Oscars 2026: everything you need to know

This year’s Oscar nominations mark a clear turning point in the Academy’s recent history. Sinners became the most-nominated film of the edition, Brazil once again stands out strongly in major categories, and international cinema is gradually moving away from a peripheral position to compete on equal footing with Hollywood’s biggest productions. Added to this is a historic development: for the first time, the Oscar for Achievement in Casting is being awarded, a category that formally recognizes the work of casting directors.

The overall picture confirms a trend that has been consolidating over the past few years: fewer boundaries between “foreign cinema” and “American cinema,” greater diversity of cinematic languages, and a growing openness to stories, performers, and creative teams that until recently were confined to specific categories. Below are some reflections on this year’s nominations.

Sinners, the standout film of the season

Sinners doesn’t just lead this year’s nominations: with 16 nominations, it became the most-nominated film in Oscar history, surpassing historic record-holders such as Titanic and La La Land.

With nominations across acting, directing, writing, music, technical categories, and Best Picture, Sinners positions itself as the central title of this edition. The film not only leads in total nominations but also appears consistently across categories, which is often a strong sign of broad consensus within the Academy.

Michael B. Jordan is nominated for Best Actor, Delroy Lindo and Wunmi Mosaku appear in supporting roles, Ryan Coogler competes in both Directing and Original Screenplay, and Ludwig Göransson is once again nominated for Original Score. Added to this are nominations for Cinematography, Editing, Sound, Makeup and Hairstyling, and Visual Effects, cementing Sinners as one of the year’s most ambitious and well-rounded contenders.

Leading performances: established names and international bets

In the Best Actor category, the competition brings together major names with very different career paths. Timothée Chalamet is nominated for Marty Supreme, Leonardo DiCaprio and Benicio Del Toro reinforce the presence of One Battle after Another, Ethan Hawke appears for Blue Moon, and Michael B. Jordan leads for Sinners. Wagner Moura’s nomination for The Secret Agent is one of the year’s most significant milestones: a Brazilian actor starring in a foreign-language film that also managed to break into major categories.

In Best Actress, the range is equally broad. Jessie Buckley (Hamnet), Rose Byrne (If I Had Legs I’d Kick You), Kate Hudson (Song Sung Blue), Renate Reinsve (Sentimental Value), and Emma Stone (Bugonia) make up a category that bridges independent cinema, auteur-driven projects, and larger-scale productions.

The supporting categories further reinforce this diversity. Sentimental Value receives multiple acting nominations, as do Sinners and One Battle after Another, confirming the ensemble strength of many of this year’s standout films.

Casting: a new category signaling a shift

For the first time in Oscar history, the Academy officially recognizes Achievement in Casting as a competitive category. The nominees are Hamnet (Nina Gold), Marty Supreme (Jennifer Venditti), One Battle after Another (Cassandra Kulukundis), The Secret Agent (Gabriel Domingues), and Sinners (Francine Maisler).

The creation of this category is far from symbolic. It places a crucial creative role at the center of cinematic recognition and once again highlights films with complex, diverse, and carefully assembled casts—many of them outside the traditional Hollywood system.

International cinema: Brazil, Europe, and Africa at the forefront

The Best International Feature Film category confirms an especially strong year. Brazil competes with The Secret Agent, France with It Was Just an Accident, Norway with Sentimental Value, Spain with Sirāt, and Tunisia with The Voice of Hind Rajab. What stands out is that several of these films are not confined to this category: The Secret Agent and Sentimental Value also appear in nominations for Acting, Directing, and Best Picture.

This cross-category presence reinforces the idea that international cinema no longer functions as a separate “section” of the ceremony, but rather as an integral part of the contemporary cinematic canon.

Directing, writing, and music: recognizable authorial voices

In the Directing category, the list reflects an intriguing coexistence of filmmakers with very different styles: Chloé Zhao (Hamnet), Josh Safdie (Marty Supreme), Paul Thomas Anderson (One Battle after Another), Joachim Trier (Sentimental Value), and Ryan Coogler (Sinners). It’s a category that neatly captures the spirit of the year, where auteur cinema, large-scale productions, and international perspectives share the same stage.

In Adapted Screenplay, the nominees are Bugonia, Frankenstein, Hamnet, One Battle after Another, and Train Dreams. For Original Screenplay, the nominated films are Blue Moon, It Was Just an Accident, Marty Supreme, Sentimental Value, and Sinners. The repetition of certain titles confirms which projects were strongest at the writing stage.

Music also plays a central role this year. The nominees for Original Score include Bugonia, Frankenstein, Hamnet, One Battle after Another, and Sinners, while Original Song highlights tracks such as “I Lied To You” (Sinners) and “Golden” (KPop Demon Hunters), among others.

Best Picture: a list without clear borders

The ten nominees for Best Picture summarize the paradigm shift: Bugonia, F1, Frankenstein, Hamnet, Marty Supreme, One Battle after Another, The Secret Agent, Sentimental Value, Sinners, and Train Dreams. Major studios, independent cinema, international productions, and filmmakers with very different aesthetics coexist without a clear division between “center” and “periphery.”

Technical categories and animation

In the technical categories, Sinners once again appears consistently, alongside titles such as Frankenstein, F1, Hamnet, and One Battle after Another. In animation, the nominees for Best Animated Feature are Arco, Elio, KPop Demon Hunters, Little Amélie or the Character of Rain, and Zootopia 2, while the animated and live-action shorts maintain a varied and experimental selection.

An Oscar ceremony reflecting a structural shift

With Sinners leading the nominations, Brazil consolidating a presence that is no longer exceptional, and the introduction of a category like Casting, this year’s Oscars point to a deeper shift. The Academy appears to be recognizing—albeit gradually—that contemporary cinema is multiple, global, and difficult to contain within national or industrial labels.

More than an anomaly, this diversity is starting to look like the new normal.