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For now, the Bafta film awards appears to have headed off further criticism over its long-running diversity crisis after revealing its longlists on Friday.
Despite Bafta overhauling its awards voting system in 2020 after claims of “systemic racism”, outrage re-emerged in 2023 after no people of colour won awards. The longlists, which are an intermediate stage on the way to the final nominations with each category determined by different mixes of membership voting and jury selection, suggest that some progress is being made.
In the directors list, which Bafta mandated must include 50% women, the longlist has found room for Chloé Zhao (Hamnet), Katherine Bigelow (A House of Dynamite), Lynne Ramsay (Die My Love), Hikari (Rental Family) and Kaouther Ben Hania (The Voice of Hind Rajab). Including Ryan Coogler (Sinners), the list contains four people of colour; Bafta however, does not appear to have targets for this. Juke-joint horror Sinners has performed strongly overall, in joint second place having secured 14 longlist entries.
The acting longlists appear, however, to be performing less well in terms of diversity, with seven people of colour out of 40 longlistees included. Places have been found for Cynthia Erivo (Wicked: For Good), who was excluded from the Actors (formerly Screen Actors Guild) awards nominees, alongside Chase Infiniti (One Battle After Another) and Tessa Thompson (Hedda) in the best actress list, while Sinners’ Michael B Jordan, Wunmi Mosaku and Delroy Lindo, and Teyana Taylor (One Battle After Another) are included elsewhere.
In 2025 Bafta said it had achieved its five-year target of 20% of members from minority ethnic groups, 12% deaf, disabled and neurodivergent people and 10% LGB+. However it had not achieved its target of 50% female membership, saying 43% identified as women.
In total longlist entries for the 2026 awards, Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another is currently best placed; starring Leonardo DiCaprio in a loose adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s novel Vineland; it appears 16 times, in contention for awards including best picture, best director for Anderson, and best actor and actress for DiCaprio and Infiniti.
Also well represented on the longlist are Shakespearean grief drama Hamnet and Sinners, which have each secured 14 entries. Hamnet, directed by Zhao and starring Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley, is included on the list for best picture, outstanding British film, best director for Zhao and best actor and actress for Mescal and Buckley. Sinners, likewise, is on the list for best picture, best director for Coogler, and best actor for Michael B Jordan.
Other strong performers include Marty Supreme (13 entries, including Timothée Chalamet for best actor), and Bugonia and Frankenstein on 12 each. The longlist would appear to confirm Wicked: For Good’s faltering awards season momentum; despite its commercial success, the film is well down the field with only eight, though these do include Erivo and Ariana Grande for best actress and supporting actress respectively.
The final nominations are announced on 27 January, and the award winners will be announced on 22 February at a ceremony at London’s Royal Festival Hall hosted by actor Alan Cumming.
