The Marché du Film, the film industry market affiliated with the Cannes Film Festival, has unveiled the central pillars of its 2026 program, with a clear commitment to technology, new narrative formats and engagement with digital content creators. The edition will run from May 12 to 20 in the French city, alongside the festival, which extends through May 23.

Among the main highlights is the world premiere of the Creator Economy Summit, a gathering designed to explore the intersections between traditional cinema and the creator economy. The event will examine how to adapt digitally native intellectual property into film projects, how to identify emerging talent on social platforms, and how to leverage digital audiences to drive theater attendance. TikTok, which in 2022 became the first digital content service to sponsor the festival, reflects this same interest from the Cannes ecosystem in building bridges toward the creator industry.

“We advocate for innovation that serves both artistic creativity and the growth of the industry as a whole. At the Marché, we are committed to driving innovation — from the technological advances that have continuously reshaped how films are conceived, produced and distributed, to a broader mindset that reimagines business models and relationships across the sector.” Guillaume Esmiol, Executive Director of the Marché du Film.

The AI for Talent Summit, which made a successful debut last year, will return in an expanded format on May 15 and 16. Operating on an invitation-only basis, it will bring together senior executives from film and tech to examine real-world applications of artificial intelligence in creative and business processes. Three themes will take center stage: integrating AI into production workflows, the ethical and responsible use of the technology, and education. Speaker announcements are forthcoming.

On the innovation front, Village Innovation will return as the central hub for Cannes Next. It will feature the largest virtual production stage ever presented at a film market, along with office spaces and a curated conference program.

The Immersive Market, meanwhile, will expand to the Hotel Carlton and introduce a new live demonstration space. It will feature 150 immersive producers and catalog holders presenting their work to 90 leading distributors and curators. The expansion comes at a particularly symbolic moment: Cannes will launch its first-ever Immersive Competition in 2026, with a venue capable of hosting up to 225 participants simultaneously.

On the digital side, the market will complete its transition to the revamped Cinando, the networking and database platform originally launched by the Marché in 2003 and relaunched this year with enhanced tools. Rebranded as Marché du Film by Cinando, the new platform will bring together online screenings, live and catch-up conference videos, and networking tools within a single, unified environment for sales agents, buyers and professionals worldwide.