Ola, Kaja, Sonia and Anna, all 17, discuss the key Oscar categories
Paul Thomas Anderson, Leonardo DiCaprio and Teyana Taylor during the 98th Oscar ceremony in Los Angeles.
21 March 2026
Oscars 2026. Best Picture, political urgency and the film that swept the night
One Battle After Another entered the 2026 Academy Awards as one of several serious contenders for Best Picture, in a year defined less by a single dominant film and more by a competitive and ideologically charged field.
Alongside it stood Sinners, widely recognised for its scale and ambition, as well as films like Hamnet and Marty Supreme, which drew attention for their emotional and character-driven storytelling.
The question surrounding the category was not only which film would win, but what kind of film the Academy would choose to reward: one rooted in formal precision, one driven by symbolic ambition, or one that spoke most directly to the present moment.
In the studio, Anna Waśkiewicz, Sonia Rybus, Kaja Majewska and Ola Dymel approach this question from different perspectives, but their discussion gradually narrows toward a shared point of comparison between One Battle After Another and Sinners.
What begins as a balance between two strong candidates develops into a clearer distinction between different kinds of cinematic achievement. While Sinners is repeatedly praised for its originality – particularly in its fusion of history, music and supernatural elements – the conversation increasingly turns toward the idea of cohesion, and whether ambition alone is enough to secure the Academy’s highest award.
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At the centre of that distinction is form. One Battle After Another is understood as a film where visual composition, sound and narrative reinforce one another with precision. Its use of long takes, silence, colour and recurring imagery creates not only tension, but meaning, particularly through the idea of conflict as something continuous and unresolved. These elements are not isolated achievements, but part of a consistent structure that shapes the entire film.
The Oscars result ultimately confirms this reading. One Battle After Another wins Best Picture and emerges as the defining film of the night, while also marking long-awaited recognition for its director. The outcome does not erase the significance of its competitors, but it clarifies the distinction at the heart of the category: between films that impress through individual moments, and those that achieve a sense of totality.
© 2026 The Oxford School for the Future