Hollywood will be there but with only one film – from Ira Sachs – in the 79th year edition that runs from May 12-23. Veteran auteurs Andrei Zvyagintsev, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Paweł Pawlikowski, Laszlo Nemes and Pedro Almodovar return to the Croisette alongside newcomers, France naturally dominating the line-up with five main competition titles.
So far 21 titles will compete for the coveted Palme d’Or including first time directors Charline Bourgeois-Tacques and Jeanne Henry, alongside auteur award-winners such as Marie Kreutzer, Veleska Grisebach and Lukas Dhont.
Two years ago, on the top of a mountain in Sveneti, Georgia, twice Palme d’Or winner Ruben Östlund talked to us about his next feature The Entertainment System Is Down.. Let’s hope this latest psychological drama, a follow-up to Triangle of Sadness joins the list of Palme d’Or hopefuls – if it’s finished in time.
The selection includes:
E a s t e r n E u r o p e
Best known for Son of Saul, and hot of the heels of his Venice title Orphan, Hungarian director Laszlo Nemes is back in Cannes with Moulin, a drama exploring the life of the eponymous French resistance leader, played by Gilles Lellouche.
Oscar-winning Polish filmmaker Pawel Pawlikowski returns to Cannes after winning best director with Cold War. This year he looks at another important figure of the 20th century, German novelist Thomas Mann with Fatherland starring Hanns Zischler and Sandra Huller.
Romania’s Christian Mingui won the Palme d’Or with his shocking feature 4 Months, 3 Weeks And 2 Days. He followed with a slew of award-winning titles Beyond the Hills, Graduation and R.M.N. each with their own particular style. This year Fjord, starring Renate Reinsve and Sebastian Stan as religious parents of five children who have migrated to small-town Norway.
Exiled Russian filmmaker Andrey Zvyagintsev is another Cannes festival regular with previous titles Leviathan and Loveless exploring the bleak lives of Russian families in crisis. This time with Minotaur the crisis is political in nature and involves a Russian businessman.
F R A N C E
When it comes to Cannes, French films feature heavily – and this year there are five in the main competition, Lea Mysius jumps into the line-up with The Birthday Party, starring Hafsia Herzi, Monica Bellucci and Bastien Bouillon who play a family troubled by mysterious strangers in their rural village.
Director Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet makes an appearance with sophomore feature A Woman’s Life, that follows surgeon Léa Drucker, and Melanie Thierry who is writing a book about her hospital days.
France’s Emmanuel Marre (Rien A Foutre), makes his Competition debut with A Notre Salut, a Second World War drama set in Vichy France starring Arlaud Swann.
S P A I N
There will be three films from Spain in this year’s main competition. Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s The Beloved (El Ser Querido), is a 1930s-set desert drama starring Javier Bardem as a famous filmmaker reunited with his daughter, who is not so well known. Sorogoyen’s previous appearance was with The Beasts.
Veteran filmmaker Almodovar has never won the Palme d’Or, despite competing eight times, but now he gets another chance with Bitter Christmas, about a recently bereaved advertising director. Javier Ambrossi.
Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi co-direct with their second outing, a gay-themed feature Black Ball, that looks back at gaydom in 1932, 1937 and 2017 and stars Penélope Cruz, Glenn Close, Lola Dueñas,
G E R M A N Y
Two German filmmakers make it into this year’s main competition, Marie Kreutzer (Stations of the Cross) with Gentle Monster. Valeska Grisebach, whose memorable immigrant drama Western won multi awards in 2017. Nearly a decade later she is back in Cannes with The Dreamed Adventure.
From Belgium, Lukas Dhont’s follow-up to Girl (2018) and Close (2022) is a First World War drama set on the battlefields of Ypres. Entitled Coward it tackles the thorny subject of desertion amongst the ranks.
J A P A N – A S I A
Oscar-winning Japanese director Hamaguchi (Drive My Car (2021 and Evil Does Not Exist) returns with All Of A Sudden starring Jean-Charles Clichet and Virginie Efira in a drama that sees the relationship between two academics deepen when one of them falls ill.
Kore-eda has been very successful at Cannes and won the Palme d’Or in 2018 for his dark comedy Shoplifters. This year Sheep In The Box is a sci-fi set in the near future about a couple who take a humanoid robot into their home as their son.
With Nagi Notes Koji Fukada will be on the Croissette once again, after Harmonium, and Love on Trial in Cannes Premiere last year.
In the Iranian corner, two-time Oscar-winning Farhadi will present a starry French-language title called Parallel Tales – expect Isabelle Huppert, Virginie Efira, Vincent Cassel, Pierre Niney, Adam Bessa and Catherine Deneuve.
The festival will open on Tuesday the 12th May with Pierre Salvadori’s 11th feature Electric Venus, starring Pio Marmai, Anais Demoustier and Gilles Lellouche. Set in early 20th century Paris it follows a famous painter who tries to contact his dead wife via a medium.
CANNES FILM FESTIVAL 12 – 23 MAY 2026