Cannes Film Festival 2026: Films poised to shape 2026 awards season

For 12 days this week, the eyes of the movie world will be on the Cannes Film Festival. The Côte d’Azur showcase begins on Tuesday, bringing together some of the most anticipated films of the year in a steady rhythm of red carpets and high-profile premieres.

While Hollywood studios are largely taking a back seat this time, Cannes continues to stand as one of cinema’s most influential stages after more than seven decades of shaping global film conversations.

Last year’s line-up featured Oscar contenders such as “Sentimental Value,” “The Secret Agent”, and “It Was Just an Accident,” and history suggests this year could produce another strong awards-season crop, following titles like “Parasite” and “Anora” that first premiered at the festival before going on to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards.

Jury and honoraries

This year’s jury is led by South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook, who will preside over the competition for the coveted Palme d’Or.

The opening ceremony on Tuesday will also see Cannes award an honorary Palme d’Or to Peter Jackson, with Barbra Streisand also set to receive the lifetime recognition later in the festival.

The Croisette will once again turn into a global meeting point for filmmakers, critics and stars, with added attention this year as HBO’s “The White Lotus” films its fourth season in the city, blending television production into the festival’s cinematic atmosphere.

Films to watch

Among the standout titles generating early buzz is “Hope” from Na Hong-jin, a sci-fi thriller blending multiple genres and featuring a mix of Korean and Hollywood stars, including Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander and Taylor Russell.

James Grey’s “Paper Tiger” also enters the spotlight, a New York-set crime drama about two brothers caught up with the Russian mafia, starring Adam Driver, Miles Teller and Scarlett Johansson.

European cinema remains strong with Cristian Mungiu’s “Fjord,” featuring Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve in a story set in remote Norway, while Jane Schoenbrun’s “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” explores the making of a slasher film with Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson.

Closing highlights

The festival’s deeper auteur-driven section includes Pawel Pawlikowski’s “Fatherland,” following a post-war journey involving Thomas Mann, and Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s French-language debut “All of a Sudden,” centred on a nursing home director and a terminally ill playwright.

Hirokazu Kore-eda returns with “Sheep in the Box,” a sci-fi meditation on grief involving a humanoid child, while Ira Sachs presents “The Man I Love,” starring Rami Malek as an actor confronting a life-threatening illness in 1980s New York.

Arthur Harari’s “The Unknown,” starring Léa Seydoux, adds a surreal body-swap narrative to the line-up, as Andrey Zvyagintsev returns with “Minotaur,” a crisis-driven drama set in rural Russia.

The festival also features Steven Soderbergh’s documentary “John Lennon: The Last Interview,” using AI-assisted visuals, and Pedro Almodóvar’s “Bitter Christmas,” a reflective story on filmmaking, grief and ageing.

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