One Battle After Another defeats Hamnet and Sinners at Baftas, as I Swear’s Robert Aramayo takes best actor

One Battle After Another, Paul Thomas Anderson’s counterculture comedy about a washed-up revolutionary trying to protect his daughter from a ruthless military officer, has dominated the Baftas, taking home six awards including best film, best director, best cinematography, best editing, best supporting actor and best adapted screenplay.

The film, inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s Vineland, was nominated for 14 awards going into Sunday’s ceremony, the most of any contender – including nods for stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Chase Infiniti and Teyana Taylor.

Anderson said: “Anybody who says movies aren’t good anymore can piss right off, because this is a great fucking year. We have a line from Nina Simone we stole in our film. She says, ‘I know what freedom is, it’s no fear.’ Let’s keep making things without fear.”

Accepting the award for best director earlier, Anderson also paid tribute to the film’s late producer Adam Somner, who died in 2024. “You may think your greatest export was Alfred Hitchcock or Charlie Chaplin, but to me it was Adam Somner,” he said.

“Three weeks into our film he found out he was sick, and he made it through production. If you’ve ever worked with somebody who is very ill, it is very miraculous, it makes you pay attention and it reminds you of the privilege of this work we do. Thank you for sending him to me.”

Meanwhile Sinners, Ryan Coogler’s vampire thriller exploring racial and cultural erasure, took home three awards, for best original screenplay, best original score and best supporting actress.

Hamnet, Chloé Zhao’s adaptation of the Maggie O’Farrell novel about William Shakespeare, his wife Agnes and the tragic death of their son, took home two awards, including outstanding British film and leading actress for Jessie Buckley.

Buckley is the first Irish performer to win a leading actress Bafta. Critics widely praised her raw and intimate performance of a mother grieving the loss of her 11-year-old son. She is also in the running for a best actress award at the Oscars this March.