(header image courtesy of Stuart Wilson for BAFTA / Getty Images)
Here’s one for the history books. Fresh off a record-breaking 16 nominations for the upcoming 2026 Oscars, Ryan Coogler’s Sinners has notched another landmark milestone: three wins at the 2026 BAFTA Film Awards, including Best Original Screenplay.
The haul puts Coogler as the first Black winner in the category, and the genre-bending vampire thriller as the most-decorated film by a Black director in the show’s history, beating out previous record-holder 12 Years A Slave. Where the latter, helmed by Steve McQueen, picked up two wins in 2016, Sinners walked away with three out of 13 total nods — also the most ever for a film directed by a Black filmmaker.
“I didn’t expect that,” admitted Coogler at the podium. “This is nerve-racking.”
“I come from a community that loves me. They made me believe that I could do this, that I could be a writer. And it was amazing to be accepted into the community of film actors, the community of Los Angeles,” he continued. “For all the writers out there, when y’all look at that blank page, think of who you love, think of anybody who you’ve seen in pain that you identify with and wish they felt better, and let that love motivate you. I’ll be forever grateful for this, thank you all.”
The filmmaker beat tough competition from I Swear (Kirk Jones), Marty Supreme (Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie), The Secret Agent (Kleber Mendonça Filho), and Sentimental Value (Eskil Vogt and Joachim Trier) for the Best Original Screenplay win. Wunmi Mosaku, who plays Annie in Sinners, and Ludwig Göransson rounded out the victory lap with Best Supporting Actress and Best Original Score, respectively.
It’s an optimistic prelude to Coogler’s Oscars prospects, where he will go up against two of his BAFTA contenders again, Marty Supreme and Sentimental Value, in addition to Blue Moon (Robert Kaplow), and It was Just an Accident (Mehdi Mahmoudian, Jafar Panahi, Shadmehr Rastin, and Nader Saivar). Notably, the British awards ceremony has been criticised for its lack of diversity and overall representation, so hopefully this represents a step forward for the industry, with the organisation revising its nomination process, expanding membership to underrepresented groups, and making it compulsory for members to watch all longlisted titles before voting.
Released in April 2025, Sinners debuted to critical acclaim and went on to gross US$369 million at the global box office against a US$90 to 100 million budget. The 98th Academy Awards will be its next major event, where it’s in the running for Best Picture alongside Bugonia, F1, Frankenstein, Hamnet, Marty Supreme, One Battle After Another, The Secret Agent, Sentimental Value, and Train Dreams. Final Oscars voting is set to take place from 26 February to 5 March, before the awards show airs on ABC on 15 March (or 16 March, 7am SGT / GMT+8).
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
