The global cinema community is turning its eyes toward the French Riviera as the 2026 Cannes Film Festival unveiled its official selection this morning. With a schedule running from May 12 to 23, the festival arrives at a moment of significant growth for the event; Cannes chief Thierry Frémaux revealed that 2,541 feature films were submitted for consideration this year, an increase of 1,000 submissions over the last decade.
The Cannes 2026 movies: competition lineup, special screenings, and premiere selections reflect a curated balance between established auteurs and a rising tide of genre-defying voices. Leading the charge are veteran American indie director Ira Sachs and Oscar-winning Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi, both of whom return to the Croisette with highly anticipated new features.
The festival will officially open with The Electric Kiss (La Vénus électrique), a period drama from Pierre Salvadori. Set within the early 20th-century Paris art scene, the film stars Pio Marmaï, Anaïs Demoustier, Gilles Lellouche, and Vimala Pons, setting a sophisticated, historical tone for the days to follow.
Auteurs and Icons in the Main Competition
Among the most anticipated entries in the Competition strand is Ira Sachs’ The Man I Love. Set in 1980s New York, the film is described as a musical fantasia of a city under duress. During this morning’s press conference, Frémaux clarified that the narrative specifically addresses the AIDS crisis. The project, co-written by Sachs and Mauricio Zacharias, boasts a formidable ensemble including Rami Malek, Rebecca Hall, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Tom Sturridge, and Luther Ford.
Asghar Farhadi likewise makes a high-profile return with Parallel Stories. Shot in Paris last year, the film marks Farhadi’s second French-language project following the success of The Past. Even as an official synopsis has not yet been released, the cast list is a masterclass in European cinema, featuring Isabelle Huppert, Virginie Efira, Vincent Cassel, Pierre Niney, and Adam Bessa. This marks Farhadi’s first feature since 2021’s A Hero, which earned the Grand Prix.
Spain maintains a powerful presence this year. Pedro Almodóvar returns with Bitter Christmas, while his longtime collaborators appear in separate projects: Javier Bardem stars in Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s The Beloved, and Penélope Cruz appears in a cameo in La bola negra by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi. The competition also features a record-breaking level of gender parity, with five women debuting films in the main strand—a milestone Frémaux described as a new high for the festival.
The Rise of Genre and New Visions
While the main competition leans toward prestige drama, the Un Certain Regard section is capturing the attention of the “buzzy” crowd. Most notable is the return of Jane Schoenbrun, whose 2024 film I Saw the TV Glow cemented their status as a critical darling. Schoenbrun’s latest, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, is produced by Plan B and stars Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson.
The festival’s breadth is further expanded by a diverse array of international voices in competition, including Ryûsuke Hamaguchi with Sudden, Hirokazu Kore-eda with Sheep in the Box, and Pawel Pawlikowski with Fatherland. These selections suggest a programming strategy that prioritizes the “slow cinema” movement and psychological depth over traditional narrative beats.
Directorial Debuts and Special Screenings
One of the more surprising additions to the schedule is the directorial debut of John Travolta. His film, Propeller One-Way, will screen in the Premiere Selection at the Debussy Theater before its May 29 launch on Apple TV. The project is a mid-length feature inspired by a 1997 children’s book Travolta wrote for his son.
The film follows a young airplane enthusiast named Jeff (played by Clark Shotwell) and his mother (Kelly Eviston-Quinnett) on a cross-country journey to Hollywood. The cast includes Travolta’s daughter, Ella Bleu Travolta, and Olga Hoffmann. Travolta is expected to attend the screening in person to support the Apple Original Films project.
Beyond the competition, the “Special Screenings” and “Out of Competition” categories bring together some of the industry’s most influential technicians. Steven Soderbergh will present John Lennon: The Last Interview, and Ron Howard will debut Avedon. Meanwhile, Nicolas Winding Refn returns to the Croisette with Her Private Hell, alongside Andy Garcia’s Diamond.
The 2026 Lineup at a Glance
| Category | Notable Title | Director/Lead |
|---|---|---|
| Opening Film | The Electric Kiss | Pierre Salvadori |
| Competition | The Man I Love | Ira Sachs |
| Competition | Parallel Stories | Asghar Farhadi |
| UCR | Teenage Sex and Death… | Jane Schoenbrun |
| Premiere | Propeller One-Way | John Travolta |
Complete Official Selection
For those tracking the full slate, the festival has organized its screenings into several distinct tiers. The Midnight Screenings continue to be the home for the surreal and the provocative, featuring Quentin Dupieux’s Full Phil and Yeon Sang-ho’s Colony.
Competition
- Minotaur – Andrey Zvyagintsev
- The Beloved – Rodrigo Sorogoyen
- The Man I Love – Ira Sachs
- Fatherland – Pawel Pawlikowski
- Moulin – Lazlo Nemes
- Histoires de la Nuit – Lea Mysius
- Fjiord – Cristian Mungiu
- Notre Salut – Emmanuel Marre
- Gentle Monster – Marie Kreutzer
- Hope – Na Hong-Jin
- Nagi Notes – Kôji Fukada
- Sheep in the Box – Hirokazu Kore-eda
- Garance – Jeanne Herry
- The Unknown – Arthur Harari
- Sudden – Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
- The Dreamed Adventure – Valeska Grisebach
- Coward – Lukas Dhont
- La Bola Negra – Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi
- Parallel Stories – Asghar Farhadi
- Bitter Christmas – Pedro Almodóvar
- A Woman’s Life – Charline Bourgeois-Taquet
Un Certain Regard (UCR)
- All the Lovers in the Night – Yukiko Sode
- La más dulce – Laïla Marrakchi
- Club Kid – Jordan Firstman
- Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma – Jane Schoenbrun
- Yesterday the Eye Didn’t Sleep – Rakan Mayasi
- Everytime – Sandra Wollner
- Meltdown – Manuela Martelli
- I’ll Be Gone in June – Katharina Rivilis
- I Am Always Your Maternal Animal – Valentina Maurel
- Congo Boy – Rafiki Fariala
- Le Corset – Louis Clichy
Out of Competition & Premieres
- Out of Competition: Her Private Hell (Nicolas Winding Refn), Diamond (Andy Garcia), The Electric Kiss (Pierre Salvadori), De Gaulle: L’Age de Fer (Antonin Baudry).
- Cannes Premiere: Propeller One-Way (John Travolta), Kokurojo: The Samurai and the Prisoner (Kiyoshi Kurosawa), Heimsuchung (Volker Schlondorff), El partido (Juan Cabral and Santiago Franco), When the Night Falls (Daniel Auteuil).
- Special Screenings: John Lennon: The Last Interview (Steven Soderbergh), Avedon (Ron Howard), Les Survivants du Che (Christophe Réveille), Les Matins Merveilleux (Avril Besson).
- Midnight Screenings: Roma elastica (Bertrand Mandico), Jim Queen (Nicolas Athane and Marco Nguyen), Full Phil (Quentin Dupieux), Colony (Yeon Sang-ho), Sanguine (Marion Le Coroller).
As the industry prepares for the May 12 kickoff, the next major milestone will be the release of the detailed screening schedule, which will determine the “must-witness” slots and the logistical scramble for critics and distributors. For official updates and ticket information, the official Cannes Film Festival site remains the primary source of record.
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