The official lineup for the 2026 Cannes Film Festival will be announced tomorrow. As always, Festival Director Thierry Frémaux and his team have been hard at work finalizing what will ultimately define this year’s cinematic landscape. With rumors, production timelines, and last-minute submissions all factoring into the decision-making process, the race to make the cut has been tighter than ever leaving many of this year’s selections up in the air, especially after many high-profile films such as “Disclosure Day,” “The Odyssey,” “Toy Story 5,” “Digger,” “The Entertainment System Is Down,” and “The Mandalorian And Grogu” were all either confirmed or heavily implied not to be a part of this year’s lineup. While a few high-profile titles have already emerged as likely selections, much of the lineup remains in flux as Cannes continues its tradition of balancing established auteurs with emerging voices from around the world.
In recent years, Cannes has solidified its status as one of the most important launch pads for awards season contenders, especially as the Academy’s voting body has become increasingly international. The festival has consistently introduces audiences to films that go on to achieve both critical acclaim and awards recognition across multiple categories.
In the last six years alone, the festival has given us the following Best Picture nominees:
“Once Upon A Time In Hollywood”
“Parasite” (Palme d’Or and Best Picture winner)
“Drive My Car”
“Elvis”
“Top Gun: Maverick”
“Triangle Of Sadness” (Palme d’Or winner)
“Anatomy Of A Fall” (Palme d’Or winner)
“Killers Of The Flower Moon”
“The Zone Of Interest”
“Anora” (Palme d’Or and Best Picture winner)
“Emilia Pérez”
“The Substance”
“The Secret Agent”
“Sentimental Value“
Best Director nominees:
Ryusuke Hamaguchi – “Drive My Car”
Ruben Östlund – “Triangle Of Sadness”
Jonathan Glazer – “The Zone Of Interest”
Martin Scorsese – “Killers Of The Flower Moon”
Sean Baker – “Anora” (Won the Oscar)
Jacques Audiard – “Emilia Pérez”
Coralie Fargeat – “The Substance”
Joachim Trier – “Sentimental Value”
Best International Feature nominees:
“Parasite” (Won the Oscar)
“Les Misérables”
“Pain And Glory”
“Drive My Car” (Won the Oscar)
“The Worst Person in the World”
“Close”
“EO”
“The Zone Of Interest” (Won the Oscar)
“Perfect Days”
“Emilia Pérez”
“Flow”
“The Girl with the Needle”
“The Seed of the Sacred Fig“
And five Best Animated Feature nominees:
“I Lost My Body”
“Robot Dreams”
“Flow” (Won the Oscar)
“Arco”
“Little Amélie or the Character of Rain”
Whether it’s Palme d’Or contenders crossing over into the Best Picture race or international features gaining global visibility, Cannes’ influence on the cinematic year cannot be overstated. As a result, anticipation for each year’s lineup continues to grow not just among cinephiles but across the entire industry. Each year I’ve been attending the festival in person, I’ve noticed more and more of my colleagues wanting to make the trip over to the Croisette to experience what, in my mind, is the world’s best film festival.
This will be my first and only stab at predicting this year’s selections. I’ve tried my best to base the predictions on recent developments (Sorry, no “Jack of Spades” from Joel Coen), filmmaker history with the festival (See you in May Almodóvar), and the overall trends Cannes has embraced in its programming (hello once again Serebrennikov, Dupieux, and Moretti). Below are my predictions for the Competition lineup, along with selections for Un Certain Regard, Midnight, Out of Competition, Cannes Premiere, and Special Screenings. I’ve decided to leave off the sidebar sections. Based on where things currently stand, here’s how I see the 79th Cannes Film Festival shaping up this year, with a Hail Mary prayer that Terrence Malick’s “The Way Of The Wind” will somehow magically emerge as a surprise (Doubt it).
COMPETITION
“After” — Lars Von Trier
“All of a Sudden” — Ryusuke Hamaguchi
“Bitter Christmas” — Pedro Almodóvar
“Butterfly Jam” — Kantemir Balagov
“Cábula” — Lila Avilés
“The Costume” — Corneliu Porumboiu
“Fatherland” — Paweł Pawlikowski
“Fjord” — Cristian Mungiu
“Gentle Monster” — Marie Kreutzer
“A Good Little Soldier” — Stéphane Brizé
“Her Private Hell” — Nicolas Winding Refn
“Hope” — Na Hong-jin
“I’ll Forget Your Name” — Yann Gonzalez
“It Will Happen Tonight” — Nanni Moretti
“La Vie d’Une Femme” — Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet
“Let Love In” — Felix van Groeningen
“L’inconnue” — Arthur Harari
“Minotaur” — Andrey Zvyagintsev
“Paper Tiger” — James Gray
“Parallel Tales” — Asghar Farhadi
“Red Rocks” — Bruno Dumont
“Sheep In The Box” — Hirokazu Kore-eda
“Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” — Jane Schoenbrun
“Wake of Umbra” — Carlos Reygadas
UN CERTAIN REGARD
“9 Temples to Heaven” — Sompot Chidgasornpongse
“Black Water” — Aga Woszczyńska
“Brace Your Heart” — Amanda Kernell
“Club Kid” — Jordan Firstman
“Death Has No Master” — Jorge Thielen Armand
“Elephants in the Fog” — Abinash Bikram Shah
“El Puma” — Marcela Saïd
“The First Taste of Loneliness” — Xiaogang Gu
“A Girl’s Story” — Judith Godrèche
“Leila Et La Nuit” — Fellipe Barbosa
“Les Yeux Verts” — Fanny Liatard & Jérémy Trouilh
“Love Is Not the Answer” — Michael Cera
“Love is the Monster” — Neto Villalobos
“La Más Dulce” — Laïla Marrakchi
“Man Vs Flock” — Tamara Kotevska
“Orient Adagio” — Maha Haj
“The Painted Bride” — Jeremiah Zagar
“Trinity” — Boo Junfeng
“Un détour” — Ann Sirot & Raphaël Balboni
“Vagabonds” — Amartei Armar
“Woman, Unknown” — May el-Toukhy
MIDNIGHT SECTION
“Backrooms” — Kane Parsons
“Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo” — Takashi Miike
“Colony” — Yeon Sang-ho
“Full Phil” — Quentin Dupieux
“Victorian Psycho” — Zachary Wigon
OUT OF COMPETITION
“The Beloved” — Rodrigo Sorogoyen
“The Dreamed Adventure” — Valeska Grisebach
“The Electric Kiss” — Pierre Salvadori
“Les Misérables” — Fred Cavayé
“Love Lessons” — Martin Provost
“The Last Photograph” — Zack Snyder
“Strawberries” — Laïla Marrakchi
“Switzerland” — Anton Corbijn
PREMIERE SECTION
“Alpha Gang” — David & Nathan Zellner
“Après” — Kirill Serebrennikov
“Bucking Fastard” — Werner Herzog
“Diary Of A Chambermaid” — Radu Jude
“Dumas: Black Devil” — Ladj Ly
“Hombre al agua” — Gael García Bernal
“Kokurojo: The Samurai and the Prisoner” — Kiyoshi Kurosawa
“Propeller One-Way Night Coach” — John Travolta
“Violette” — Jean-Pierre Jeunet
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
“De Gaulle: Part One” — Antonin Baudry
“Freedom Double” — Lisandro Alonso
“Imperium” — Sergei Loznitsa
“Dansker” — Jonas Poher Rasmussen
“La Chaleur” — Stéphane Demoustier
“Milo” — Nicole Garcia
“A Place To Heal” — Cédric Kahn
“When The Night Falls” — Daniel Auteuil
The 79th Cannes Film Festival is set to take place from May 12th to the 23rd. Park Chan-wook has already been announced as the president of the competition section of this year’s jury. Cody Dericks, Nadia Dalimonte, and I will be attending in-person for this year’s film festival.
Are you excited for the 2026 Cannes Film Festival? Who else do you think will be announced for the Official Competition Jury selection? Are you planning to attend the festival this year? Which films are you most looking forward to seeing? Please let us know in the comments section below or on our X account.
