The Cannes Film Festival announced this Thursday the official lineup for its 2026 edition, one of the most important events in the international film calendar. The selection was unveiled during a press conference in Paris, as is customary ahead of the festival.
The 79th edition of the festival will take place from May 12 to 23 in the French city of Cannes, bringing together figures from across the global film industry.
As every year, the program includes the different official sections —with the Palme d’Or competition as its centerpiece— along with parallel sections and special screenings that round out the festival’s schedule. Among the filmmakers premiering new films in competition are major contemporary names such as Asghar Farhadi, Pedro Almodóvar, Paweł Pawlikowski, Ira Sachs, Hirokazu Kore-eda, László Nemes and Ryusuke Hamaguchi.
Following a 2025 edition marked by a strong Hollywood presence —with titles such as Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning and Highest 2 Lowest, directed by Spike Lee— this year’s Cannes will be largely shaped by international productions and independent filmmakers. In that context, Ira Sachs could be the only American filmmaker in competition with The Man I Love, a musical fantasy starring Rami Malek and set in late-1980s New York, while Paper Tiger, by James Gray, could be added at a later stage.
In the Un Certain Regard section, U.S. titles expected to premiere include Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, directed by Jane Schoenbrun and starring Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson, as well as Club Kid, the directorial debut of Jordan Firstman, featuring Cara Delevingne, Diego Calva and Eldar Isgandarov.
Opening the announcement, the festival’s longtime general delegate Thierry Frémaux said that “95% of the selection” had been revealed, with several films still to be confirmed in the coming weeks. He also noted that 2,491 films were submitted for this edition —about 1,000 more than last year— from 141 countries.
The official competition will feature a near-unprecedented number of French-language films, including several directed by international filmmakers: Asghar Farhadi with Parallel Tales, László Nemes with Moulin and Ryusuke Hamaguchi with All of a Sudden. They will compete alongside French filmmakers who may be making their debut in the section, such as Emmanuelle Marre with Notre Salut, and a notable group of female directors including Léa Mysius (Histoires de la nuit), Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet (A Woman’s Life) and Jeanne Herry (Garance).
In recent remarks, Thierry Frémaux observed that “studios are producing fewer blockbusters and fewer auteur films than in the past,” emphasizing that the festival “depends solely on the films themselves.” In contrast with the strong U.S. presence in 2025, some of the most prominent titles to emerge from that edition were non-English-language productions such as Sentimental Value, by Joachim Trier —which won the Oscar for Best International Feature— and The Secret Agent, starring Wagner Moura.
As previously announced, the festival will open on May 12 with the 1920s-set comedy The Electric Kiss (La Venus eléctrica), directed by Pierre Salvadori. The jury will be presided over by acclaimed South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook. The festival will also pay tribute to Barbra Streisand and Peter Jackson, who will each receive an honorary Palme d’Or.
Among the announced titles is the Argentine production El partido, which will take part in the Cannes Premiere section.
The film offers a documentary-style revisiting of a historic football clash featuring figures such as Gary Lineker, Jorge Valdano and Peter Shilton, alongside previously unseen archival material from coaches, referees, and testimonies from fans, musicians and political figures. Its structure mirrors the duration of an official match, shaping a narrative that traces the origins of the rivalry and its lasting sociopolitical impact.
