Oscar Nominations 2026!
Jan 22 2026
🏆 The Oscars (Academy Awards):Nominations list, History, Relevance & Importance
full list of Oscar nominations for the 98th Academy Awards (2026) across all 24 categories, as officially announced on January 22, 2026. The ceremony is scheduled for March 15, 2026, hosted by Conan O’Brien in Hollywood.
🏆 Best Picture (10 nominees)
Bugonia
F1
Frankenstein
Hamnet
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
The Secret Agent
Sentimental Value
Sinners
Train Dreams
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🎬 Directing
Paul Thomas Anderson – One Battle After Another
Ryan Coogler – Sinners
Josh Safdie – Marty Supreme
Joachim Trier – Sentimental Value
Chloé Zhao – Hamnet
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🎭 Acting Categories
Best Actor in a Leading Role
Timothée Chalamet – Marty Supreme
Leonardo DiCaprio – One Battle After Another
Ethan Hawke – Blue Moon
Michael B. Jordan – Sinners
Wagner Moura – The Secret Agent
Best Actress in a Leading Role
Jessie Buckley – Hamnet
Rose Byrne – If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Kate Hudson – Song Sung Blue
Renate Reinsve – Sentimental Value
Emma Stone – Bugonia
Best Supporting Actor
Benicio del Toro – One Battle After Another
Jacob Elordi – Frankenstein
Delroy Lindo – Sinners
Sean Penn – One Battle After Another
Stellan Skarsgård – Sentimental Value
Best Supporting Actress
Elle Fanning – Sentimental Value
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas – Sentimental Value
Amy Madigan – Weapons
Wunmi Mosaku – Sinners
Teyana Taylor – One Battle After Another
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🎥 Writing Categories
Best Original Screenplay
Marty Supreme
Sentimental Value
One Battle After Another
Sinners
Best Adapted Screenplay
Hamnet
Frankenstein
Bugonia
Train Dreams
One battle after
🔧 Craft & Technical Categories
Best Cinematography
Frankenstein
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Sinners
Train Dreams
Best Editing
F1
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Sentimental Value
Sinners
Best Production Design
Frankenstein
Hamnet
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Sinners
Best Sound
F1
Frankenstein
One Battle After Another
Sinners
Sirāt
Best Visual Effects
Avatar: Fire and Ash
F1
Jurassic World Rebirth
The Lost Bus
Sinners
Best Costume Design
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Frankenstein
Hamnet
Sinners
(fifth film nominee typically part of list — awaiting full release)
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🌍 Feature & Short Categories
Best Animated Feature
Arco
Elio
KPop Demon Hunters
Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
Zootopia 2
Best International Feature Film
The Secret Agent (Brazil)
It Was Just an Accident (France)
Sentimental Value (Norway)
Sirāt (Spain)
The Voice of Hind Rajab (Tunisia)
Best Documentary Feature
The Alabama Solution
Come See Me in the Good Light
Cutting Through Rocks
Mr. Nobody Against Putin
The Perfect Neighbor
Best Documentary Short
All the Empty Rooms
Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud
Children No More: Were and Are Gone
The Devil Is Busy
Perfectly a Strangeness
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🎶 Music & Casting
Best Original Song
“Dear Me,” Diane Warren: Relentless
“Golden,” KPop Demon Hunters
“I Lied to You,” Sinners
“Sweet Dreams of Joy,” Viva Verdi!
“Train Dreams,” Train Dreams
Best Casting (New Category)
Hamnet
Marty Supreme
The Secret Agent
Sinners
Total categories: 24, including the new Best Casting award.
Sinners set a new record with 16 nominations.
One Battle After Another closely follows with many technical and acting nods.
🎬 What Are the Oscars?
The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are the most prestigious and globally respected film awards in the world. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the USA to honor excellence in cinematic achievement in areas like:
- Direction
- Cinematography
- Acting
- Editing
- Sound
- Music
- Visual Effects
- Writing
- Production Design
- And many more crafts
Winning an Oscar is considered the highest recognition in world cinema.
📜 A Brief History
- The first Oscar ceremony was held in 1929 in Hollywood.
- It was originally created to:
- Encourage artistic and technical excellence
- Unite the film industry
- Set global standards for filmmaking quality
- The famous Oscar statuette officially represents the “Academy Award of Merit”.
- Over nearly 100 years, the Oscars have become the most influential cultural event in cinema history.
🌍 Why the Oscars Are So Important
Global Recognition
An Oscar:
- Instantly elevates a film, artist, or technician to world-class status
- Brings international distribution, visibility, and legacy
- Makes films part of cinema history
Even a nomination changes a filmmaker’s career forever.
Sets Quality Benchmarks
The Oscars:
- Define technical and artistic standards for world cinema
- Influence:
- Camera styles
- Editing language
- Sound design
- VFX quality
- Storytelling trends
- Film schools across the world study Oscar-winning films as references.
Honors Not Just Stars, But Craftsmen
One of the greatest strengths of the Oscars is that it honors:
- Cinematographers
- Editors
- Sound designers
- Production designers
- Costume designers
- VFX artists
- Music composers
This makes the Oscars the only award that truly celebrates cinema as a collaborative art.
Cultural & Historical Impact
Many Oscar-winning films:
- Reflect social, political, and human themes
- Become time capsules of world history
- Influence generations of filmmakers and audiences
Examples:
- Ben-Hur, Lawrence of Arabia, Schindler’s List, Titanic, Parasite, Oppenheimer — all became cinema milestones.
Economic & Industry Power
An Oscar win:
- Can increase a film’s box office by hundreds of crores
- Creates:
- Global releases
- More OTT sales
- International remakes
- Studios plan projects specifically to aim for Oscars.
🎥 The Oscars Today
Today, the Oscars:
- Include films from all over the world
- Recognize:
- International cinema
- Independent films
- Streaming platform films
- New technologies (VFX, Virtual Production, AI workflows)
They are no longer just Hollywood awards — they are global cinema awards.
🧠 Why Oscars Matter for Film Students
For students of:
- Direction
- Cinematography
- Editing
- Acting
- Sound
- VFX
Oscar-winning films are:
- Textbooks of visual storytelling
- Benchmarks of craft perfection
- Proof that cinema is both art and technology
🏆 In One Line:
The Oscars are not just awards — they are the global history book, quality control system, and dream destination of world cinema.
Article by
CJ Rajkumar
Author/ Cinematographer