After British filmmaker Molly Manning Walker last year, Leïla Bekhti will serve as President of the Un Certain Regard Jury at the 79th Festival de Cannes. She and her four jury members, Senegal’s producer Angèle Diabang, Lebanon’s composer Khaled Mouzanar, Italy’s director Laura Samani, and France’s director Thomas Cailley, will be tasked with selecting the winners of this selection, which celebrates young, auteur-driven cinema and new discoveries.
Last year, Chilean filmmaker Diego Céspedes won the Un Certain Regard Prize with his highly acclaimed debut film, “The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo.”
“For my first time as Jury President, I will find myself in the unique position of watching, listening, sharing, and celebrating. Working in cinema has taught me that movies are places of encounter with others, with oneself, with the world. Discovering them alongside a jury, living this timeless experience, is both a responsibility and a joy. I look forward to the exchanged perspectives, the dialogues, and the doubts as well, which make up the richness of this living art. And, ultimately, I will be there in the most precious seat of all: that of the audience.”
LEÏLA BEKHTI – President (Actress)
France
Leïla Bekhti first came to the public’s attention in Jacques Audiard’s “A Prophet” (2009), winner of the Festival de Cannes’ Grand Prix, and quickly established herself as an actress of rare intensity. Winner of the César Award for Most Promising Actress in 2011 for “All That Glitters” by Hervé Mimran and Géraldine Nakache (2010), she has since pursued a free-spirited and daring career, moving across genres with talent. A regular at the Festival de Cannes, she has appeared in notable films such as “Paris, je t’aime” (2006), Radu Mihaileanu’s “The Source” (2011), Gilles Lellouche’s “Sink or Swim” (2018), and Joachim Lafosse’s “The Restless” (2021). Spanning comedy, drama, and thriller, she embodies deeply human characters, as in Kheiron’s “All Three of Us” (2015), Lucie Borleteau’s “Perfect Nanny” (2019), Jeanne Herry’s “All Your Faces” (2023), and Ken Scott’s “Once Upon My Mother” (2025). She will soon appear in Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s “Changer l’eau des fleurs.”
ANGÈLE DIABANG (Producer & Director)
Senegal
Senegalese producer and director Angèle Diabang is a leading figure in Africa’s cultural and audiovisual sector thanks to her institutional involvement. For over 20 years, she has been developing a body of work focused on social issues, women’s journeys, and human rights through her production company Karoninka, founded in 2006. As a director, she is known for her socially-conscious documentaries, including “Congo, a Doctor Who Saves Women,” about 2018 Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Denis Mukwege. Her short film “Un air de kora” (“A Tune of Kora”) won the Bronze Foal at FESPACO 2019, where she also won the ECOWAS Best Director Award. In 2025, she directed an adaptation of Mariama Bâ’s novel “So Long a Letter,” which achieved historic success in West Africa, setting an unprecedented box office record.
LAURA SAMANI (Director & Screenwriter)
Italy
Italian director and screenwriter Laura Samani was acclaimed for her debut feature film “Small Body,” which was selected for Cannes 2021 Semaine de la Critique and won the David di Donatello for Best Directorial Debut, as well as the European Film Award for Discovery of the Year. She made her debut at the Cinéfondation section of the Festival de Cannes in 2016 with her short film “The Sleeping Saint,” which won awards at several international festivals. Her latest film, “A Year of School,” loosely based on the novel by Giani Stuparich, was in competition in the Orizzonti section of the Venice Film Festival in 2025, where its lead actor won the Best Actor Award. Her work explores female characters who assert their identity, independence, and personal freedom while challenging social norms.
THOMAS CAILLEY (Director & Screenwriter)
France
A graduate of La Fémis, Thomas Cailley made his breakthrough with “Love at First Fight.” Screened at Cannes, where it won the FIPRESCI Prize, the film received the César Award for Best First Feature in 2015, as well as numerous other awards in France and internationally. His second film, “Ad Vitam” (2018), a notable science-fiction series, confronts youth with a world that dreams of immortality. In 2023, his film “The Animal Kingdom” opened the Un Certain Regard at the Festival de Cannes. With this fantasy drama, the director explores our ability to embrace otherness and rethink our connection to nature. Acclaimed by critics and a box-office success in France, with over a million admissions, the film won five César Awards in 2024. He is currently co-writing Michel Hazanavicius’s next film and developing his own third feature film.
KHALED MOUZANAR (Composer)
Lebanon
Since the 2000s, Khaled Mouzanar has established himself as a leading figure in the Lebanese art scene. Following his debut album, “Les Champs arides” (2007), he composed the soundtrack for Nadine Labaki’s “Caramel” (2007), and later wrote the music for her film “Where Do We Go Now?,” presented in Un Certain Regard at the Festival de Cannes 2011. Their collaboration achieved international recognition with “Capharnaüm” (2018), which he co-wrote, produced, and scored. Winner of the Jury Prize at Cannes, the film was nominated for the César Awards, the Golden Globes, and the Oscars. Alongside his classical compositions, he develops hybrid artistic projects, including “Le monde va à la guerre et moi j’en reviens,” presented at the Lyon Biennale of Contemporary Art. In 2025, he created “18:08 – When Gravity Was No More,” an immersive installation blending documentary and poetic abstraction as a tribute to the Port of Beirut following its explosion.
The 2026 Cannes Film Festival will run from May 12th until May 23rd. Cody Dericks, Nadia Dalimonte and I will be attending in-person this year from Next Best Picture.
Are you excited for the 2026 Cannes Film Festival? Are you planning to attend the festival this year? What do you think of this announcement? Please let us know in the comments section below or on our X account.
