As always, the Festival de Cannes teased its upcoming lineup over the last few weeks. Pierre Salvadori’s “La Vénus électrique” was tapped as the opening night film, while John Travolta will make his directorial debut out of competition with Apple Studios’ release “Propeller One-Way Night Coach.” But, as is tradition, the main lineup dropped at 11 AM Paris time, on a starry night stateside in early April. And festival director Thierry Frémaux unfurled a 2026 Cannes Film Festival lineup that included the return of Nicholas Winding Refn, Cristian Mungiu, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Pedro Almodovar, and Palme d’Or winner Asgar Farhadi, among others.
READ MORE: “Propeller One-Way Night Coach”: John Travolta’s Directorial Debut Will Premiere At Cannes 2026
Farhadi is back with the French language “Parallel Tales,” Winding Refn has the Tokyo-set “Her Private Hell,” Hamaguchi takes his talents to Paris for “All of a Sudden,” Mungiu directs Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve in “Fjord,” and Almodovar’s “Bitter Christmas” opened in Spain last month. Notable talent in films this year includes Marion Cotillard, Kristen Stewart, Charles Melton, Rami Malek, and Javier Bardem, among others.
2051 features were submitted from 141 countries, significantly more than a decade ago. Notably, just five women have films in competition. Frémaux says 25-28% of the submissions were directed by women, which he noted was not ideal. Moreover, there are five publicly out gay filmmakers in competition this year: Almodovar, Lukas Dhont, Ira Sachs, Javier Calvo, and Javier Ambrossi. The LGBTQ+ representation across the board is impressive. The lack of Latin American and African filmmakers is a cause for concern.
Barring a later addition to the program, this is the first edition of the festival in recent memory where a major Hollywood studio or one of its prestige divisions has not sent a film to screen either in or out of competition sur la Croisette. That being said, Frémaux indicated that more of the lineup would be unveiled later on than usual. Essentially, it’s a “late” festival.
Notable American filmmakers include Jordan Firstman’s “Club Kid” and Jane Schoenbrun’s “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” in Un Certain Regard. Steven Soderbergh’s documentary “John Lennon: The Last Documentary” and Ron Howard’s doc “Avedon” are Special Selections. Ira Sachs will screen “The Man I Love” in competition.
The festival previously announced that Park Chan-wook will be this year’s jury president. The full jury will be revealed in the weeks to come. Additionally, honorary Palme d’Or awards will be bestowed upon Barbra Streisand and Peter Jackson.
Here is a complete list of this year’s selections:
| OPENING FILM LA VÉNUS ÉLECTRIQUE Pierre Salvadori Out of Competition |
| COMPETITION AMARGA NAVIDAD Pedro ALMODÓVAR PARALLEL TALES Asghar FARHADI A WOMAN’S LIFE Charline BOURGEOIS-TACQUET LA BOLA NEGRA Javier CALVO & Javier AMBROSSI COWARD Lukas DHONT DAS GETRÄUMTE ABENTEUER Valeska GRISEBACH ALL OF SUDDEN HAMAGUCHI Ryusuke THE UNKNOWN Arthur HARARI ANOTHER DAY Jeanne HERRY SHEEP IN THE BOX KORE-EDA Hirokazu HOPE NA Hong-jin NAGI NOTES FUKADA Koji GENTLE MONSTER Marie KREUTZER NOTRE SALUT Emmanuel MARRE FJORD Cristian MUNGIU THE BIRTHDAY PARTY Léa MYSIUS MOULIN László NEMES FATHERLAND Pawel PAWLIKOWSKI THE MAN I LOVE Ira SACHS EL SER QUERIDO (THE BELOVED) Rodrigo SOROGOYEN MINOTAUR Andrey ZVYAGINTSEV |
| UN CERTAIN REGARD TEENAGE SEX AND DEATH AT CAMP MIASMA Jane SCHOENBRUN ELEPHANTS IN THE FOG Abinash BIKRAM SHAH IRON BOY Louis CLICHY BEN’IMANA Marie-Clémentine DUSABEJAMBO CONGO BOY Rafiki FARIALA CLUB KID Jordan FIRSTMAN UĻA Viesturs KAIRIŠS LA MÁS DULCE (STRAWBERRIES) Laïla MARRAKCHI EL DESHIELO (THE MELTDOWN) Manuela MARTELLI SIEMPRE SOY TU ANIMAL MATERNO (FOREVER YOUR MATERNAL ANIMAL) Valentina MAUREL YESTERDAY THE EYE DIDN’T SLEEP Rakan MAYASI I’LL BE GONE IN JUNE Katharina RIVILIS WORDS OF LOVE Rudi ROSENBERG EVERYTIME Sandra WOLLNER ALL THE LOVERS IN THE NIGHT SODE Yukiko |
| OUT OF COMPETITION LA BATAILLE DE GAULLE : L’ÂGE DE FER Antonin BAUDRY KARMA Guillaume CANET DIAMOND Andy GARCIA L’ABANDON Vincent GARENQ L’OBJET DU DÉLIT Agnès JAOUI HER PRIVATE HELL Nicolas WINDING REFN |
| MIDNIGHT SCREENINGS FULL PHIL Quentin DUPIEUX SANGUINE Marion LE CORROLLER ROMA ELASTICA Bertrand MANDICO JIM QUEEN Marco NGUYEN & Nicolas ATHANÉ GUN-CHE (COLONY) YEON Sang-ho |
| CANNES PREMIERE LA TROISIÈME NUIT Daniel AUTEUIL THE MATCH Juan CABRAL & Santiago FRANCO KOKUROJO (THE SAMURAI AND THE PRISONER) KUROSAWA Kiyoshi HEIMSUCHUNG (VISITATION) Volker SCHLÖNDORFF PROPELLER ONE-WAY NIGHT COACH John TRAVOLTA |
| SPECIAL SCREENINGS REHEARSALS FOR A REVOLUTION Pegah AHANGARANI LES MATINS MERVEILLEUX Avril BESSON L’AFFAIRE MARIE-CLAIRE Lauriane ESCAFFRE & Yvo MULLER AVEDON Ron HOWARD LES SURVIVANTS DU CHE Christophe Dimitri RÉVEILLE JOHN LENNON: THE LAST INTERVIEW Steven SODERBERGH CANTONA David TRYHORN & Ben NICHOLAS |
The 2026 Cannes Film Festival will run from May 12 to May 23. Look for complete coverage on The Playlist.
Follow Gregory Ellwood on Bluesky
Follow Gregory Ellwood on Threads
Follow Gregory Ellwood on Instagram
Follow Gregory Ellwood on TikTok
Sign Up For The Breakdown Newsletter
