FINAL 2026 Oscar Predictions: FILM EDITING and CINEMATOGRAPHY
F1 continues its tech strength, winning Critics Choice for Film Editing, landing a PGA nomination and hitting the BAFTA longlists in several categories, including this one.
Other top contenders like One Battle After Another and Sinners are locked in. Marty Supreme appears very strong as well. That’s four and then it gets tricky. While Hamnet made the CCA cut (in a field of six) and the BAFTA longlist, if you add in the wealth of regional critics groups that have an editing category it’s constantly missing from those lineups. The film has shown major weaknesses elsewhere (including the next category) and in the face of Frankenstein and possibly even A House of Dynamite, it will be a fight.
Speaking of Hamnet, up until just a week ago, the cinematography of Hamnet, one of its most lauded technical attributes, shockingly missed both major guild; the American Society of Cinematographers and British Society of Cinematographers. Łukasz Žal is a two-time Oscar nominee (for Cold War and Ida) but in both of those cases, he hit both of those guild with both films. While it’s not impossible that the Academy saves him it’s feeling very unlikely. That said, we have examples of DPs whose films missed both and still made the Oscar cut.
2018: Never Look Away (Caleb Deschanel)
2015: The Hateful Eight (Robert Richardson)
2012: Django Unchained (Robert Richardson)
2011: War Horse (Janusz Kamiński)
2005: The New World (Emmanuel Lubezki)
Deschanel was a legend and multiple nominee, Richardson was already a three-time winner and multiple nominee, Kamiński was a two-time winner and multiple nominee and Lubezki was a two-time nominee at the time who would become a consecutive, three-time winner. Where does Źal fit into that equation? His miss for The Zone of Interest, which performed so well on Oscar night, including a surprise Sound win, is still noteworthy.
American Cinema Editors nominations will be on January 27, the same day as BAFTA noms, five days after Oscar nominations are announced.
Here are my 2026 Oscar nomination predictions for Film Editing and Cinematography.
FILM EDITING
| 1. One Battle After Another — Andy Jurgensen (Warner Bros) | CCA (BAFTA longlist) |
| 2. Sinners — Michael P. Shawver (Warner Bros) | CCA (BAFTA longlist) |
| 3. F1— Stephen Mirrione (Apple Original Films/Warner Bros) | CCA (BAFTA longlist) |
| 4. Marty Supreme — Ronald Bronstein (A24) | CCA (BAFTA longlist) |
| 5. Frankenstein — Evan Schiff (Netflix) | (BAFTA longlist) |
| 6. Hamnet — Chloé Zhao and Affonso Gonçalves (Focus Features) | CCA (BAFTA longlist) |
| 7. A House of Dynamite — Kirk Baxter (Netflix) ↑ | CCA (BAFTA longlist) |
| 8. Sentimental Value — Olivier Bugge Coutté (NEON) ↓ | |
| 9. Bugonia — Yorgos Mavropsaridis (Focus Features) ↑ | (BAFTA longlist) |
| 10. Weapons — Joe Murphy (Warner Bros/New Line) ↑ | (BAFTA longlist) |
| 11. Sirāt — Cristóbal Fernández (NEON) ↓ | |
| 12. Wicked: For Good — Myron Kerstein (Universal Pictures) ↓ | |
| 13. The Secret Agent — Matheus Farias and Eduardo Serrano (NEON) ↑ | |
| 14. It Was Just an Accident — Amir Etminan (NEON) ↓ | |
| 15. Avatar: Fire and Ash — James Cameron, Nicolas De Toth, John Refoua, David Brenner, Stephen E. Rivkin (20th Century Studios) ↓ | |
| 16. No Other Choice — Kim Sang-bum (NEON) | |
| 17. Train Dreams — Parker Laramie (Netflix) | |
| 18. 28 Years Later — Jon Harris (Sony Pictures/Columbia) | (BAFTA longlist) |
| 19. Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere — Pamela Martin (20th Century Studios) | |
| 20. The Smashing Machine — Benny Safdie (A24) |
CINEMATOGRAPHY (shortlist of 10)
| 1. Sinners — Autumn Durald Arkapaw (Warner Bros) | ASC, BSC, CCA (BAFTA longlist) |
| 2. One Battle After Another — Michael Bauman (Warner Bros) | ASC, BSC, CCA (BAFTA longlist) |
| 3. Frankenstein — Dan Laustsen (Netflix) ↑ | ASC, BSC, CCA (BAFTA longlist) |
| 4. Marty Supreme — Darius Khondji (A24) ↑ | ASC, BSC (BAFTA longlist) |
| 5. Train Dreams — Adolpho Veloso (Netflix) ↑ | ASC, CCA (BAFTA longlist) |
| 6. Hamnet — Łukasz Żal (Focus Features) ↓ | CCA (BAFTA longlist) |
| 7. F1 — Claudio Miranda (Apple Original Films/Warner Bros) ↓ | CCA (BAFTA longlist) |
| 8. Die My Love — Seamus McGarvey (MUBI) ↑ | BSC (BAFTA longlist) |
| 9. Bugonia — Robbie Ryan (Focus Features) ↑ | (BAFTA longlist) |
| 10. Sentimental Value — Kasper Tuxen (NEON) |
| 11. Sirāt — Mauro Herce (NEON) | |
| 12. Nouvelle Vague — David Chambille (Netflix) ↓ | |
| 13. Sound of Falling — Fabian Gamper (MUBI) | |
| 14. Wicked: For Good — Alice Brooks (Universal Pictures) ↓ | |
| 15. Ballad of a Small Player — James Friend (Netflix) | (BAFTA longlist) |
| 16. Song Sung Blue — Amy Vincent (Focus Features) |
He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.
- FINAL 2026 Oscar Predictions: FILM EDITING and CINEMATOGRAPHY - January 13, 2026
- Rotten Tomatoes Awards: ‘Sinners’ Takes Best Movie, ‘Pillion’ Wins Best Romance, ‘Andor’ Named Best Series - January 13, 2026
- NAACP Image Awards Nominations: ‘Sinners’ Leads Films with 18, ‘Bel-Air’ Leads TV with 7 - January 13, 2026
On the Shelf: ‘Bringing Out the Dead,’ ‘Evil Dead Rise,’ and ‘The Pink Panther’ Films Land on 4K Blu-ray for Week of January 12 
FINAL 2026 Oscar Predictions: FILM EDITING and CINEMATOGRAPHY 
Rotten Tomatoes Awards: ‘Sinners’ Takes Best Movie, ‘Pillion’ Wins Best Romance, ‘Andor’ Named Best Series 
NAACP Image Awards Nominations: ‘Sinners’ Leads Films with 18, ‘Bel-Air’ Leads TV with 7