With the 2026 Cannes Film Festival now underway, a question lingers: where on earth is Ruben Östlund‘s “The Entertainment System Is Down“? The two-time Palme d’Or winner confirmed back in March that the film would not be on the Croisette in 2026, stating that he’d “wait and edit one more year before we release the film.” So, why the long wait?
Screen Daily has the answer there, or at least one of them: Östlund is the subject of “Ruben,” a doc filming since 2023 about the Swedish filmmaker’s quest to become the first director to win the Palme d’Or three times. Fellow Swede Sigge Eklund directs the film with Peter Settman and Helena Sandermark producing via Stockholm Syndrome; Tiisch Film, Film i Vast, and SVT co-produce. What’s more, the doc hit the Cannes market this week, although Eklund won’t wrap shooting until “The Entertainment System Is Down” has its world premiere, most likely at Cannes next year.
“Ruben” is an ambitious project, but then so are Östlund’s aspirations for his next film. “I’m interested in the psychological aspect of being Ruben Östlund in 2026,” Eklund told Screen Daily. “There’s a scene where he’s sitting in front of his computer trying to start the new project, and you see two Palme d’Ors on the shelf looking down on him. He’s putting more pressure on himself to do something new. How a person handles that pressure fascinates me.” A friend of Östlund’s for two decades, Eklund is probably the best person to direct a doc like “Ruben.” The pair have attended several film festivals together, including both times Ostlund has already won the Palme d’Or: in 2017 for “The Square,” and then again in 2022 for “Triangle Of Sadness.”
Eklund first started shooting “Ruben” immediately after Östlund returned from the 2023 Oscars, where “Triangle Of Sadness” was nominated for three awards. Since then, he’s also filmed behind-the-scenes footage of “The Entertainment System Is Down” during its production in Budapest, including interviews with cast members Keanu Reeves, Kirsten Dunst, and Daniel Bruhl. “It’s a movie about an obsessed person, who is also obsessed with winning the third Palme d’Or,” Eklung said about the project. “A lot of documentaries about artists are made on a very intellectual level. I hope this will be a suspenseful movie. How is this guy? How is his mental state going to be after this thing is through?”
Eklund’s other work includes the 2024 coming-of-age drama “A Part Of You,” which premiered on Netflix that year; his other film/TV credits are all via Sweden. Eklund is also a novelist, having published nine books since 1999, and co-host of one of his native’s country’s most popular podcasts, “Alex & Sigge’s Podcast.”
“Ruben” gets a small teaser as part of Film I Vast’s Cannes presentation today. Stay tuned for more details on the documentary, as well as when “The Entertainment System Is Down” will have its world premiere.
