Cannes wrapped over the weekend with Cristian Mungiu’s Fjord crowned as the winner of the Palme d’Or. Here, international buyers give their view on the festival’s official selection and projects in the market, while sellers outline the most active territories and the kinds of films that were popular with distributors.
US buyers to the fore
Despite a considerable chunk of official selections already spoken for prior to Cannes, US buyers drove the acquisitions story of the Croisette with a rare bidding war for Jordan Firstman’s Un Certain Regard hit Club Kid. A24 emerged the victor, paying what is believed to be more than $17m for worldwide rights.
1-2 Special showed it is arguably the most consistently active of the new cadre of buyers, and swooped on rights to Marine Atlan’s Critics’ Week winner La Gradiva, while Sony Pictures Classics took territories on Louis Clichy’s animated Un Certain Regard entry Iron Boy and Rehearsals For A Revolution, the L’Oeil d’Or documentary winner by Iranian filmmaker Pegah Ahangarani
Elsewhere, Netflix reportedly acquired US rights to two Competition titles, Marie Kreutzer’s Gentle Monster and Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi’s The Black Ball, while Mubi added US rights to its haul of international territories for Lukas Dhont’s Coward.
The general view was that the range and quality of market packages marked an improvement over 2025’s bloated fare. At the time of writing, Warner Bros Clockwork remained in exclusive talks with Patrick Wachsberger’s 193 to acquire North American rights to Park Chan-wook’s starry western package The Brigands Of Rattlecreek and Doug Liman’s Bitcoin; 193 reported several territory sales on Friday (May 22) in a strategically-timed press release to push other deals over the line.
Buyers who spoke to Screen were unhappy with Lionsgate International’s inflated asking prices on The Housemaid 2, which sees Sydney Sweeney reunite with director Paul Feig on the upcoming sequel to the $399m global smash. The ask was reportedly up to five times higher in many territories than the original. Black Bear also irritated acquisition teams with high pricing on a slate led by Jason Statham action thriller John Doe.
As buyers – especially those from war-torn Middle East, Ukraine and Russia – struggled to meet the asks, speculation turned to whether AI will bring down production budgets.
Manifest Pictures co-head Zach Glueck reported a strong pre-buy response to the erotic thriller package Bulls starring Dylan O’Brien, Lewis Pullman and Kaia Gerber. “This is the kind of film that will get people out of the house and translates into conversation at the cinema,” Glueck said. “The worst thing you can do is be boring.”
In keeping with the post-pandemic cadence of deal-making, buyers and sellers will negotiate throughout the summer on outstanding titles and announce in the coming months or during Toronto. Sellers said they will attend Toronto as they have done for years, although it seems several blue-chip companies will eschew paying market accreditation and exhibition costs and remain in hotels outside the official TIFF: The Market footprint.
The view from Europe
European buyers largely reported a good market and festival.
“Overall, we felt this was a very healthy and exciting Cannes market, with a strong volume of attractive scripts and packages being circulated. There was a real sense of activity throughout,” said Olivier Mortagne, co-CEO of Benelux distributor Paradiso Filmed Entertainment.
Mortagne noted that only six Competition titles were still available for the Benelux before the festival started, with Paradiso acquiring one as-yet-unnamed title during the festival, adding to the two it had bought before the festival: Gentle Monster and Arthur Harari’s The Unknown.
According to Mortagne, a big discussion point on the ground in Cannes was how many of the larger English-language projects were being sold by French sales companies, as well as the impact of these sales agents on the festival and its selection. While a high proportion of the festival’s official selection is always repped by French sales agents, many felt it was even more noticeable at this year’s edition.
However, Mortagne added that all three of the English-language productions Paradiso acquired in the market came through the same UK sales agent. “That was not planned, just how the market evolved for us this year,” he said.
Leading Italian distributor I Wonder Pictures picked up several films during the festival, including Emmanuel Marre’s Competition title A Man Of His Time, Midnight Screening animation Jim Queen and Club Kid, which came through its output deal with A24.
I Wonder CEO Andrea Romeo observed that the festival’s official selection felt “very traditional” in terms of its focus on established directors who appeal to longtime festival audiences, but in general lacked the kind of titles that young cinephiles have embraced in recent months including Marty Supreme and The Drama.
“We need to bring new audiences to festivals,” said Romeo. “We have to focus on the younger generation’s tastes and interests. Cannes has made important progress on this front. Ten years ago, the average age of directors in the official selection was well over 60; last year it dropped to 54, and now it is around 50. That is a meaningful evolution, and it shows there is awareness of the issue.”
Romeo added that festivals like Cannes have often focused on gender or country representation in their official selections, but should also focus on the new generation of directors. “If all the directors of any gender in any country are all older than 50, we have a problem. I say that in the week that 20-year-old Kane Parsons releases Backrooms [through A24] in the world.”
UK market reaction
Several UK sellers noted that Cannes seems to start earlier and earlier, certainly before the official start day on Tuesday, May 12.
“It was busy from Monday. A lot more meetings seem to be happening early; lots of American buyers and sales agents come in early – everyone likes to start as soon as possible,” said Spencer Pollard, CEO of Kaleidoscope Film Distribution, which launched Simon Callow’s About A Bell at the market.
“In the old days, a lot of buyers would stay until Monday or Tuesday of the second week. But now, they’re probably all going home by the Sunday. It’s start early, finish early.”
He noted that the pay-one and streaming market remains difficult for distributors buying titles. “It’s the next part of a film’s life cycle that we’re all struggling to find homes for,” said Pollard.
“For the right film, Australia seems to be a good territory. They’ve identified what they want to acquire. The theatrical market there, and the pay [windows] and streaming opportunities seem better,” he said, citing Stan and Netflix.
“I would say that Southeast Asian territories are less active than they used to be, and French-speaking [territories] as well… With French-speaking, if you’re not working with a French-language film, it’s difficult. Their home video and digital market has declined faster than a lot of the rest of Europe.”
Maya Amsellem, founder and managing director of WestEnd Film, described the market as “solid”, noting that her company closed deals during Cannes and was continuing discussions with buyers across multiple territories. “As always, the market doesn’t end when Cannes closes – we’re still receiving offers and expect activity to continue over the coming weeks as distributors follow up internally and screen materials back home.”
Amsellem reported “strong activity” from buyers in the UK, Spain, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, CIS and Israel, where there was a “real appetite” for commercially driven titles with strong cast attachments and clear positioning. In contrast, Asia and Latin America felt comparatively slower this year.
WestEnd titles that received a strong buyer response included thriller Ignition, action title Scorpion and horror Unspeakable. “Clearly defined genres continue to perform well internationally, particularly thrillers, action and elevated horror,” said Amsellem. “Buyers are looking for projects with an immediate hook and a clear audience.”
Anna Krupnova, co-managing director of Reason8 Films, launched Melanie Oates’ Stranger In Town at the market. Much of its slate is arthouse non-English-language content.
“For us, it was better than last year,” she said. “With our line-up, I know exactly which buyers want what [and] I received offers on the spot, which has not been happening in the past.”
She added: “Asia was quieter for sure. That is an ongoing trend. It shows that we need to go and visit Busan and Hong Kong [Filmmart] more than ever.”
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