In this week’s episode of The Screen Podcast, the team delves into the 2026 Bafta and Oscar nominations.
Watch above on video, or listen below.
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First, Screen editor-in-chief Matt Mueller, deputy editor Louise Tutt and awards and box office editor Charles Gant discuss the key differences in nominations across the two awards bodies.
“Bafta have given a bit more love to British films, which is perhaps what we would expect,” said Gant. “Ampas has given a bit more regard to films, predominantly not in the English language.
“Now, both academies have got an increasing number of international voters from across the world, but I think Ampas is really leaning into that a little bit harder and we’re witnessing the impact of that.”
They also explore what impact Bafta’s voting interventions in the outstanding British film, documentary and director categories have had on this year’s nominations.
“What we have had in the past is a rather large opt-in chapter for documentary at Bafta, myself included, who were not documentary specialists. You ended up with quite a populist longlist that that chapter had created, often with a lot of biographical features,” Gant explained.
“And now you have got this more specialised opt-in where you’re meant to be involved in documentary in some way… But I think that the longlist was better.”
The Screen Podcast is produced and edited by Ellie Calnan, with Wendy Mitchell serving as editorial director.
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