The film lineup for the 79th Cannes Film Festival has been unveiled. Cannes delegate general Thierry Frémaux and President Iris Knobloch announced the selections via a press conference. The festival will run from May 12 to 26.
Park Chan-wook will serve as the Jury President for the Main Competition, with the remaining jury members to be announced at a later date.
Cannes is one of the world’s most respected film festivals, bringing together artists from around the globe and premiering the most acclaimed, bold, and daring cinematic achievements. Cannes has been a significant bellwether for the success of critically acclaimed contenders at the Academy Awards.
In terms of gauging the pulse of the Academy’s international contingent, the Cannes and Venice Film Festivals have encapsulated the broad range of international artists and sensibilities that resonate for Oscar consideration.
The opening night film of the festival will be Pierre Salvadori’s The Electric Kiss.
Some notable titles in the 2026 competition lineup include Cristian Mungiu’s Fjord, starring Renate Reinsve and Sebastian Stan. Fresh off their recent Oscar nominations, Stan and Reinsve star in what could be Mungiu’s breakout hit. Mungiu won the Palme d’Or for 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days (2007), as well as winning Best Screenplay and Director prizes for Beyond the Hills (2012) and Graduation (2016), respectively.
Neon will distribute Fjord, and recently acquired Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s All of a Sudden, which will play in competition. Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car struck big at the 2021 Cannes, winning Best Screenplay, and earned four Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Director, before going on to win International Feature. Neon also acquired the rights to Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Sheep in the Box. Kore-eda is a Cannes regular, having premiered four films at the festival over the last decade and winning the Palme d’Or for Shoplifters (2018).
Her Private Hell is Nicolas Winding Refn’s first film since The Neon Demon (2016). Refn has a respectable history with Cannes, having won Best Director for Drive (2011), yet Her Private Hell will play out of competition. Neon is also headlining Arthur Harari’s third feature, The Unknown, starring Léa Seydoux. Harari is no stranger to Cannes success, having co-written Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or-winning Anatomy of a Fall (2023), which went on to win the Oscar for Original Screenplay.
At last year’s Cannes festival, Sentimental Value won the Grand Prix, and The Secret Agent won the Best Actor and Director prizes; both would be distributed by Neon and nominated for Best Picture. The films earned a combined 13 Oscar nominations, with Sentimental Value winning the International Feature award. Neon is on a hot streak, winning six Palme d’Or awards in a row, the highest honor at the festival, with It Was Just an Accident being 2025’s winner. There’s no doubt they hope to continue that streak.
Mubi has a few titles in its arsenal, including the much-anticipated film from Paweł Pawlikowski, Fatherland. It marks Pawlikowski’s first film in eight years after Cold War (2018), which won Best Director at Cannes and earned three Oscar nominations, including Best Director. Fatherland stars Hanns Zischler as novelist Thomas Mann, and Sandra Hüller plays his daughter. In the Un Certain Regard section, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma will be present. This is Jane Schoenbrun’s follow-up to I Saw the TV Glow (2024) and their first film at Cannes. Mubi also acquired the rights for Russian filmmaker Andrey Zvyagintsev’s first film in nine years, Minotaur. His previous films, Loveless (2017) and Leviathan (2014), won the Jury Prize and Best Screenplay awards, respectively.
The latest from acclaimed Iranian director Asghar Farhadi’s Parallel Tales, starring Isabelle Huppert, Virginie Efira (also in All of a Sudden), and Vincent Cassel, will premiere in competition as well. Since Farhadi’s The Past (2013), all of his films have debuted at Cannes, with The Salesman (2016) winning Best Actor and Screenplay prizes at the 2016 festival. 2021’s A Hero won the Grand Prix prize.
The Main Competition is lacking significant American representation, with Ira Sachs being the sole American director with The Man I Love. The last time Sachs had a competition film was Frankie (2019), as he mainly debuts his works at the Sundance Film Festival. Yet, the omission of even American auteur films outside of the studio system is eye-catching.
László Nemes returns to Cannes after more than a decade with Moulin. He burst onto the scene with his directorial debut, Son of Saul (2015), which won the Grand Prix and would go on to win the Oscar for Best International Feature. Lukas Dhont’s third film, Coward, will play in competition. Dhont’s previous film, Girl (2018), won the 2018 Caméra d’Or award, and his last film, Close (2022), won the 2022 Grand Prix and received an Oscar nomination for International Feature.
The competition lineup will also showcase Hope, a South Korean science fiction thriller by Na Hong-jin. Nas previous films at Cannes include The Chaser (2008) and The Yellow Sea (2010), which screened during the Un Certain Regard section.
Pedro Almodóvar is back at Cannes with Bitter Christmas, the last time being 2019’s Pain and Glory, which won two awards, Best Actor (Antonio Banderas) and Best Soundtrack; Banderas would go on to receive an Oscar nomination as well.
Rodrigo Sorogoyen returns to Cannes with The Beloved, starring Javier Bardem. Sorogoyen returns to the festival after his previous film, The Beasts (2022), was in the Cannes Premiere section. Gentle Monster is the latest film from Austrian director Marie Kreutzer. Her previous film, Corsage, was part of the 2022 Un Certain Regard section. Another female filmmaker, Léa Mysius, is back at Cannes with The Birthday Party. Mysius’s last film, The Five Devils (2022), premiered in the Directors’ Fortnight section of the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.
Cannes is also home to directorial debuts by major stars. John Travolta will premiere his debut, Propeller One-Way Night Coach, before its Apple TV+ release. Andy Garcia will also debut his directorial feature, Diamond, starring himself, Vicky Krieps, Brendan Fraser, and Bill Murray.
Notably absent is noted American auteur James Gray’s Paper Tiger, starring Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson, and Miles Teller. Gray is a regular staple of the festival, having established his presence at Cannes with The Yards (2000). Since then, he has shown five distinct American dramas, ranging from We Own the Night (2007) to The Immigrant (2013). His last effort, Armageddon Time (2022), competed for the Palme d’Or. Paper Tiger did recently secure French distribution, so it is possible the film could show up at Cannes as a late addition.
Frémaux noted in The Hollywood Reporter interview that the Cannes selection committee watched a record 2,500 films submitted for this year’s selection. There will be additional films announced in the coming days, as Cannes plays it close to the wire for last-minute additions.
For now, here are the officially selected films for the 79th annual Cannes Film Festival:
In Competition:
All of a Sudden – Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Bitter Christmas – Pedro Almodóvar
The Black Ball – Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo
This Beloved – Rodrigo Sorogoyen
Coward – Lukas Dhont
The Dreamed Adventure – Valeska Grisebach
Fatherland – Paweł Pawlikowski
Fjord – Cristian Mungiu
Gentle Monster – Marie Kreutzer
Hope – Na Hong-jin
The Man I Love – Ira Sachs
Minotaur – Andrey Zvyagintsev
Moulin – László Nemes
Parallel Tales – Asghar Farhadi
The Birthday Party – Léa Mysius
Sheep in the Box – Hirokazu Kore-eda
The Unknown – Arthur Harari
A Woman’s Life – Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet
Un Certain Regard:
All The Lovers in the Night – Sode Yukiko
À jamais ton animal maternel – Valentina Maurel
Elephants in the Fog – Abinash Bikram Shah
I’ll Be Gone in June – Katharina Rivilis
The Meltdown – Manuela Martelli
Strawberries – Laïla Marrakchi
Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma – Jane Schoenbrun
Yesterday The Eye Didn’t Sleep – Rakan Mayasi
Words of Love – Rudi Rosenberg
Uļa – Viestur Kairish
Out of Competition:
De Gaulle: Tilting Iron – Antonin Baudry
Diamond – Andy Garcia
Her Private Hell – Nicolas Winding Refn
The Electric Kiss – Pierre Salvadori
Midnight Screenings:
Jim Queen and the Quest for Chloroqueer – Nicolas Athane and Marco Nguyen
Roma elastica – Bertrand Mandico
The source for the full list of selected films is listed at Cannes.
Article Courtesy of Amritpal Rai