Ryan Coogler Makes History with “Sinners”: First Person of African Descent to Win BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay
According to the CinemaDrame News Agency, Ryan Coogler continued his historic run this awards season on Sunday, February 22, 2026, by winning the BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay for Sinners. With this victory, he becomes the first person of African descent in BAFTA history to win in this category. Upon taking the stage to a standing ovation, Coogler remarked, “I didn’t expect this. It’s nerve-wracking.”
He continued: “I come from a community that loves me. They made me believe that I could succeed, that I could be a writer. And to be accepted within the filmmaking community, the Los Angeles community, has been amazing… To all the writers out there, when you look at that blank page, think of the people you love, everyone you’ve seen suffering whom you’ve felt for and wished better for, and let that love move you. I am forever grateful for this award; thank you all.”
Coogler was competing in this category against I Swear by Kirk Jones, Marty Supreme written by Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie, The Secret Agent by Kleber Mendonça Filho, and Sentimental Value written by Eskil Vogt and Joachim Trier.
This win positions Coogler as a frontrunner over Marty Supreme and Sentimental Value in the upcoming Oscar race. Other Oscar nominees in this category include Blue Moon by Robert Caplow and It Was Just an Accident by Mehdi Mahjoubian, Jafar Panahi, Shadmehr Rastin, and Nader Saeivar. To date, only one person of African descent has won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay: Jordan Peele for Get Out in 2017, which, like Sinners, was a genre film.
Sinners was the second most-honored film at the BAFTAs with 13 nominations and has broken the all-time record at the Oscars with 16 nominations.
Final Oscar voting will take place from February 26 to March 5, 2026. The 98th Academy Awards ceremony will be held on March 15, 2026, hosted by Conan O’Brien and broadcast on ABC.
