Memoire de Fille (A Girl’s Story) / Directed by: Judith Godrèche, 2026, France
Carried by its 78 editions, the international Festival de Cannes is one of the world’s most widely publicized events and certainly the most important film festival in terms of worldwide impact. Through the works, artists, and the themes it presents on the world stage over the course of its 12-day line-up, the event is forever engaged in a process of self-renewal.
In order to achieve this level of longevity, the Festival de Cannes has remained faithful to its founding purpose: to draw attention to and raise the profile of films, with the aim of contributing towards the development of cinema, boosting the film industry worldwide and celebrating cinema at an international level. And to this day, this profession of faith constitutes the first article of the Festival regulations. It is a Cannes tradition to raise a glass to household names and usher emerging directors into the international film scene’s spotlight. That’s what makes Cannes, Cannes. We always painstakingly curate our offering to ensure we showcase hidden gems alongside more mainstream films.
Memoire de Fille (A Girl’s Story) / Directed by: Judith Godrèche, 2026, France
Coward / Directed by: Lukas Dhont, 2026, Belgium, France, Netherlands
El ser querido / Directed by: Rodrigo Sorogoyen, 2026, Spain
Fatherland / Directed by: Paweł Pawlikowski, 2026, Poland, Germany, Italy, France
Die My Love / Directed by: Lynne Ramsay, 2024, Canada
The Official Selection serves to highlight the diversity of cinematic creation through its different sections, each of which has its own distinct identity. The films are screened in world preview showings, meaning it’s often the first time they come under the watchful gaze of a demanding audience made up of professionals and film lovers.
Some sections culminate in awards, such as the Competition where incredibly high-level “mainstream art film” works are presented, Un Certain Regard, which recently shifted its focus to return to more experimental up-and-coming arthouse directors, and La Cinef film school graduate offerings.
But the Official Selection also centres on Out of Competition, Special Screenings, Midnight Screenings, and Cannes Première films, as well as heritage works screened as part of Cannes Classics and the Cinéma de la Plage. The important thing is that this Selection is both balanced and representative of cinematography at the time in terms of creativity and geography.
–Thierry Frémaux
Histoires de la Nuit (The Birthday Party) / Directed by: Léa Mysius, 2026, France
Groundswell / Directed by: Josh Tickell, Rebecca Tickell, 2026, United States, Colombia, Kenya, India, Brazil
Histoires Parallèles (Parallel Tales) / Directed by: Asghar Farhadi, 2026, France, Belgium, Italy
Karma / Directed by: Guillaume Canet, 2026, France
Ben’imana / Directed by: Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo, 2025, Rwanda, Gabon, France, Norway, Côte d’Ivoire
THE HISTORY OF THE FESTIVAL
In the Service of Cinematographic Art
The Festival de Cannes is now the world’s most prestigious film gathering, as well as its most widely publicized cultural event. Today a major forum for film-producing countries, its history, selections and prizes are usually thought to date back to 1946 – the year of the first festival proper. However, the first seeds of the event were actually sown eight years earlier.
Vying with the Mostra to Counter the Fascist Threat
In July 1938, the Venice Mostra, the first international competition dedicated to the film world, saw the major pre-war film-producing countries gather together for the sixth time. France was represented with a series of films, and on the jury by the diplomat Philippe Erlanger.
On the day of the Awards ceremony, the jury was unanimous. An American film had captured their hearts, but under pressure from Hitler the Nazi propaganda film Olympia by Leni Riefenstahl and the Italian film Luciano Serra, Pilot by Goffredo Alessandrini reaped the ultimate accolade, named the Mussolini Cup. The decision provoked outrage among the members representing democratic countries and France, the United States and Great Britain left the Mostra, vowing not to return.
During his train journey back to France, Philippe Erlanger, thought of setting up an event to replace the Mostra and offer the world a festival that was free of pressure and constraints. On his return, he contacted the authorities. There was no time to waste – a rival French festival was required before the next Venice competition came around.
Les Survivants du Che (Che Guevara: The Last Companions) / Directed by: Christophe Dimitri Réveille, 2026, France
The End of It / Directed by: Maria Martínez Bayona, 2026, United Kingdom, Spain, Norway
Propeller One-Way Night Coach / Directed by: John TRAVOLTA, 2025, United States
The Man I Love / Directed by: Ira Sachs, 2025, United States
Victorian Psycho / Directed by: Zachary Wigon, 2026, United Kingdom, Ireland
From September 1938 to May 1939, the initiative became a genuine State affair. Georges Bonnet, the Foreign Minister, was afraid of poisoning Franco-Italian relations, but the Education Minister Jean Zay, and Minister of the Interior Albert Sarraut, supported the idea of a film festival for Europe in which art would no longer be influenced by political maneuvering. In June 1939, the creation of a film festival in France was announced in the media, supported by various film-producing countries, led by the United States, and scheduled to open on 1st September – the same day as the Mostra, which left only a few months to prepare the entire event.
Cannes: Caught between Venice and Hollywood
France clearly had to create a setting as prestigious as Venice for its rival festival. Out of a list of ten French towns, the choice initially fell on Biarritz on 9 May 1939. But the supporters of Cannes around Georges Prade, a municipal councillor from Paris, and the directors of the Cannes hotels, mobilized and finally ended up winning the event. And so, on 31 May 1939, the town of Cannes and the government signaled the official birth of the International Film Festival, a mere three months before the event’s inauguration date. The ‘Pearl of the Riviera’, a jewel on a coastline often compared with California, began to dream of Hollywood.
JURY
As previously announced, the Jury of the 79th Festival de Cannes will be chaired by South Korean director, screenwriter and producer Park Chan-wook. He will be joined by American actress and producer Demi Moore, Irish-Ethiopian actress and producer Ruth Negga, Belgian director and screenwriter Laura Wandel, Chinese director and screenwriter Chloé Zhao, Chilean director and screenwriter Diego Céspedes, Ivorian-American actor Isaach De Bankolé, Scottish screenwriter Paul Laverty, and Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård.
The Jury will have the honor of awarding the Palme d’or to one of the 22 films in Competition, after Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident, presented by Juliette Binoche’s Jury, in 2025. The winners will be announced on Saturday, May 23 at the Closing Ceremony, broadcast live by France Télévisions in France and by Brut. internationally.
Festival de Cannes / 79th Edition
May 12–23, 2026 / Festival de Cannes
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