09/04/2026 - In a competition dominated by European and Asian productions, a varied clutch of new talents is set to flourish, flanked by a solid cohort of seasoned filmmakers

UPDATE (23 April 2026): The selection has been completed with new titles – read about them here.

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General Delegate Thierry Frémaux has more than one trick up his sleeve, and for audacious proof of this, look no further than today’s unveiling of the Official Selection of the 79th Cannes Film Festival (12-23 May). Flanked by president Iris Knobloch, the head of the major global arthouse film rendezvous has indeed lifted the veil on a 21-title competition chock full of surprises – a shrewd mix of big names in the seventh art and a highly impressive wave of new talents, with 12 filmmakers locking horns for the Palme d’Or for the very first time.

This spirited selection (made from among the 2,541 features originally submitted from 141 countries) is also the result of a new global landscape shaken up by the financial and artistic cautiousness of the major US studios in an environment that has prioritised calendar strategies revolving primarily around the Oscars. It’s a context that is shifting the heart of cinematic creation towards Europe (with France in the lead) and its myriad co-productions by filmmakers from other continents. The Cannes Film Festival’s co-heads reminded us of their unswerving dedication to the movie theatre, and to safeguarding diversity, originality and creative freedom in “a world that is becoming darker and losing its bearings”.

All of this has therefore resulted in a very refreshing 2026 line-up for a Cannes competition comprising 21 features for now (a couple of additions are on the cards, with James Gray secretly being hoped for), which will be weighed up by a jury chaired by South Korea’s Park Chan-wook (see the news).

Shining bright among them are two former winners: Romania’s Cristian Mungiu (Palme d’Or in 2007, Best Screenplay Award in 2012 and Best Director Award in 2016 – his fifth time taking part in the competition) with Fjord and Japan’s Hirokazu Kore-eda (Palme d’Or in 2018 and Jury Prize in 2013 – his eighth time) with Sheep in the Box.

They are joined by seven filmmakers who have already won trophies in the Cannes competition: Spaniard Pedro Almodóvar (Best Director Award in 1999 and Best Screenplay Award in 2006 – his seventh time) with Bitter Christmas, Russia’s Andrey Zvyagintsev (Best Screenplay Award in 2014 and Jury Prize in 2017 – his fourth time) with Minotaur, Poland’s Pawel Pawlikowski (Best Director Award in 2018 – his second time) with Fatherland, Hungary’s Lászlo Nemes (Grand Prix in 2015 – his second time) with Moulin, Belgium’s Lukas Dhont (Grand Prix in 2022 – his second time) with Coward, Iran’s Asghar Farhadi (Best Screenplay Award in 2016 and Grand Prix in 2021 – his fifth time) with Parallel Tales and Japan’s Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Best Screenplay Award in 2021 – his third time) with All of a Sudden. Also duking it out is another contender who has already experienced the dizzying heights of the Cannes competition: the USA’s Ira Sachs (his second time) with The Man I Love.

Twelve new entrants (for 11 films) round off the showcase of Palme d’Or hunters: Spaniard Rodrigo Sorogoyen with The Beloved, his fellow countrymen Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo (the duo behind the series La Mesías) with their second feature, The Black Ball, Austria’s Marie Kreutzer (who took part in the Berlinale competition in 2019 and in Un Certain Regard in 2022) with Gentle Monster, Germany’s Valeska Grisebach (in Un Certain Regard in 2017) with The Dreamed Adventure, Japan’s Kôji Fukada (rewarded in Un Certain Regard in 2016 and on the Croisette last year in Cannes Première) with Nagi Notes, South Korea’s Na Hong-jin (previously popular out of competition in 2008 and 2016, and in Un Certain Regard in 2011) with Hope, and six French helmers: Léa Mysius (who took part in the Cannes Critics’ Week in 2017 and in the Directors’ Fortnight in 2022) with The Birthday Party, Arthur Harari (who opened Un Certain Regard in 2021) with The Unknown, Jeanne Herry with Another Day, Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet (who rose to fame in the 2021 Critics’ Week) with A Woman’s Life, and Emmanuel Marre (who also partook in the 2021 Critics’ Week) with the Belgian-French co-production A Man of His Time.

As for the geographical spread of the movies, Europe dominates the 2026 competition line-up by far, with 16 filmmakers in the race for the Palme d’Or: four Spaniards (Almodóvar, Sorogoyen and the Ambrossi-Calvo duo), one German (Grisebach), one Romanian (Mungiu), one Hungarian (Nemes), one Pole (Pawlikowski), one Austrian (Kreutzer), one Belgian (Lukas Dhont), five French (Mysius, Harari, Herry, Marre – who is basically considered quasi-Belgian – and Bourgeois-Tacquet) and one Russian (Zvyagintsev).

Asia boasts five representatives (Iran’s Farhadi, South Korea’s Na Hong-jin, and Japan’s Kore-eda, Hamaguchi and Fukada), North America can only count on the USA’s Sachs, whereas South America, Africa and Oceania/Australia are completely absent. Interestingly, five female directors are lined up for the competition.

The out-of-competition strand includes Her Private Hell by Denmark’s Nicolas Winding Refn, the first directorial effort by US actor Andy Garcia, titled Diamond, and four French titles: Crescendo by Agnès Jaoui, Karma by Guillaume Canet, Forsaken by Vincent Garenq and De Gaulle: The Sovereign Edge by Antonin Baudry.

The Cannes Première programme will offer works by Japan’s Kiyoshi Kurosawa, the USA’s John Travolta, Germany’s Volker Schlöndorff, Argentinian tandem Juan Cabral and Santiago Franco, and France’s Daniel Auteuil.

Also worth considering are the 15 films (so far) in Un Certain Regard (read article); a number of Special Screenings, including documentaries by Steven Soderbergh and Ron Howard; and Midnight Screenings, including features by Quentin Dupieux, Bertrand Mandico, Marion Le Corroller and South Korea’s Sang-Ho Yeon, as well as the animated flick Jim Queen. Lastly, Honorary Palmes d’Or will be handed to Barbra Streisand and Peter Jackson.

As a reminder, the festival will be opened by The Electric Kiss by Pierre Salvadori.

Here is the full list of films announced so far:

Competition

Bitter Christmas - Pedro Almodóvar (Spain)
The Black Ball - Javier Ambrossi, Javier Calvo (Spain)
A Woman’s Life - Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet (France/Belgium)
Coward - Lukas Dhont (Belgium/France/Netherlands)
Parallel Tales - Asghar Farhadi (France/Belgium/Italy)
Nagi Notes - Koji Fukada (Japan/France/Singapore/Philippines)
The Dreamed Adventure - Valeska Grisebach (Germany/France/Bulgaria/Austria)
All of a Sudden - Ryusuke Hamaguchi (France/Japan/Germany/Belgium)
The Unknown - Arthur Harari (France/Italy)
Another Day - Jeanne Herry (France)
Hope - Na Hong-jin (South Korea)
Sheep in the Box - Hirokazu Kore-eda (Japan)
Gentle Monster - Marie Kreutzer (Austria/Germany/France)
A Man of His Time - Emmanuel Marre (France/Belgium)
Fjörd - Cristian Mungiu (Romania/France/Norway/Sweden/Denmark)
The Birthday Party - Léa Mysius (France/Belgium)
Moulin - László Nemes (France)
Fatherland - Pawel Pawlikowski (Poland/Italy/Germany/France)
The Man I Love - Ira Sachs (USA/France)
The Beloved - Rodrigo Sorogoyen (Spain/France)
Minotaur - Andrey Zvyagintsev (France/Latvia/Germany)

Cannes Première

When the Night Falls - Daniel Auteuil (France)
The Match - Juan Cabral, Santiago Franco (Argentina/Spain)
Kokurojo: The Samurai and the Prisoner - Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Japan)
Visitation - Volker Schlöndorff (Germany)
Propeller One-Way Night Coach - John Travolta (USA)

Out of Competition

The Electric Kiss - Pierre Salvadori (France/Belgium, opening film)
De Gaulle: Tilting Iron - Antonin Baudry (France)
Karma - Guillaume Canet (France)
Diamond - Andy Garcia (USA)
Forsaken - Vincent Garenq (France)
Crescendo - Agnès Jaoui (France)
Her Private Hell - Nicolas Winding Refn (Denmark)

Midnight Screenings

Full Phil - Quentin Dupieux (France)
Species - Marion Le Corroller (France/Belgium)
Roma Elastica - Bertrand Mandico (France/Italy)
Jim Queen - Marco Nguyen, Nicolas Athané (France)
Colony - Yeon Sang-ho (South Korea)

Special Screenings

Rehearsals for a Revolution - Pegah Ahangarani (Czech Republic/Spain)
Marvelous Mornings - Avril Besson (France)
Women on Trial - Lauriane Escaffre, Yvo Muller (France)
Avedon - Ron Howard (USA)
Che Guevara: The Last Companions - Christophe Dimitri Réveille (France)
John Lennon: The Last Interview - Steven Soderbegh (USA)
Cantona - David Tryhorn, Ben Nicholas (UK)