The 79th Festival de Cannes opens its doors on May 12, and the Croisette is already buzzing. Unveiled on Thursday, April 9 by artistic director Thierry Frémaux and festival president Iris Knobloch, the 2026 Official Selection received submissions from 141 countries — nearly 2,500 films in total — confirming that the appetite for cinema at Cannes-level has never been greater. Opening with La Vénus électrique by Pierre Salvadori, the competition selection for the Palme d’Or comprises 21 feature films. The tone is clear: this will be a vintage year for auteur cinema.
Park Chan-wook at the Helm
Before a single film unsools, one appointment already electrifies the atmosphere. South Korean director Park Chan-wook — the acclaimed filmmaker behind Oldboy, The Handmaiden and No Other Choice — will preside over the jury tasked with selecting this year’s winners. His presence as jury president is itself a statement: Cannes 2026 belongs to world cinema.
Africa Makes History
For those who follow African cinema closely, this edition carries a weight that goes beyond programming. Ben’Imana, the debut feature by Rwandan filmmaker Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo, makes history as the first film by a Rwandan director ever to premiere in the Cannes Official Selection. Selected in Un Certain Regard, the film follows Veneranda, a survivor of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi who has rebuilt her life around reconciliation — until her teenage daughter’s pregnancy triggers painful memories and unresolved tensions. Artistic director Frémaux described it as “astounding” for a first feature.
She is joined in Un Certain Regard by two equally compelling voices: Rafiki Fariala’s Congo Boy — a DR Congo–Central African Republic co-production — and Laïla Marrakchi’s La Más Dulce from Morocco. Together, this trio of African filmmakers signals not an exception but a trajectory. The continent is claiming its rightful place at the world’s most prestigious film festival.
The Competition: A Return of the Titans
The main Competition is packed with auteurs. Pedro Almodóvar, Asghar Farhadi and Hirokazu Kore-eda return to the Croisette alongside Paweł Pawlikowski, Ira Sachs, László Nemes, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi and Cristian Mungiu. Five of the 21 Competition films are directed by women — a figure Frémaux highlighted with evident pride.
Among the standouts: Ira Sachs’ The Man I Love, a musical fantasia set against the AIDS crisis in 1980s New York and starring Rami Malek, is one of the season’s most anticipated works. Hungarian director László Nemes, whose debut Son of Saul won the Grand Prix at Cannes in 2015, returns with Moulin, a biopic of French resistance hero Jean Moulin.
Icons, Debuts and Honorary Palmes
John Travolta returns to the Festival not as an actor but as a director, presenting his debut feature Propeller One-Way Night Coach in the Cannes Première section. The unforgettable Vince Vega of Pulp Fiction on the other side of the camera: an irresistible Cannes moment.
Peter Jackson and Barbra Streisand will each receive an honorary Palme d’Or in recognition of their life’s work. Two careers, two very different cinematic universes — both deserving the Croisette’s highest honour.
Ceremonies, Midnight Madness and the Lumière Stage
French actress Eye Haïdara will serve as Mistress of Ceremonies for the 79th edition, bringing her singular poise to the Grand Théâtre Lumière throughout the twelve-day festival. In Special Screenings, Steven Soderbergh presents John Lennon: The Last Interview and Ron Howard brings Avedon, a portrait of the legendary photographer. And for midnight audiences, Quentin Dupieux’s Full Phil promises the anarchic wit that has made him one of French cinema’s most singular voices.
The 79th Festival de Cannes runs from May 12 to 23, 2026.
Compétition
Film d’ouverture : LA VÉNUS ÉLECTRIQUE de Pierre SALVADORI – Hors Compétition
AMARGA NAVIDAD de Pedro ALMODÓVAR
HISTOIRES PARALLÈLES de Asghar FARHADI
LA VIE D’UNE FEMME de Charline BOURGEOIS-TACQUET
LA BOLA NEGRA de Javier CALVO et Javier AMBROSSI
COWARD de Lukas DHONT
DAS GETRÄUMTE ABENTEUER de Valeska GRISEBACH
SOUDAIN de HAMAGUCHI Ryusuke
L’INCONNUE de Arthur HARARI
GARANCE de Jeanne HERRY
SHEEP IN THE BOX de KORE-EDA Hirokazu
HOPE de NA Hong-jin
NAGI NOTES de FUKADA Koji
(QUELQUES JOURS À NAGI)
GENTLE MONSTER de Marie KREUTZER
NOTRE SALUT de Emmanuel MARRE
FJORD de Cristian MUNGIU
HISTOIRES DE LA NUIT de Léa MYSIUS
MOULIN de László NEMES
FATHERLAND de Pawel PAWLIKOWSKI
THE MAN I LOVE de Ira SACHS
EL SER QUERIDO de Rodrigo SOROGOYEN
MINOTAURE de Andrey ZVYAGINTSEV
Un Certain Regard
Film d’ouverture: TEENAGE SEX AND DEATH AT CAMP MIASMA de Jane SCHOENBRUN
LES ÉLÉPHANTS DANS LA BRUME de Abinash BIKRAM SHAH | 1er film
LE CORSET de Louis CLICHY
BEN’IMANA de Marie-Clémentine DUSABEJAMBO | 1er film
CONGO BOY de Rafiki FARIALA
CLUB KID de Jordan FIRSTMAN | 1er film
UĻA de Viesturs KAIRIŠS
LA MÁS DULCE de Laïla MARRAKCHI
EL DESHIELO de Manuela MARTELLI
SIEMPRE SOY TU ANIMAL MATERNO de Valentina MAUREL
(TON ANIMAL MATERNEL)
YESTERDAY THE EYE DIDN’T SLEEP de Rakan MAYASI
I’LL BE GONE IN JUNE de Katharina RIVILIS | 1er film
QUELQUES MOTS D’AMOUR de Rudi ROSENBERG
EVERYTIME de Sandra WOLLNER
DE TOUTES LES NUITS, LES AMANTS de SODE Yukiko
Hors Compétition
LA BATAILLE DE GAULLE : L’ÂGE DE FER de Antonin BAUDRY
KARMA de Guillaume CANET
DIAMOND de Andy GARCIA
L’ABANDON de Vincent GARENQ
L’OBJET DU DÉLIT de Agnès JAOUI
HER PRIVATE HELL de Nicolas WINDING REFN
Séances de minuit
FULL PHIL de Quentin DUPIEUX
SANGUINE de Marion LE CORROLLER | 1er film
ROMA ELASTICA de Bertrand MANDICO
JIM QUEEN de Marco NGUYEN et Nicolas ATHANÉ | 1er film
GUN-CHE de YEON Sang-ho
(COLONY)
Cannes Première
LA TROISIÈME NUIT de Daniel AUTEUIL
THE MATCH de Juan CABRAL et Santiago FRANCO
KOKUROJO de KUROSAWA Kiyoshi
(LE CHÂTEAU D’ARIOKA)
HEIMSUCHUNG de Volker SCHLÖNDORFF
(LE BOIS DE KLARA)
VOL DE NUIT POUR LOS ANGELES de John TRAVOLTA | 1er film
Séances Spéciales
REHEARSALS FOR A REVOLUTION de Pegah AHANGARANI | 1er film
LES MATINS MERVEILLEUX de Avril BESSON | 1er film
L’AFFAIRE MARIE-CLAIRE de Lauriane ESCAFFRE et Yvo MULLER
AVEDON de Ron HOWARD
LES SURVIVANTS DU CHE de Christophe Dimitri RÉVEILLE | 1er film
JOHN LENNON : THE LAST INTERVIEW de Steven SODERBERGH
CANTONA de David TRYHORN et Ben NICHOLAS