The red carpet rolls out Cannes Film Festival 2026. From the 12 to 23 Mayan edition that focuses on authors, rather than studios. But without leaving out the great stars: among competition, out of competition, other sections and events, there will be, among others, Isabelle Huppert, Catherine Deneuve, Cate Blanchett, Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz, Glenn Close, Tilda Swinton, Kristen Stewart, Scarlett Johansson, Monica Bellucci, Sandra Hüller, Adam Driver, Léa Seydoux, Rami Malek and John Travolta, in his directorial debut.
22 films are in the running for the Palme d’Or, none of these are Italian. Park Chan-wooka bold South Korean director famous for his revenge trilogy, is the president of the jury.
There will be 120 films (including feature films and shorts) that will pass through the Croisette. Among these, here are the 10 most anticipated (at least by us).
Amarga Navidad by Pedro Almodóvar
After the Golden Lion – not very convincing – won in Venice 2024 with The next roomhis first film in English, Almodóvar returns to his native Spain. With the story of a director in difficulty (some autobiographical references)?
Amarga Navidad (in Italian Bitter Christmas), film in competition at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, tells of Raúl, a cult director in the midst of a creative crisis. He is played by Leonardo Sbaragliaalready seen at work with Pedro in Pain and glory. When tragedy strikes one of his closest collaborators, he draws inspiration for his next film. Gradually, imagine Elsa, a director busy writing her novel, whose story begins to mirror hers… She has the face of Barbara Lenniewho has already collaborated with the Madrid maestro The skin I live in.
Coward by Lukas Dhont
34 years old and one of the freshest and most intense voices of new European cinema, Lukas Dhont, on his third film, returns to Cannes for the third time. The first was with Girlunder Un certain regard, Caméra d’or as best work. Then it was beautiful Closein the main competition, Special Grand Prix of the Jury and nominated for the Oscar as best international film, reaching the final five.
Now the Belgian director, attentive to issues of gender identity, returns to competition with Cowardset during the First World Warin 1916, on the Belgian front. Pierre (Emmanuel Macchia) has just enlisted, eager to prove himself. Behind the lines, in the team responsible for supplying food and equipment, Francis (Valentin Campagne) organizes shows to keep the soldiers’ morale high. As the fighting rages, everyone tries to escape the brutality of war, if only for a moment.
Sheep in the box by Hirokazu Kore’eda
Japanese director Hirokazu Kore’eda also returns to a festival dear to him: in Cannes in 2013 he won the Jury Prize for Father and Son and in 2018 the Palme d’Or for splendid A family affair.
Films in competition, Sheep in the box takes us to the near future. Otone (Haruka Ayase) and her husband Kensuke (Daigo) lost their son. To fill the void and the pain, they are offered a humanoid robot completely identical to their child…
The title? It is a reference to the sheep and the box from the cult book The little prince.
Histoires paralleles by Asghar Farhadi
Acclaimed Iranian director, twice Oscar winner for best international film with A separation And The customerAsghar Farhadi returns to competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Here he won the Ecumenical Jury Prize in 2013 for The pastthe Prix du scénario for The customer in 2016 and the Special Jury Grand Prix for A hero in 2021.
From the notable French cast, Histoires paralleles (Parallel stories) returns to the bloodthirsty Bataclan attack of Paris in 2015. Isabelle Huppert she plays a writer who, looking for inspiration for her new novel, spies on her neighbors across the street. When she hires the young Adam (Adam Bessa) to help her in everyday life, she does not imagine that that young man will upset her existence and her work, until the fiction she has imagined surpasses reality. Among the actors too Virginie Efira, Vincent Cassel and Pierre Niney.
The inconnue by Arthur Harari
In Cannes Harari has already had his consecration with Anatomy of a falldirected by his wife Justine Triet and co-written by him. Now he writes and directs alone The inconnue (The Unknown Woman), film in competition.
The protagonist is David Zimmerman (played by Niels Schneider), a man of almost forty years old. He’s a photographer, but no one knows it. Although he almost never leaves the house, some friends drag him to a wild party. There he sees a woman (Léa Seydoux) in the crowd, he can’t take his eyes off her and follows her… A few hours later, David wakes up: he finds himself in the stranger’s body.
Paper tiger by James Gray
One of only two Americans in competition (the other is Ira Sachs), James Gray is certainly no stranger to Cannes: he was in the running for the Palme d’Or, without ever winning, already with The Yards, The masters of the night, Two lovers, Once upon a time in New York And Armageddon Time – The time of the apocalypse. He had better luck in Venice: Silver Lion – Special director award for Little Odessa in 1994.
Paper tiger is a story of power and corruption, set in New York, Queens, in 1986. Two brothers (Miles Teller and Adam Driver), poles apart, join forces for a shady deal involving the Russian mafia. But what was supposed to be an opportunity turns into a nightmare, jeopardizing their family, their integrity and their brotherly bond. His beauty is also in the cast Scarlett Johansson.
Soudain by Ryūsuke Hamaguchi
Already Prix du scénario at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival for Drive my carwhich also won the Oscar for best international film, Hamaguchi returns to competition with Soudain (in Italian Suddenly). It is inspired by letters exchanged between Maoko Miyano, a philosopher battling breast cancer, and Maho Isono, an anthropologist who has conducted extensive research in the field.
Here’s the plot. As the director of a retirement home, Marie-Lou (Virginie Efira) is committed to implementing an innovative care philosophy based on listening and respecting the dignity of guests, despite the resistance of some of its staff. The meeting with Mari (Tao Okamoto), a Japanese theater director battling cancer, will profoundly change his path. The two women form a deep friendship and embark on a battle together to “make the impossible possible”.
Fatherland by Paweł Pawlikowski
Already Oscar for best international film with Idain 2015, and Prix de la mise en scène for Cold War at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, the Polish director returns to competition on the French Riviera.
Fatherland focuses on the relationship between him Nobel Prize winning writer Thomas Mann (Hanns Zischler) and his daughter Erika (Sandra Hüller), actress, writer and rally driver. In the summer of 1949, at the height of the Cold War, father and daughter embark on a challenging and emotional journey aboard a black Buick, crossing a Germany in ruins, from Frankfurt, dominated by the Americans, to Weimar, controlled by the Soviets. Returning home after sixteen years of exile in the United States, Thomas Mann must face not only a divided homeland, but also a deep rift within his family.
Her private hell by Nicolas Winding Refn
Movies out of competitionthe Danish director already Prix de la mise en scène at Cannes, in 2011 for Drivereturns ten years after the psychedelic horror The Neon Demon.
Her private hell is set in one futuristic metropoliswhile a strange fog envelops her and releases an elusive and lethal presence. Here a troubled young woman (Sophie Thatcher) sets out to find her father. During this search, his fate is intertwined with that of an American soldier on a desperate journey to save his daughter from hell.
Also in the cast are Charles Melton, Havana Rose Liu, Kristine Froseth, Dougray Scott.
Full Phil by Quentin Dupieux
The lovable French director of the bizarre Quentin Dupieux will be at Cannes this year with two films. Full Phil is out of competition and calls upon two Hollywood stars, Kristen Stewart and Woody Harrelson. The latter plays Philip Doom, a wealthy American industrialist in Paris, who tries to reconnect with his daughter Madeleine. Unfortunately, French cuisine, a 1950s horror film and a pushy hotel employee disrupt his stay…
Le Vertigeon the other hand, is an animated film with an unmistakable Dupieux style, presented at the Quinzaine des Cinéastes. Here Jacques goes to his friend Bruno’s house to give him important news: all humanity lives in a simulation…
