With just four weeks to go until Thierry Fremaux unveils the line-up for the official selection of the Cannes Film Festival in Paris on April 9, Screen takes an informed look at what the 2026 Competition could look like.
It is wise never to say never when talking about Cannes, Fremaux and Ruben Ostlund, let alone all three. But as Ostlund said in January, it is looking highly unlikely his anticipated The Entertainment System Is Down will be ready for May as he works on the edit of his 74 filming days. The two-time Palme d’Or winner may decide to take it to Venice (if it’s ready) or to hang on for Cannes 2027. But directors have been known to screen a film in Cannes that they only finished the day before, then re-edit their work after the festival, depending on the audience’s reaction.
And if it is a third Palme d’Or in which Ostlund is interested, his path may cross on the Croisette in 2027 with Justine Triet’s Fonda. But we are getting ahead of ourselves. Fonda has yet to shoot a single scene.
Back in 2026, these are the films we are hearing are being screened for the festival and are in with a very good chance.
France
The powerful Parisian sales agents are quietly confident about an array of films by Cannes regulars from around the world.
Charades has Parallel Tales by Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, starring Isabelle Huppert, Virginie Efira, Vincent Cassel, Pierre Niney and Catherine Deneuve. A Competition berth would mark Farhadi’s fifth time in the section, following The Past, The Salesman, Everybody Knows and A Hero.
Marie Kreutzer, the Austrian director of Corsage which played in Un Certain Regard, is a strong contender with Gentle Monster starring Lea Seydoux and Catherine Deneuve. It is being sold by mk2 Films, the company that guided It Was Just An Accident to the Palme d’Or last year.
The Party Film Sales is handling Mimesis, Kaouther Ben Hania’s follow-up to The Voice Of Hind Rajab, which is still resonating with over $900,000 at the US box office following its emotional premiere at Venice last September. Mimesis is the seventh feature by the France-based Tunisian director and is set in 1990s Tunisia.
Laïla Marrakchi is ready with her Spain-set drama Strawberries about a group of strawberry-picking Moroccan women in Andalusia who face hardships and abuse. Lucky Number is handling sales.
Politics
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is likely to be a big Competition talking point if a trio of films by Cannes regulars make the cut.
Mk2 has Minotaur, the anticipated next film from Andrei Zvyagintsev, the Russian director of Leviathan and Loveless, who is presently based in France. Minotaur is produced by the dynamic duo of Charles Gillibert of CG Cinema and Nathanael Karmitz of mk2 and is being billed as a political fable about a Russian businessman confronting crisis and trauma in his professional and personal life.
Sergei Loznitsa, the Ukrainian director of Two Prosecutors, could be in town with the documentary Imperium, a visual journey through the Soviet Union, for which international sales are handled by Coproduction Office.
And Spanish filmmaker Albert Serra is poised for a Cannes return with his English-language Out Of This World starring Riley Keough and F Murray Abraham. The film is set against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine as a US delegation travels to Russia to resolve a sanctions-linked economic dispute. Losange Films is handling sales. Serra was last in Cannes Competition in 2022 with Pacifiction.
Sources say several more films by major international auteurs are still up in the air for Cannes, depending on being ready in time. One is Nanni Moretti’s It Will Happen Tonight, an Italy and Spain-set romance starring Louis Garrel and Jasmine Trinca which has an implicit Competition slot reserved should production wrap in time. Moretti is the Palme d’Or-winning director of The Son’s Room. Playtime and Pan-Europeenne are handling sales.
And exiled Russian auteur Kirill Serebrennikov’s French-language After is stacked with an A-list French cast of Ludivine Sagnier, Fanny Ardant, Vincent Macaigne, Guillaume Gallienne and Louis Garrel, but is reportedly racing to make the deadline.
French directors
Fremaux famously leaves selecting the French films until just hours before the announcement. This year, as every year, he will be spoilt for choice: there is an abundance of French auteurs with films that will definitely be ready in time.
Arthur Harari, the Oscar-winning co-writer of Anatomy Of A Fall and director of Onoda, which opened Cannes’ Un Certain Regard in 2021, will likely be back with The Unknown. Lea Seydoux and Niels Schneider lead the cast of the film about a man who wakes up in the body of an unknown woman. Neon has already snapped up North American rights from Pathe.
Another festival favourite, Nicole Garcia, has directed Milo starring Marion Cotillard and Theodore Pellerin, which is produced by powerhouse French producer Alain Attal for Tresor Films with Studiocanal co-producing, financing and handling international sales.
Jeanne Herry is also a strong prospect for Garance, which reteams the director with Cannes favourite Adele Exarchopoulos and with producers Chi-Fou-Mi and Tresor Films and co-producer Studiocanal after All Your Faces. The latter was a hit at the French box office in 2024.
Cannes regular Daniel Auteuil is a good candidate to return with his Second World War-set drama When The Night Falls, in which he also stars with Antoine Reinartz and Gregory Gadebois.
Likely to stir up some fire at the festival is A Girl’s Story, the debut feature from actress Judith Godreche, one of the most outspoken voices of the French # MeToo movement.
Stephane Brize’s A Good Little Soldier, the filmmaker’s follow-up to Venice competition titles Out Of Season and Another World, is also a strong contender. The film stars Alba Rohrwacher and Vincent Lindon. Lindon won Cannes’ best actor prize for Brize’s 2015 film The Measure Of A Man.
Cedric Kahn could land a spot with A Place To Heal about an adolescent psychiatry unit in a French public hospital. Kahn’s The Goldman Case made a splash when it opened Directors’ Fortnight in 2023, but the filmmaker hasn’t had a film in Competition since 2001’s Roberto Succo.
Emmanuel Marre, who co-directed Critics’ Week 2021 title Rien A Foutre, starring Adele Exarchopoulos, could make an appearance with his latest Notre Salut, a Second World War drama starring Anatomy Of A Fall’s Swann Arlaud.
Alexandre Smia, who wrote the screenplay for 2025 Cannes premiere 13 Days, 13 Nights – In The Hell Of Kabul, could make his filmmaking debut on the Croisette with his eerily timely thriller Jupiter about the threat of a nuclear war. The cast is led by Denis Menochet, Andre Dussollier and Ella Rumpf and the film is produced by Mediawan’s Chi-Fou-Mi.
Also lining up for a Competition spot is Lea Mysius, whose The Birthday Party stars Hafsia Herzi, Monica Bellucci and Bastien Bouillon. It has been set for a September 16 release in France, indicating a potential Cannes premiere. Mysius’ Ava and The Five Devils both premiered at Cannes, in Critics’ Week and Directors’ Fortnight respectively.
Finally, while known for more commercial fare, Amelie director Jean-Pierre Jeunet is poised for a career comeback with Violette, his adaptation of Valerie Perrin’s best-selling book Fresh Water For Flowers, and what better place than the Croisette?
The Americas
A smattering of genre titles by US-based male directors could be headed to Cannes, with new films from Nicolas Winding Refn, the Zellner Brothers, and Zachary Wigon looking the most likely. No films by US-based female directors appear to be in the running at this stage.
Horror thriller Her Private Hell is Refn’s first solo feature in 10 years since his polarising The Neon Demon premiered in Competition on the Croisette. Plot details are scarce. Neon wrapped production in Japan last summer, and the cast includes Sophie Thatcher, Diego Calva, Charles Melton, Dougray Scott and Havana Rose Liu. Refn is a Cannes regular and has also debuted Drive and Only God Forgives at the festival.
The Zellner brothers David and Nathan could be jetting in with Alpha Gang, a comedy sci-fi about aliens who disguise themselves as 1950s bikers during an invasion of Earth. The red-carpet-friendly cast includes Cate Blanchett, Lea Seydoux, Dave Bautista, Chris Pine, Riley Keough and Lily-Rose Depp. Production wrapped in Hungary last summer. CAA Media Finance represents US rights, and mk2 Films handles international sales.
Neon may have another selection in the form of Takashi Miike’s US-Japanese collaboration Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo, produced by Pressman Film, Jeremy Thomas, Misako Saka from OLM and Nippon TV. Lily James and Shun Oguri star in the latest riff on Abel Ferrera’s original 1992 Bad Lieutenant. Production took place in 2025; Neon will distribute in the US and is handling international sales.
Wigon’s horror thriller Victorian Psycho stars Maika Monroe, Thomasin McKenzie and Jason Isaacs in a 19th-century story based on screenwriter Virginia Feito’s novel about a psychopathic governess who arrives at a remote gothic manor. Bleecker Street holds US rights, while Anton financed the project and is handling international sales.
James Gray has previously brought five films to Cannes Competition and is beloved by the French film community. However, sources say his new crime drama Paper Tiger, starring Scarlett Johansson, Miles Teller and Adam Driver, is more likely to debut in Venice.
Similarly, there has been strong messaging that Steven Spielberg’s June release Disclosure Day for Universal Pictures, starring Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor and Eve Hewson, will not land an out-of-competition slot.
The word is neither will Christopher Nolan’s star-studded The Odyssey, also on Universal’s summer release slate, or Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story 5. This leaves the field wide open for another big studio launch in the south of France in May.
From Mexico, Michel Franco’s Circles is another politically infused film that could land a Competition spot. The black-and- white film takes place in the 1950s during the early years of the state of Israel. Alexander Rodnyansky of AR Content produces, and Metropolitan is the French distributor. It would mark a welcome return to the Croisette for the provocateur, who has won several awards at Cannes and last played there in 2017 with April’s Daughter in Un Certain Regard.
Brazilian filmmaker Fellipe Barbosa’s French-language family drama Leila Et La Nuit, starring Marina Fois, Roschdy Zem and Francoise Lebrun alongside rising talents Sayyid El Alami and Oulaya Amamra, is a strong draw for the main selection – and helped by having a French sales agent in Lucky Number.
Japan
Japan is the country of honour at this year’s Marche du Film and may be well represented on the festival side too. Ryusuke Hamaguchi, who was previously in Competition with Asako I & II in 2018 and Drive My Car in 2021, may return to the Croisette with All Of A Sudden. The Japan-France co-production marks Hamaguchi’s first film shot outside Japan and stars Virginie Efira as a woman running a nursing home beset with staff shortages and Tao Okamoto as a stage director battling terminal cancer.
Another strong prospect from Japan is Sheep In The Box from Hirokazu Kore-eda, a regular at Cannes since 2001, who won the Palme d’Or in 2018 with Shoplifters. His latest is set in the near future and revolves around a couple who take a humanoid robot into their home as their son. Kore-eda is also readying Look Back, a live-action adaptation of an award-winning animation about two manga artists. But with a May 29 release in Japan set for Sheep In A Box, it looks to have been timed with the Palais in mind.
South Korea and Taiwan
After being shut out of last year’s official selection, South Korea will be hoping to find more favour this time around. Originally expected last year, Hope is the latest feature from Na Hong-jin, whose previous films The Chaser, The Yellow Sea and The Wailing all premiered at Cannes. The sci-fi thriller marks his English-language debut and stars Alicia Vikander, Michael Fassbender and Hwang Jung-min.
Also from South Korea is Colony, a mystery thriller from Yeon Sang-ho, whose zombie hit Train To Busan premiered at Cannes in 2016. His latest follows a mother whose son returns after being missing for nine years, leading dark secrets to surface. Yeon is also known for Peninsula, which received a Cannes label in 2020.
In terms of Mandarin-language cinema, Taiwanese production Trinity by Singaporean director Boo Junfeng could make the selection. Set in Taiwan and Singapore, the story follows a charismatic pastor who becomes infatuated with his disciple. Boo’s Sandcastle played in Cannes’ Critics’ Week in 2010 and Apprentice screened in Un Certain Regard in 2016.
UK and Ireland
Clio Barnard’s I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning is a strong prospect for Competition. Barnard’s Ali & Ava played in Directors’ Fortnight in 2021. Based on Kieran Goddard’s Birmingham-set novel of the same name, the evocatively-titled film follows five childhood friends facing the realities of life as they turn 30. Charades is handling sales.
Pawel Pawlikowski’s 1949, starring Sandra Huller, is also a strong contender. Pawlikowski won the best director prize at the festival in 2018 for Cold War. 1949, produced by Mubi, returns to a similar moment in European history, centring on the relationship between the writer Thomas Mann, played by Hanns Zischler, and his actress, journalist and rally driver daughter Erika, played by Huller, as they embark on a road trip across a Germany in ruins.
Shane Meadows is also a contender with Chork, co-written by Adolescence’s Jack Thorne. The drama is about two girls who leave their foster home to trek along the English coastline with hopes of a brighter future. Altitude is handling sales.
However, Screen understands the new untitled film from 1996 Palme d’Or winner Mike Leigh will not finish post-production in time to make Cannes this year. Leigh’s last feature, Hard Truths, premiered at Toronto, and his latest seems to be on a similar fall festival trajectory.
Similarly, timing means prolific Irish-UK outfit Element Pictures will probably not have a film at Cannes this year, with Frank Barry’s The Lost Children Of Tuam not quite ready.
Spain
Spanish directors may be out in force on the Croisette this year, with Albert Serra’s previously mentioned Out Of This World set to be joined by three other big Spanish titles.
The word on Pedro Almodovar’s Blood Christmas, opening in April in Spain, is very good, and expectations are high that it will receive a Competition slot.
Sources also expect to see both Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s The Beloved and Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo’s The Black Ball in the official selection, although the latter is racing to be ready in time. Both are Movistar+ originals, and are being sold internationally by Goodfellas. The Beloved sees Javier Bardem play a celebrated filmmaker shooting a 1930s‑set drama in the Sahara desert who is reunited with his daughter, a struggling actress.
The Black Ball, the second feature from the filmmaking duo known as Los Javis, is a queer-themed story spanning three years in Spanish history: 1932, 1937 and 2017. The ensemble cast includes Penélope Cruz, Glenn Close, Lola Dueñas, Miguel Bernardeau, Carlos González and singer-songwriter Guitarricadelafuente in his screen debut.
Belgium
Two of Belgium’s leading auteurs, Lukas Dhont and Felix van Groeningen, both from Flanders, have completed films and histories with Cannes that make them major contenders for 2026.
Dhont’s Coward is a drama set during the First World War, told from the perspective of the young soldiers. Both of Dhont’s previous features premiered at Cannes – Girl (2018) in Un Certain Regard and Close (2022) in Competition – with the latter also nominated for an Oscar.
Van Groeningen’s Mubi-backed Let Love In is about a couple trying to save their relationship after an affair. It is understood to draw on the director’s real-life relationship with Charlotte Vandermeersch, who co-wrote the screenplay and co-stars alongside Luca Marinelli. The Eight Mountains, the previous collaboration between van Groeningen and Vandermeersch, won the jury prize in Cannes in 2022.
Both films are being sold by The Match Factory.
Nordic region
Brace Your Heart by Swedish and Southern Sami director Amanda Kernell is being hotly tipped for Cannes selection. The film is about a 20-year-old Sami reindeer herder, grieving her father while navigating relationships with local leaders and her family to keep the reindeer herd thriving.
Norway’s Renate Reinsve stars with Romania-born US actor Sebastian Stan in Fjord, the anticipated English-language drama from Cristian Mungiu, the Palme d’Or-winning Romanian director of 4 Months, 3 Weeks And 2 Days. Reinsve and Stan play religious parents of five children, who move from Romania to a small Norwegian village where controversy erupts when the school suspects them of disciplining their children by slapping.
Poland
Hopes are high for Agnieszka Smoczyńska’s Hot Spot, starring Noomi Rapace, which is set in a dystopian future where a global AI system keeps everyone in check. Smoczyńska’s Cannes trajectory could see her heading for Competition after 2018’s Fugue screened in Critics’ Week, followed by 2023’s Un Certain Regard title The Silent Twins.
Australia
Buzz is growing for It’s All Going Very Well No Problems At All, the feature debut of writer-director-producer-star Tilda Cobham-Hervey. It follows a young artist on the edge of a quiet collapse, who finds solace and understanding through a connection with an elderly resident at the care home where she works. Jonathan Pryce co-stars.
In a good year for Australian debuts, Harvey Zielinski’s off-kilter Sweet Milk Lake could also be a surprise Croisette selection. Theatre and TV actor Zielinski makes his feature writer-director debut playing dual roles as both a trans man and his manly twin brother. One is mistaken for the other by their dying father and chooses to play along. The filmmaker’s personal experience of being trans informs the consequences. Shot in Victoria’s magnificent high country, the cast includes Hunter Page-Lochard and Kieran Darcy-Smith.
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