The 2026 Oscars are full of twists and surprises. Koktail looks at a few of the highlights.

The 98th Academy Awards winners are officially in, and the results leave some far more disappointed than others. As is typical of Oscar season, irony has a peculiar way of catching actors and directors off guard. After all, this is about cinema, and what drives cinema, one could argue, is drama and irony.

It was especially tough for actor Timothée Chalamet, whose bid for long-awaited greatness fell dramatically short, a letdown of staggering proportions; Marty Supreme (the character he plays in Josh Safdie’s new film) didn’t reign supreme in best actor, and the engineered hype fizzled out rather quickly.

For auteur Paul Thomas Anderson, however, the Oscars just kept stacking up. His film One Battle After Another triumphed over Sinners, the film many had expected to win best picture. He also won best director, a gesture many interpret as the Academy making up for overlooking his previous films. It’s true; he should have won for There Will Be Blood (2007) or even the star-studded Magnolia (1999). But hey, we’re still happy for him. For Anderson, it was one Oscar after another, as it were.

Michael B Jordan won best actor for his role – or rather, roles, since he plays twins – in Sinners, directed by Ryan Coogler. The win is a testament to his versatility, range, and ultimately, the kind of charisma that can carry not just one character but two. Coogler and Jordan’s creative partnership goes back to Coogler’s directorial debut Fruitvale Station (2013). Since then, they have become one of Hollywood’s most exciting director-actor duos.

Jessie Buckley won the best actress award for her heartbreaking performance as Agnes Shakespeare in Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet. Representing Irish excellence, Buckley has long been praised for her remarkable acting talent. While some audiences may know her from Charlie Kaufman’s I’m Thinking of Ending Things (2020), many will now recognise her from Hamnet as well as Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride!, currently in theatres.

If there were an award for the most gleefully deranged characters of the year, these two might still win. Sean Penn picked up best supporting actor for his portrayal of the libido-overcharged, cartoonishly villainous Steven J. Lockjaw in One Battle After Another. Amy Madigan followed with best supporting actress as the eerie, witchcraft-leaning grandmother in Weapons. Their performances share an unsettling quality: both are creepy enough to make audiences squirm, yet comical enough to make them laugh.

Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value won best international feature film, beating out strong contenders. It was a close race, with Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident and Kleber Mendonça Filho’s The Secret Agent close behind. Many argue that Panahi deserved the win because of the risks – not just creative ones, but also political ones – he took in making the film. For some observers, it was unbelievable (quite literally) to see Norway triumph over Iran and Brazil. They feel the victory may not be as justified as fans of Trier’s work would like to believe.

It’s a good year for vampire slayers (Sinners) and demon hunters. Another demon-fighting story, KPop Demon Hunters, also picked up awards at the Oscars, winning best animated feature and best original song. The catchy single “Golden” has been an earworm for many, particularly Zoomers who hear it on repeat.

Joseph Kosinski’s F1 won best sound, beating out One Battle After Another. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Academy loves the sound of revving engines. They apparently also love computer-generated spectacles, as the best visual effects award was given to Avatar: Fire and Ash.

On the sartorial front, Kate Hawley took home the award for best costume design for her work in Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein. The film also won best makeup and hairstyling. Among the nominees, Frankenstein is arguably the most attuned to fashion sensibilities. It goes to show how striking design (and, more broadly, visual aesthetics) can elevate a film, not as a background but as part of the emotions conveyed. Cinema is fundamentally a visual medium, and while narrative plays a crucial role, it is far from the only factor that shapes a film’s impact.

Koktail has previously written about the film’s costume design. You can find the article here.

Here is the complete list of winners:

Best picture

• WINNER: One Battle After Another
• Bugonia
• Frankenstein
• F1
• Hamnet
• Marty Supreme
• The Secret Agent
• Sentimental Value
• Sinners
• Train Dreams

Best actress

• WINNER: 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 actor

• WINNER: Michael B Jordan – Sinners
• Timothée Chalamet – Marty Supreme
• Leonardo DiCaprio – One Battle After Another
• Ethan Hawke – Blue Moon
• Wagner Moura – The Secret Agent

Best supporting actress

• WINNER: Amy Madigan – Weapons
• Elle Fanning – Sentimental Value
• Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas – Sentimental Value
• Wunmi Mosaku – Sinners
• Teyana Taylor – One Battle After Another

Best supporting actor

• WINNER: Sean Penn – One Battle After Another
• Benicio del Toro – One Battle After Another
• Jacob Elordi – Frankenstein
• Delroy Lindo – Sinners
• Stellan Skarsgård – Sentimental Value

Best director

• WINNER: Paul Thomas Anderson – One Battle After Another
• Ryan Coogler – Sinners
• Josh Safdie – Marty Supreme
• Joachim Trier – Sentimental Value
• Chloé Zhao – Hamnet

Best animated feature

• WINNER: KPop Demon Hunters
• Arco
• Elio
• Little Amélie or the Character of Rain
• Zootopia 2

Best international feature

• WINNER: Sentimental Value
• It Was Just an Accident
• Sirât
• The Secret Agent
• The Voice of Hind Rajab

Best documentary feature

• WINNER: Mr Nobody Against Putin
• Come See Me in the Good Light
• Cutting Through the Rocks
• The Alabama Solution
• The Perfect Neighbor

Best original screenplay

• WINNER: Sinners – Ryan Coogler
• Blue Moon – Robert Kaplow
• It Was Just an Accident – Jafar Panahi
• Marty Supreme – Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie
• Sentimental Value – Eskil Vogt and Joachim Trier

Best adapted screenplay

• WINNER: One Battle After Another – Paul Thomas Anderson
• Bugonia – Will Tracy
• Frankenstein – Guillermo del Toro
• Hamnet – Chloé Zhao and Maggie O’Farrell
• Train Dreams – Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar

Best original song

• WINNER: Golden – KPop Demon Hunters (by EJAE, Mark Sonnenblick, Joong Gyu Kwak, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Jeong Hoon Seo and Teddy Park)
• Dear Me – Diane Warren: Relentless (by Diane Warren)
• I Lied to You – Sinners (by Raphael Saadiq and Ludwig Goransson)
• Sweet Dreams of Joy – Viva Verdi! (by Nicholas Pike)
• Train Dreams – Train Dreams (by Nick Cave and Bryce Dessner)

Best original score

• WINNER: Sinners – Ludwig Goransson
• Bugonia – Jerskin Fendrix
• Frankenstein – Alexandre Desplat
• Hamnet – Max Richter
• One Battle After Another – Jonny Greenwood

Best cinematography

• WINNER: Sinners – Autumn Durald Arkapaw
• Frankenstein – Dan Laustsen
• Marty Supreme – Darius Khondji
• One Battle After Another – Michael Bauman
• Train Dreams – Adolpho Veloso

Best film editing

• WINNER: One Battle After Another – Andy Jurgensen
• F1 – Stephen Mirrione
• Marty Supreme – Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie
• Sentimental Value – Olivier Bugge Coutté
• Sinners – Michael P Shawver

Best sound

• WINNER: F1 – Gareth John, Al Nelson, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Gary A Rizzo and Juan Peralta
• Frankenstein – Greg Chapman, Nathan Robitaille, Nelson Ferreira, Christian Cooke and Brad Zoern
• One Battle After Another – José Antonio García, Christopher Scarabosio and Tony Villaflor
• Sinners – Chris Welcker, Benjamin A Burtt, Felipe Pacheco, Brandon Proctor and Steve Boeddeker
• Sirât – Amanda Villavieja, Laia Casanovas and Yasmina Praderas

Best visual effects

• WINNER: Avatar: Fire and Ash – Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett
• F1 – Ryan Tudhope, Nicolas Chevallier, Robert Harrington and Keith Dawson
• Jurassic World Rebirth – David Vickery, Stephen Aplin, Charmaine Chan and Neil Corbould
• Sinners – Michael Ralla, Espen Nordahl, Guido Wolter and Donnie Dean
• The Lost Bus – Charlie Noble, David Zaretti, Russell Bowen and Brandon K McLaughlin

Best production design

• WINNER: Frankenstein – Tamara Deverell and Shane Vieau
• Hamnet – Fiona Crombie and Alice Felton
• Marty Supreme – Jack Fisk and Adam Willis
• One Battle After Another – Florencia Martin and Anthony Carlino
• Sinners – Hannah Beachler and Monique Champagne