Cannes Just Dropped Its 2026 Lineup. And Hollywood Barely Made the Cut.
The 79th Cannes Film Festival (May 12-23) announced its Official Selection this week, and the headline is as much about who's not there as who is. Out of 2,541 feature film submissions from 141 countries, only one American director made the main Competition: Ira Sachs. (Source: Variety)
No studio blockbusters. No Tom Cruise. This is Cannes in full auteur mode.
Introducing The Jury President: Park Chan-wook
Park becomes the first South Korean president of the Cannes jury in its 79-year history and only the third Asian filmmaker to hold the role, after Japan's Tetsurō Furukaki in 1962 and Wong Kar-wai in 2006. His Cannes history reads like a greatest-hits album: Oldboy won the Grand Prix in 2004 (with persistent rumours that Tarantino's jury wanted to give it the Palme but compromised on Fahrenheit 9/11). Thirst took the Jury Prize in 2009. Decision to Leave won Best Director in 2022. His most recent film, No Other Choice, was nominated for three Golden Globes.
(Source: Variety)
Park's statement on accepting the role is worth reading in full: "The theatre is dark so that we may see the light of cinema. We confine ourselves within the theatre so that our souls may be liberated through the window of film... In this age of mutual hatred and division, I believe that the simple act of gathering in a theatre to watch a single film together, our breaths and heartbeats aligning, is itself a moving and universal expression of solidarity."
That's not a press quote. That's a filmmaker who understands what a theatre is for.
The Competition — 21 Films, Five Continents
Here's the full Competition lineup with what we know so far. This is the list Park Chan-wook and his jury will choose the Palme d'Or from:
- "Minotaur"
Andrey Zvyagintsev (Russia/Latvia). His first film since 2017's Loveless — hospitalized for severe COVID complications in 2021-22. A political fable about a Russian businessman confronting crisis. Sold by mk2; Mubi has already acquired NA, UK, Germany, and Latin America rights. One of the most anticipated returns in global cinema.
- "The Beloved" (El Ser Querido)
Rodrigo Sorogoyen (Spain). Javier Bardem stars as a celebrated filmmaker shooting a 1930s drama in the Sahara, reunited with his estranged daughter. Sorogoyen directed the Oscar-nominated short Madre and the riveting thriller The Beasts.
- "The Man I Love"
Ira Sachs (USA). The sole American in Competition. Rami Malek, Rebecca Hall, Tom Sturridge, Ebon Moss-Bachrach. A musical fantasia set in 1980s New York during the AIDS crisis. Sachs' Frankie was in Competition in 2019.
- "Fatherland"
Paweł Pawlikowski (Poland/France). Starring Sandra Hüller. A Cold War drama from the director of Ida (Oscar winner) and Cold War (three Oscar nominations). If Hüller is here, pay attention.
- "Moulin"
László Nemes (Hungary/France). A biopic of French Resistance leader Jean Moulin, starring Gilles Lellouche. Nemes' debut Son of Saul won the Grand Prix at Cannes in 2015 and the Best International Feature Oscar. French-language.
- "Histoires de la nuit" (The Birthday Party)
Léa Mysius (France). Mysius wrote Paris, 13th District with Jacques Audiard and directed the acclaimed The Five Devils.
- "Fjord"
Cristian Mungiu (Romania). Renate Reinsve and Sebastian Stan as a couple moving to a remote Norwegian town. Mungiu's first English-language film. He won the Palme d'Or for 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days in 2007.
- "Notre salut"
Emmanuel Marre (France). A historical drama about Vichy France starring Swann Arlaud (Anatomy of a Fall).
- "Gentle Monster"
Marie Kreutzer (Austria). Kreutzer's Corsage premiered at Cannes Un Certain Regard in 2022, winning Best Performance for Vicky Krieps.
- "Nagi Notes"
Koji Fukada (Japan). Fukada won the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize in 2016 for Harmonium. One of three Japanese directors in Competition.
- "Hope"
Na Hong-jin (South Korea). The director of The Wailing (2016) — one of the most terrifying films of the last decade. His Cannes return is a major event.
- "Sheep in the Box"
Hirokazu Kore-eda (Japan). A sci-fi drama tackling AI. Kore-eda won the Palme d'Or for Shoplifters in 2018. The fact that he's making a sci-fi film tells you where genre cinema is heading.
- "Garance" (Another Day)
Jeanne Herry (France). Herry directed In Safe Hands and Je verrai toujours vos visages.
- "The Unknown"
Arthur Harari (France). Harari directed Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle, one of the best under-seen films of 2021.
- "All of a Sudden"
Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Japan). Hamaguchi won Best Screenplay at Cannes for Drive My Car (which then won the Oscar for Best International Feature). This is his French-language debut.
- "Das Geträumte Abenteuer" (The Dreamed Adventure)
Valeska Grisebach (Germany). Part of the Berlin School alongside Christian Petzold. Her last film Western (2017) was widely praised.
- "Coward"
Lukas Dhont (Belgium). A WWI drama exploring heroism and cowardice, partially shot on actual battlefields near Ypres. Dhont's Close was in Competition in 2022 and earned an Oscar nomination. Programmers reportedly saw the film only yesterday.
- "La Bola Negra" (The Black Ball)
Javier Calvo & Javier Ambrossi (Spain). Features a cameo from Penélope Cruz. The duo are known in Spain for La llamada and the series Veneno.
- "A Woman's Life"
Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet (France). She directed the Cannes hit Anaïs in Love (2021).
- "Parallel Tales"
Asghar Farhadi (Iran/France). Paris-set, with Isabelle Huppert and Catherine Deneuve. Farhadi has two Best International Feature Oscars (A Separation, The Salesman). French-language.
- "Amarga Navidad" (Bitter Christmas)
Pedro Almodóvar (Spain). A tragicomedy that already released theatrically in Spain. Almodóvar's previous film The Room Next Door won the Golden Lion at Venice 2024.
Cannes Film Festival General Delegate Frémaux hinted that at least one more film, widely rumoured to be James Gray's Paper Tiger (Scarlett Johansson, Adam Driver, Miles Teller), is still being finalized for Competition. (Source: Variety)
Beyond Competition — the highlights:
- Out of Competition: Nicolas Winding Refn's comeback Her Private Hell (Charles Melton, Sophie Thatcher); Andy Garcia's directorial debut Diamond; and John Travolta's directorial debut Propeller One-Way Night Coach for Apple, playing in Cannes Premiere.
- Un Certain Regard opens with Jane Schoenbrun's Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (Hannah Einbinder, Gillian Anderson) — Schoenbrun's follow-up to I Saw the TV Glow. Also: Jordan Firstman's Club Kid (Cara Delevingne, Diego Calva) and Colony from Yeon Sang-ho (Train to Busan) in Midnight.
- Midnight Screenings: Quentin Dupieux's Full Phil (Kristen Stewart, Woody Harrelson).
- Special Screenings: Steven Soderbergh's John Lennon: The Last Interview; Ron Howard's Avedon (on photographer Richard Avedon).
- Honorary Palme d'Or: Barbra Streisand and Peter Jackson.
TLDR: Five women directors in Competition. Three Japanese filmmakers. Three Spanish directors. 65% of Competition from France, Japan, and Spain. Frémaux acknowledged the studio absence directly: "When studios have a smaller presence at Cannes, it's because they're simply less active in the kind of cinema that used to allow them to come here."
That's not a complaint. That's a diagnosis.
