Cannes Film Festival 2026 Lineup Revealed

Key Points:

• The Cannes Film Festival will take place from May 12 to May 23 on the Côte d’Azur, opening with Pierre Salvadori’s French-language film “The Electric Kiss,” continuing the tradition of launching with a local title.
• Honorary Palme d’Or awards will be given to filmmaker Peter Jackson and actor/filmmaker Barbra Streisand, and John Travolta will make his feature directorial debut with a film screened out of competition.
• The competition lineup emphasizes international auteurs with limited American director participation, featuring notable filmmakers like Andrey Zvyagintzev, Ira Sachs, Pawel Pawlikowski, Cristian Mungiu, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Pedro Almodóvar, and Asghar Farhadi.
• Out-of-competition highlights include Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Her Private Hell,” Steven Soderbergh’s John Lennon documentary, and Ron Howard’s Richard Avedon documentary, with 2,541 feature films submitted this year—1,000 more than a decade ago.
• More film titles are expected to be announced soon, with five women directors in competition this year, down from seven last year, and a notable film still pending official reveal according to festival artistic director Thierry Frémaux.