Pedro Almodovar, Steven Soderbergh, Ron Howard Films Headed to 2026 Cannes Film Festival

Pedro Almodovar, Steven Soderbergh, Ron Howard, Pawel Pawlikowski, Lukas Dhont and Hirokazu Kore-eda are among the directors who will be bringing new films to the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, Cannes organizers announced on Thursday morning.

At a press conference in Paris, Cannes general delegate Thierry Frémaux and president Iris Knobloch unveiled 21 films that will screen in the main competition, along with additional titles in the Un Certain Regard section and in various out-of-competition sections.

The festival announced fewer films than it usually does, particularly in UCR, but Frémaux promised additions to the lineup in coming days, saying that some deals had yet to be finalized.

Past winners of the Palme d’Or returning to Cannes include Hirokazu Kore-eda, who won for “Shoplifters” in 2018 and is back with “Sheep in the Box”; and Cristian Mungiu, a winner for 2007’s “4 Weeks, 3 Months and 2 Days” who this year has the Norwegian-language film “Fjord,” starring the Oscar-nominated “Sentimental Value” actress Renate Reinsve.

Kore-eda’s film will be distributed in the United States by Neon, the company that has released the last six Palme d’Or winners. The company also has the competition selection “The Unknown” from Arthur Harari, the co-writer of the Palme winner “Anatomy of a Fall.”

The lineup also includes the previously announced “Propellor One-Way Night Coach,” the directorial debut of actor John Travolta; and “The Electric Kiss,” a French film by Pierre Salvadori that will be the opening-night attraction.

While the lineup has a smaller-than-usual contingent of American films and an absence of major-studio movies, U.S. directors with films in the official selection include Gray; Ira Sachs, with “The Man I Love”; Howard and Soderbergh, with the documentaries “Avedon” and “John Lennon: The Last Interview,” respectively; Jane Schoenbrun, the indie director of “I Saw the TV Glow” who has the Hannah Einbinder/Gillian Anderson slasher film “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” in Un Certain Regard; comedian/filmmaker Jordan Firstman, also in UCR with “Club Kid”; and actor-turned-director Andy Garcia with “Diamond.”

Other notable international auteurs in the selection are Andrey Zvyagintsev (“Leviathan”) with “Minotaur,” Laszlo Nemes (“Son of Saul”) with “Moulin,” Ryuske Hamaguchi (“Drive My Car”) with “Sudden” and Asghar Farhadi (“A Separation”) with “Parallel Tales.”

Actors with films in the official selection include Sandra Huller with “Fatherland,” Javier Bardem with “El Ser Querido,” Sebastian Stan with “Fjord,” Woody Harrelson and Kristen Stewart with Quentin Dupieux’s “Full Phil,” Charles Melton with Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Her Private Hell,” Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander with Na Hong-jin’s “Hope.”

This year’s announcement comes after an impressive seven-year streak in which at least one film from the Cannes official selection has gone on to earn an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture every year, with a high of three nominees in 2024 and 2022. Over the last 10 festivals, 51 Cannes films have been nominated for Oscars, 16 have been nominated for Best Picture and two, “Parasite” and “Anora,” have won Best Picture, the first to turn that double play since “Marty” in 1955.

The festival previously announced that director Peter Jackson and actress/singer/director Barbra Streisand will receive Honorary Palme d’Or awards.

Additional selections will be announced in the coming weeks. The 79th annual Cannes Film Festival will begin on Tuesday, May 12 and run through Saturday, May 23, with South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook serving as the president of the main competition jury.

The Directors Fortnight and Critics Week sidebars are expected to announce their lineups next week.

Here is the 2026 official selection.

Main Competition

“Minotaur,” Andrey Zvyagintsev
“El Ser Querido,” Rodrigo Sorogoyen
“The Man I Love,” Ira Sachs
“Fatherland,” Pawel Pawlikowski 
“Stories of the Night,” Lea Mysius
“Moulin,” Laszlo Nemes
“Fjord,” Cristian Mungiu
“Gentle Monster,” Marie Kreutzer
“Notre Salut,” Emmanuel Marre
“Nagi Notes,” Koji Fukada 
“Hope,” Na Hong-jin
“Sheep in the Box,” Hirokazu Kore-eda
“Garance,” Jeanne Herry
“The Unknown,” Arthur Harari
“Sudden,” Ryusuke Hamaguchi
“The Dreamed Adventure,” Valeska Grisebach
“Coward,” Lukas Dhont
“The BlackBall,” Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo
“Life of a Woman,” Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet
“Parallel Tales,” Asghar Farhadi
“Bitter Christmas,” Pedro Almodovar

Un Certain Regard

“Club Kid,” Jordan Firstman
“Everytime,” Sandra Wollner
“I’ll Be Gone in June,” Katharina Rivilis
“Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma,” Jane Schoenbrun
“Yesterday the Eye Didn’t Sleep,” Rakan Mayasi
“The Meltdown,” Manuela Martelli
“La mas dulce,” Laila Marrakchi

Out of Competition

“The Electric Kiss,” Pierre Salvadori (opening night film)
“Diamond,” Andy Garcia
“Her Private Hell,” Nicolas Winding Refn
“L’Abandon,” Vincent Garenq
“Karma,” Guillaume Canet
“L’Objet du Delit,” Agnes Jaoui
“L’Age de fer,” Antonin Baudry

Cannes Premiere

“Propellor One-Way Night Coach,” John Travolta
“Kokurojo: The Samurai and the Prisoner,” Kiyoshi Kurosawa
“Heimsuchung,” Volker Schlondorff
“The Third Night,” Daniel Auteuil

Special Screenings

“Avedon,” Ron Howard
“John Lennon: The Last Interview,” Stephen Soderbergh
“The Survivors of Che,” Christophe Reveille
“Les Matins Merveilleux,” Avril Besson

Midnight Screenings

“Colony,” Yeon Sang-ho
“Full Phil,” Quentin Dupieux
“Roma Elastica,” Bertrand Mandico
“Sanguine,” Marion Le Coroller
“Jim Queen,” Nicolas Athane, Marco Nguyen

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