Will 2026 finally be the year of Pedro Almodóvar’s consecration at the Cannes Festival? The man from La Mancha has Bitter Christmasin which Leonardo Sbaraglia is part of its cast, which was selected to compete for the Palme d’Or in this 79th edition of the Festival, which will be held from May 12 to 23.
In addition to Sbaraglia, the Argentine presence continues with The matchthe documentary directed by Juan Cabral (next week it premieres Laughter and the wind cabinwith Diego Peretti, Cazzu and Joaquín Furriel) and Santiago Franco about the match between Argentina and England in the ’86 World Cup. It will be screened in the Cannes Premiere section.
Thierry Frémaux, director of Cannes since 2001, announced that 95% of the selection has been revealed, and that some films will be revealed in the coming weeks. Also, 2,491 films were submitted to the festival, from 141 countries.
Will it be, among the missing titles, The double freedomby Lisandro Alonso?
Thierry Frémaux presenting the Cannes 2026 films in Paris. Reuters PhotoBig names in independent cinema, such as Ira Sachs, Pawel Pawlikowski, Lazlo Nemes, the already Palme winners Cristian Mungiu and Hirokazu Kore-eda, plus Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Valeska Grisebach, Lukas Dhont and Asghar Farhadi will compete for the Palme d’Or.
After a 2025 edition that had a large Hollywood presence, since the last Mission: impossiblewith Tom Cruise, to Highest 2 Lowestby Spike Lee, this year the Festival will be dominated by international cinema and independent filmmakers.
Ira Sachs is the only American filmmaker in competition, with The Man I Lovea musical fantasy starring Rami Malek and set in the late ’80s in New York.
Director Pedro Almodóvar, along with actors Leonardo Sbaraglia and Quim Gutiérrez, on the filming of “Bitter Christmas”. EFEAnd we will have to look, then, in parallel sections for more films close to Hollywood. For example, out of competition they will be Diamondby Andy García, with Brendan Fraser, Dustin Hoffman and Bill Murray, and the horror thriller Her Private Hellby Nicolas Winding Refn. And in Special Screenings they will be John Lennon: The Last Interviewby Steven Soderbergh, and Avedonby Ron Howard.
Five of the films that will compete for the Palme d’Or are directed by women.
Last week, Cannes had announced that its 2026 edition will open on May 12 with The electric Venusby Pierre Salvadori, set in the 1920s, after the opening ceremony presented by actress Eye Haïdara. Also, the world premiere of Propeller One-Way Night CoachJohn Travolta’s directorial debut, at the Cannes Premiere.
John Travolta brings his debut film to Cannes.South Korean director Park Chan-wook, acclaimed filmmaker for films such as oldboy and the most recent The only optionwill preside over the Cannes 2026 jury. The rest of the members, with whom the winner of the Palme d’Or will be defined, have not yet been announced.
In the last six years, the Cannes winners have coincided with the Oscar twice: Parasiteby Bong Joon-ho, and Anoraby Sean Baker.
The director of The Lord of the RingsPeter Jackson, will receive an honorary Palme d’Or in recognition of his professional career. Curiously, the New Zealander never had a film in the official Cannes selection, although he took his debut film to the Marché du film Bad Taste in 1988. And in 2001 Jackson screened 26 minutes of promotional The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
Barbra Streisand during the In Memoriam segment at the recent Oscar ceremony. He will receive an honorary Palme d’Or. ReutersThe other Palme d’Or of honor will go to the American actress and filmmaker Barbra Streisand, 84 years old.
Below are the titles revealed.
opening movie
The electric Venusby Pierre Salvadori (Out of competition)
official competition
“Minotaur” by Andrey Zvyagintsev
“The loved one”, by Rodrigo Sorogoyen
“The Man I Love” by Ira Sachs
“Fatherland” by Paweł Pawlikowski
“Moulin”, by Laszlo Nemes
“Histoire de la nuit”, by Léa Mysius
“Fjord”, by Cristian Mungiu
“Notre salut”, by Emmanuel Marre
“Gentle Monster” by Marie Kreutzer
“Nagi Notes”, by Kôji Fukada
“Hope” by Na Hong-Jin
“Sheep in the Box” by Hirokazu Kore-eda
“Garance” by Jeanne Herry
“The Unknown” by Arthur Harrari
“All of a Sudden”, by Ryusuke Hamaguchi
“The Dreamed Adventure”, by Valeska Grisebach
“Coward” by Lukas Dhont
“The black ball”, by Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo
“A Woman’s Life”, by Charline Bourgeois-Taquet
“Parallel Tales” by Asghar Farhadi
“Bitter Christmas”, by Pedro Almodóvar
A certain regard
“The Sweetest” by Laïla Marrakchi
“Club Kid” by Jordan Firstman
“Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma,” by Jane Schoenbrun
“Everytime”, by Sandra Wollner
“I’ll Be Gone in June”, by Katharina Rivilis
“Yesterday the Eye Didn’t Sleep”, by Rakan Mayasi
“The thaw”, by Manuela Martelli
“I Am Your Maternal Animal”), by Valentina Maurel
“Elephants in the Fog” by Abhinash Bikram Shah
“Benimana”, by Marie-Clementine Dusabejambo
“Le Corset”, by Louis Clichy
“Congo Boy”, by Rafiki Fariala
“All the Lovers in the Night” by Yukiko Sode
Out of competition
“Her Private Hell” by Nicolas Winding Refn
“Diamond”, by Andy Garcia
“L’objet du délit”, by Agnès Jaoui
“La bataille de Gaulle: L’âge de fer”, by Antonin Baudry
“L’Abandon” by Vincent Garenq
“Karma”, by Guillaume Canet
Cannes Premiere
“Kokurojo: The Samurai and the Prisoner”, by Kiyoshi Kurosawa
“Propeller One-Way Night Coach” by John Travolta
“Heimsuchung” by Volker Schlöndorff
“The Third Night”, by Daniel Auteuil
“The Party”, by Juan Cabral and Santiago Franco
Special Screenings
“John Lennon: The Last Interview,” by Steven Soderbergh
“Avedon” by Ron Howard
“Les Survivants du Che”, by Christophe Réveille
“Les Matins Merveilleux”, by Avril Besson
Midnight Screenings
“Roma Elastica”, by Bertrand Mandico
“Full Phil” by Quentin Dupieux
“Colony” by Yeon Sang-ho
“Jim Queen” by Nicolas Athane and Marco Nguyen
“Sanguine”, by Marion Le Coroller
