BAFTA 2026: Leonardo DiCaprio’s ‘One Battle After Another’ leads the longlist with record 16 nods

LOS ANGELES: Leonardo DiCaprio starrer ‘One Battle After Another’ appears to be on its way to emerge as the big winner of this awards season, landing a series of shortlisted and longlisted titles over the past few weeks.

The film is now leading the 2026 BAFTA Film longlists with a record of 16 mentions after the first round of voting across 25 categories.

As announced by BAFTA on January 9, the political satire on US extremism and polarisation bagged an impressive 16 nods – the highest since the longlist round was started in 2021, as per Variety. Besides Best Film, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay, the film also dominated the performance lists with the lead stars DiCaprio, Chase Infiniti, Teyana Taylor, Benicio Del Toro, and Sean Penn.

Earlier in 2025, the record for most BAFTA longlist mentions went to ‘Emilia Perez’ with 15 nods, ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ in 2023, and ‘Oppenheimer’, ‘Barbie’, and ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ in 2024.

The longlist also features Chloe Zhao’s ‘Hamnet’ and Ryan Coogler’s ‘Sinners’ with 14 mentions each. Both films have received Best Director, Best Film, and performance nods.

While Josh Safdie’s ‘Marty Supreme’ bagged 13 mentions, ‘Bugonia’ and ‘Frankenstein’ follow closely behind with 12. ‘Sentimental Value’ and ‘Wicked: For Good’ close off with 8 mentions each.

Apart from the big names, British films also made an impression with ‘I Swear’ and ‘Pillion’ landing on six lists and ‘The Ballad of Wallis Island’ on five. Other standout players include ’28 Years Later’, ‘Die My Love’, ‘FI’, and ‘A House of Dynamite’.

With the first round of voting now wrapped, the next round will determine the official nominations, which opened on January 9 and will close on January 20, 2026. The final nominations will be announced on January 27. The 2026 BAFTA Awards are set to take place on February 22, 2026. (ANI)