May 12-23, 2026. On the calendar of everyone in the industry, film fans and beyond, these days are circled in red. Because the countdown to the 79th edition of the Cannes Film Festival has officially begun, ready to return as usual to make the Croisette the center of the world with first-rate characters and actors. Today, Thursday, April 9, 2026, a new milestone on the road to May took place, with the announcement of the Official Selection 2026 during the traditional annual meeting with the French and international press. In the presence of Iris Knobloch, President of the Cannes Film Festival, and Thierry Frémaux, General Delegate, the films in competition or that will otherwise be present at the prestigious film kermesse were announced.
That already in recent weeks announced some juicy details of what we will experience in Cannes in May. Like Park Chan-wook, who will be the President of the Jury of the 79th Cannes Film Festival, or like the announcement of those who will receive the honorary Palme d’Or this year, namely Peter Jackson and Barbra Streisand. There is curiosity about the films and also about the characters. And what was known, net of all the rumors, is that the opening film of the kermis this year would be Pierre Salvadori’s “La Vénus électrique.” Just as it was known about the Cannes debut, we mean in the guise of a director, of John Travolta, who will present his debut feature in the Cannes Premiere Selection, the title of which is “Propeller One-Way Night Coach,” or “the adaptation of the book published in 1997 by the Hollywood star, who has been passionate about aviation since childhood and is an experienced professional pilot.”
The films in competition
Among the films in competition are Andrey Zvyagintsev’s “Minotaur,” Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “The Beloved,” Ira Sachs’ “The Man I Love” – starring Rami Malek -, Pawel Pawlikowski’s “Fatherland,” László Nemes’ “Moulin,” Lea Mysius’ “Histoires de la Nuit” – in whose cast Monica Bellucci certainly stands out, “Fjord” by Cristian Mungiu – with Renate Reinsve and Sebastian Stan -, “Notre Salut” by Emmanuel Marre, “Gentle Monster” by Marie Kreutzer – with Léa Seydoux and Catherine Deneuve -, “Hope” by Na Hong-Jin, “Nagi Notes” by Kôji Fukada, “Sheep in the Box” by Hirokazu Kore-eda, “Garance” by Jeanne Herry, “The Unknown” by Arthur Harari, “Sudden” by Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, “The Dreamed Adventure” by Valeska Grisebach, “Coward” by Lukas Dhont, “La Bola Negra” by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi – starring Penélope Cruz and Glenn Close, Asghar Farhadi’s “Parallel Stories” – in whose cast Isabelle Huppert, Vincent Cassel and Catherine Deneuve were heralded -, Pedro Almodóvar’s “Bitter Christmas” and Charline Bourgeois-Taquet’s “A Woman’s Life.”
Un certain regard
The “UN CERTAIN REGARD” section, on the other hand, includes titles such as Laïla Marrakchi’s “La más dulce,” Jordan Firstman’s “Club Kid”-starring Cara Delevingne and Diego Calva-, Jane Schoenbrun’s “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma,” Rakan Mayasi’s “Yesterday the Eye Didn’t Sleep,” Sandra Wollner’s “Everytime,” and Manuela Martelli’s “Meltdown.”
Cannes films out of competition and midnight screenings
Out-of-competition films include, in addition to Salvadori’s film that will open the festival, Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Her Private Hell,” Andy Garcia’s “Diamond”-with names like Vicky Krieps, Brendan Fraser, Bill Murray and Dustin Hoffman in it-, Antonin Baudry’s “De Gaulle: L’Age de Fer.” Among the premieres, however, besides Travolta, will be Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s “Kokurojo: The Samurai and the Prisoner.” While special screenings include Steven Soderbergh’s “John Lennon: The Last Interview,” Ron Howard’s “Avedon,” Christophe Réveille’s “Les Survivants du Che,” and Avril Besson’s “Les Matins Merveilleux.”
Last but not least, Cannes’ classic midnight screenings will feature Bertrand Mandico’s “Elastic Rome,” Nicolas Athane and Marco Nguyen’s “Jim Queen,” Quentin Dupieux’s “Full Phil,” and Yeon Sang-ho’s “Colony” among the films shown.
[📸 festival-cannes.com]
