As a result, the BAFTAs have usually managed to stand out from other ceremonies by giving movies like I Swear and Pillion the chance to go head-to-head with Hollywood juggernauts like Sinners and One Battle After Another.
In the list below, you’ll find information on ten of the most nominated 2026 Bafta movies—a group that is actually nicely split between those two camps. Read on to learn a bit more about them and use the guide below to find them on services like AppleTV, Netflix, Prime Video and elsewhere.
The current frontrunner for Best Picture and Best Director, Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, has been hyped to the heavens by basically every person who’s seen it since it opened in September. Luckily for us, the film has managed to live up to that billing, and then some, becoming the rare frontrunner that’s as much a hit with audiences as critics.
One Battle After Another is the story of an ageing revolutionary (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) who puts his struggle to one side in the hopes of giving his daughter a more normal life. However, when a figure from his past (Sean Penn) reappears and takes her prisoner, he decides that it’s time to come out of hiding. If you’ve enjoyed Anderson’s work to this point (especially recent movies like Phantom Thread and Liquorice Pizza), this one aptly feels like a crowning achievement.
One movie that didn’t get a mention on the American awards circuit, despite receiving a ton of buzz from its premier in Cannes and plenty of love from audiences and critics ever since, is Harry Lighton’s debut feature, Pillion. It’s a hot, heavy and very British kink movie (hookup in an alleyway behind Sainsbury’s, withstanding) that’s also an incredibly touching romance.
Nominated at BAFTA for Original Screenplay, British Film and British Debut, Pillion is a contemporary rom-com set in the world of BDSM culture—perhaps “dom-com” is more appropriate—that focuses on an introverted young lad (Harry “Dudley Dursley Melling) who enters into a sub/dom relationship with a hunky biker (Aleksander Skarsgård). Then, somewhat more awkwardly, he starts to fall in love.
Ryan Coogler’s Sinners had to settle for 13 nominations at the Baftas (three less than its record haul at the Academy Awards), leaving it one behind Anderson’s film in the ranking of nominees. What’s surprising is that two of the nominations that didn’t cross over the pond were the supporting nods for Delroy Lindo (who grew up in Lewisham) and Wunmi Mosaku (who moved from Nigeria to Manchester when she was one).
That strange snag aside, we can expect Coogler's vampire musical sensation (think Creed meets From Dusk Till Dawn) to win big with the crafts (like Best Score and Cinematography) before falling just short in the most coveted categories.
The other multiple BAFTA nominee that has yet to make much of a splash stateside is Kirk Jones’ I Swear—a movie about a young man with Tourette's syndrome that became an instant critical darling after its premiere in Toronto last September.
I Swear is based on the life of John Davidson, a Scottish man whose experiences with that particular neurodevelopmental disorder were captured in the 1989 television documentary John’s Not Mad. Using that film for inspiration, Davidson is played by Robert Aramayo, who you’ll recognise for his wonderful portrayal of Elrond in Amazon’s Rings of Power. He’s joined here by fellow Rings alum Peter Mullen in the kind of movie you could recommend to anyone.
Given its subject matter and Irish stars, it’s no surprise that Chloe Zhao’s Hamnet scored a few more nominations here (11) than it did with the Academy (eight)—notably Emily Watson in Best Supporting Actress and Paul Mescal for his Supporting turn as William Shakespeare.
Based on Maggie O’Farrell’s best-seller, the film imagines how the Bard might have written Hamlet as a way of processing the death of his son. Shakespeare purists might scoff at that, but there’s no denying the raw power of Zhao’s film or Jessie Buckley’s central performance as his wife, Agnes. Make sure to have some tissues nearby.
Another British indie gem that’s gone a little under the radar outside of BAFTA is The Ballad of Wallis Island, a touching comedy about a lottery winner who decides to use some of his money to reunite his favourite ‘00s folk act on the remote island where he lives.
It’s a charming, funny and moving film that’s elevated by a lovely supporting turn from Carey Mulligan, but Tim Key (The Paper) and Tom Basden (Plebs)—who co-wrote the screenplay—deserve just as much credit.
The joint third most nominated movie at BAFTA is Josh Safdie’s Marty Supreme, a 1950s-set ping pong hustler romp that might yet earn Timothée Chalamet his first Oscar.
Based on the life of Marty Reisman, the movie is as stylish, cool and nerve-shredding as anything in the Safdies’ back catalogue, but the most obvious comps have to be Good Time and Uncut Gems—and if you liked Oneohtrix Point Never’s synth-driven scores in those movies, Marty’s is even better.
If you were a fan of Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World from a few years back, you’re going to love Sentimental Value. For one, this touching, intergenerational family drama sees the Norwegian director reunite with that film’s effervescent star, Renate Reinsve, who gives a similarly wonderful performance as the actress daughter of a celebrated filmmaker.
What Worst Person didn’t have is Stellan Skarsgård (Andor), Elle Fanning (Predator: Badlands) and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas in supporting roles. All four performers are nominated, just as they were at the Oscars, and justifiably so.
If you’ve just seen “Wuthering Heights” this week and are dying to for more images of Jacob Elordi roaming through dramatic countryside in search of doomed romance, Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein might be the movie for you—especially if you’re fond of Del Toro’s work on recent films like The Shape of Water and Nightmare Alley.
Elordi is nominated here for playing the “Creature” in what is a loving and fateful adaptation of Shelley’s immortal 1818 novel.
The last, and certainly not the least, on our list of major BAFTA nominees is Yorgos Lanthimos’ Bugonia. Based on the Korean cult classic Save the Green Planet!, it’s a story of two conspiracy theorists who kidnap the head of a tech company in the hopes of exposing her as an alien.
This is the adventurous Greek director’s fourth collaboration with Emma Stone in just over seven years (the sixth if we’re including adverts and shorts). If you happened to enjoy Poor Things or The Favourite, this will likely be up your alley, too.
