Today, President Iris Knobloch and General Delegate Thierry Frémaux held a press conference to announce the 2026 Cannes Film Festival selections. As usual, some films have already been announced. The opening film will be Pierre Salvadori’s La Vénus électrique. A more surprising early announcement was John Travolta’s directorial debut feature, Propeller One-Way Night Coach, which will be screened in the Cannes Première section. This Apple original film is the result of the actor’s long-standing passion for aviation.
The main competition consists of 21 films thus far, and boasts several of the all-too-usual suspects. among them Zvyagintsev, Pawlikowski, Mungiu, Kore-Eda, Dhont, Farhadi, and others. A welcome surprise is László Nemes, who will return to Cannes eleven years after Saul fia, with Moulin. Another welcome inclusion is Valeska Grisebach with The Dreamed Adventure. Among the competition newcomers, one could also mention Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet. She presented the mildly amusing Les amours d’Anaïs in Semaine de la Critique in 2021, and now she will compete with La vie d’une femme.
Among the other French films in the competition, there is a certain buzz surrounding Arthur Harari’s L’inconnue. Léa Mysius is competing with Histoires de la nuit. Her first two films, screened in Cannes side sections, don’t make me eager to see the new one. Contrary to the rumours, Lukas Dhont’s new film has been completed. That’s good news for those who were manipulated by his first two features. Pedro Almodóvar’s latest film has also been selected, even though it already opened in Spain to mixed reviews.
It is, seemingly, yet another uninspired selection, and with 21 competition films already selected, there is little room for more. There is always a chance that the late additions will make the other strands more interesting. Last year, 16 films were added late to different sections, including Un poeta and Resurrection.
In the Un Certain Regard section, I’m happy to see Sandra Wollner’s Every Time, following the compelling The Trouble With Being Born, which was screened in the Encounters section of the 2020 Berlinale. La más dulce by Laïla Marrakchi is also potentially interesting. Some of the films in that section appear to be selected for all the wrong reasons. I was hoping for Nicolas Winding Refn’s Her Private Hell to appear in the competition, but it had to settle for an Out of Competition spot. So far, it is the only film in that section that looks remotely intriguing.
It remains to be seen which other films will be added to the official selection. I’m hoping for Après by Kiril Serebrennikov, whose latest film played in Cannes Première last year. The non-official side sections will be revealed on Monday and Tuesday. During recent years, gems have been found in the Semaine de la Critique section. The former highlight, Quinzaine, on the other hand, has had a rough ride since the section changed in 2023.
Main Competition Selections
Minotaur – Andrey Zvyagintsev
El ser querido – Rodrigo Sorogoyen
The Man I Love – Ira Sachs
Fatherland Pawel Pawlikowski
Moulin – Lászlo Nemes
Fjord – Christian Mungiu
Histoires de la nuit – Léa Mysius
Gentle Monster – Marie Kreutzer
Nagi Notes -Kôji Fukada
Hope – Na Hong-jin
Sheep in the Box – Kore-eda Hirokazu
Garance – Jeanne Herry
All of a Sudden – Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Coward – Lukas Dhont
La bola negra – Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi
Parallel Tales – Asghar Farhadi
Bitter Christmas – Pedro Almodóvar
Notre Salut – Emmanuel Marre
L’inconnue – Arthur Harari
The Dreamed Adventure – Valeska Grisebach
La vie d’une femme – Charline Bourgeois-Taquet
Un Certain Regard Selections
La más dulce, Laïla Marrakchi
Club Kid, Jordan Firstman
Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, Jane Schoenbrun
Yesterday the Eye Didn’t Sleep, Rakan Mayas
Meltdown, Manuela Martelli
I’ll Be Gone in June, Katharina Rivilis
Yesterday The Eye Didn’t Sleep, Rakan Mayasi
Every time, Sandra Wollner
I Am Always Your Maternal Animal, Valentina Maurel
Congo Boy, Rafiki Fariala
Le Corset, Louis Clichy
Benimana, Marie-Clementine Dusabejambo
Elephants in the Fog, Abinash Bikram Shah
2026 Cannes Film Festival Selections: Other sections
Out Of Competition
Her Private Hell – Nicolas Winding Refn
Diamond – Andy Gercia
Karma – Guillaume Canet
De Gaulle: Tilting Iron – Antonin Baudry
L’objet du délit – Agnès Jaoui
Abandon – Vincent Garenq
Cannes Première
Propeller One-Way Night Coach – John Travolta
Heimsuchung – Volker Schloendorff
Kokurojo: The Samurai and the Prisoner – Kiyoshi Kurosawa
El partido – Juan Cabral and Santiago Franco
When the Night Falls – by Daniel Auteuil
Special Screenings
John Lennon – The Last Interview – Steven Soderbergh
Avedon – Ron Howard
Rehearsals for a Revolution – Pegah Ahangarani
Cantona – David Tryhorn & Ben Nicholas
Les Survivants du Che – Christophe Réveille
Les Matins merveilleux, Avril Besson
L’affaire Marie-Claire – Lauriane Escaffre & Yvo Muller
Midnight Screenings
Roma elastica – Bertrand Mandico
Jim Queen – Nicolas Athane and Marco Nguyen
Full Phil – Quentin Dupieux
Colony – Yeon Sang-ho
Sanguine – Marion Le Coroller
The 2026 Cannes Film Festival will take place from 12/5 to 23/5.
