79th Cannes Film Festival Unveils Official Selection

From May 12 to 23, 2026, the 79th edition of the Cannes Film Festival will take place on the Croisette, featuring a Korean jury president, two honorary Palms, and an official selection announced on April 9. Here’s an overview.

Cannes continues to be a vital hub where cinema conveys urgent messages. It is not merely a showcase or a marketplace; it is a moment when films from around the globe converge on the same Croisette, each vying for attention. This 2026 edition promises to be rich and international, featuring a competition that blends anticipated heavyweights with remarkable debuts. With Park Chan-wook at the helm of the jury, two legends honored, and an official selection that reaffirms the global auteur cinema's ongoing narrative, the festival is set to be a significant event.

Park Chan-wook to Lead the Jury

The festival has appointed Park Chan-wook, the acclaimed South Korean filmmaker known for works like Old Boy, Thirst, and Decision to Leave, as the jury president. He follows in the footsteps of Juliette Binoche and becomes the third Asian figure to take on this prestigious role, after Tetsuro Furukaki in 1962 and Wong Kar-wai in 2006. Park is no stranger to Cannes, having previously won the Grand Prix for Old Boy in 2004, the Jury Prize for Thirst in 2009, and the Best Director Award for Decision to Leave in 2022.

Peter Jackson and Barbra Streisand to Receive Honorary Palms

This year's festival will also honor two cinematic icons with honorary Palms. Peter Jackson, the New Zealand director famed for the Lord of the Rings trilogy, was announced as a recipient on March 5, 2026. Barbra Streisand, a multifaceted talent as an actress, singer, producer, and director, will receive the second accolade. This recognition comes forty-three years after she became the first woman to win a Golden Globe for Best Director for Yentl in 1983.

The Official Selection for 2026

Twenty-one films will compete for the coveted Palme d'Or, as revealed on April 9, 2026. The lineup includes several highly anticipated titles alongside some surprising entries.

Competition

Opening Film (Out of Competition): La Vénus électrique — Pierre Salvadori

• Amarga Navidad — Pedro Almodóvar
• Histoires parallèles — Asghar Farhadi
• La Vie d’une femme — Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet
• La Bola negra — Javier Calvo & Javier Ambrossi
• Coward — Lukas Dhont
• Das geträumte Abenteuer — Valeska Grisebach
• Soudain — Hamaguchi Ryusuke
• L’Inconnue — Arthur Harari
• Garance — Jeanne Herry
• Sheep in the Box — Kore-eda Hirokazu
• Hope — Na Hong-jin
• Nagi Notes (Quelques jours à Nagi) — Fukada Koji
• Gentle Monster — Marie Kreutzer
• Notre salut — Emmanuel Marre
• Fjord — Cristian Mungiu
• Histoires de la nuit — Léa Mysius
• Moulin — László Nemes
• Fatherland — Pawel Pawlikowski
• The Man I Love — Ira Sachs
• El ser querido — Rodrigo Sorogoyen
• Minotaure — Andrey Zvyagintsev

Un Certain Regard

Opening Film: Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma — Jane Schoenbrun

• Les Éléphants dans la brume — Abinash Bikram Shah (Debut Film)
• Le Corset — Louis Clichy
• Ben’Imana — Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo (Debut Film)
• Congo Boy — Rafiki Fariala
• Club Kid — Jordan Firstman (Debut Film)
• Ula — Viesturs Kairišs
• La Más dulce — Laïla Marrakchi
• El Deshielo — Manuela Martelli
• Siempre soy tu animal materno (Ton animal maternel) — Valentina Maurel
• Yesterday the Eye Didn’t Sleep — Rakan Mayasi
• I’ll Be Gone in June — Katharina Rivilis (Debut Film)
• Quelques mots d’amour — Rudi Rosenberg
• Everytime — Sandra Wollner
• De toutes les nuits, les amants — Sode Yukiko

Out of Competition

• La Bataille de Gaulle : L’Âge de fer — Antonin Baudry
• Karma — Guillaume Canet
• Diamond — Andy Garcia
• L’Abandon — Vincent Garenq
• L’Objet du délit — Agnès Jaoui
• Her Private Hell — Nicolas Winding Refn

Cannes Première

• La Troisième Nuit — Daniel Auteuil
• The Match — Juan Cabral & Santiago Franco
• Kokurojo (Le Château d’Arioka) — Kurosawa Kiyoshi
• Heimsuchung (Le Bois de Klara) — Volker Schlöndorff
• Vol de nuit pour Los Angeles — John Travolta

Midnight Screenings

• Full Phil — Quentin Dupieux
• Sanguine — Marion Le Corroller (Debut Film)
• Roma Elastica — Bertrand Mandico
• Jim Queen — Marco Nguyen & Nicolas Athané (Debut Film)
• Gun-Che (Colony) — Yeon Sang-ho

Special Screenings

• Rehearsals for a Revolution — Pegah Ahangarani (Debut Film)
• Les Matins merveilleux — Avril Besson (Debut Film)
• L’Affaire Marie-Claire — Lauriane Escaffre & Yvo Muller
• Avedon — Ron Howard
• Les Survivants du Che — Christophe Dimitri Réveille (Debut Film)
• John Lennon : The Last Interview — Steven Soderbergh
• Cantona — David Tryhorn & Ben Nicholas

Films to Anticipate

Rodrigo Sorogoyen (El ser querido) — The Spanish director known for Madre and As bestas makes his official competition debut, exploring ordinary violence and broken connections with painful precision.

Lukas Dhont (Coward) — Following Girl and Close, the Belgian filmmaker returns with a new exploration of male fragility and friendship, a natural fit for Cannes.

László Nemes (Moulin) — The director of Son of Saul (Grand Prix 2015) returns to competition eleven years later, a much-anticipated comeback.

Jeanne Herry (Garance) — Known for her deep dives into institutional impacts on individuals, Herry's presence in competition at Cannes illustrates that popular cinema and demanding storytelling can coexist.

Hamaguchi Ryusuke (Soudain) — Competing for the third time after winning the Best Screenplay award for Drive My Car in 2021, his films often transcend conventional boundaries.

Ron Howard (Avedon) — A documentary on photographer Richard Avedon featured in Special Screenings. Steven Soderbergh (John Lennon : The Last Interview) — A collaboration between Soderbergh and Lennon promises to be compelling.

Volker Schlöndorff (Heimsuchung / Le Bois de Klara) will present his film in Cannes Première at the age of 87, a testament to his enduring legacy.

John Travolta makes his directorial debut with Vol de nuit pour Los Angeles, adapted from a book he wrote for his son and featuring his daughter Ella Bleu Travolta, adding an emotional layer to the film.

Jim Queen by Marco Nguyen & Nicolas Athané will feature in the Midnight Screenings, presenting a queer animated narrative centered on a community facing extinction.