10 directors, actors and writers from France to watch in 2026

Selected for the excellence of their work by international journalists Rebecca Leffler (Screen International), Fabien Lemercier (Cineuropa), Christine Masson (France Inter), Jordan Mintzer (The Hollywood Reporter), and Mariam Schaghaghi (freelance journalist for the German press), these 10 To Watch 2026 embody the breadth and vigour of French cinema through the singularity of their artistic choices, their ambition, audacity, and openness to the world. 

Unifrance is proud to honour this new generation of directors and actors who contribute so fully, in films and, for some of them, in TV productions, to the effervescence of French creation, and to enhance the distribution of their works worldwide.

Ugo Bienvenu

Ugo Bienvenu is an illustrator, director, screenwriter, comic book author, producer, publisher, and entrepreneur based in Paris. Raised in Guatemala, Chad, and Mexico, he studied at the École Estienne, Gobelins, California Institute of the Arts, Arts décoratifs de Paris, and Animation Sans Frontières. He has illustrated for major newspapers, musicians, and luxury brands. His comic book System Preference won the ABCD Critics Grand Prize at Angoulême in 2020. Through his company Remembers, co-founded with Félix de Givry, he has produced films, music videos, series, and campaigns for major brands.

After directing several animated short films, his debut feature, Arco, was presented in the Special Screenings section at Cannes in 2025 and won the Cristal award for best feature film at the Annecy Festival. He continues to enjoy remarkable international success with nominations for the Critics Choice Awards, European Film Awards, and the Golden Globes.

Valentine Cadic

Filmmaker and actress Valentine Cadic studied cinema at Paris 8 University. During her studies, she appeared in Léa Mysius’s film Ava and Guillaume Senez’s Our Struggles, both of which premiered at Critics’ Week in Cannes. A founding member of Les Filmeuses, an organisation focusing on the production and distribution of creative short films established in 2020, she shot her first short film, Omaha Beach, that same year.

In 2022, she directed The Summer Holidays, which was presented in national competition at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, and completed her graduation film, La Nuit N’en Finit Plus, presented at Côté Court. She then shot her debut feature, That Summer In Paris, which is partly set against the backdrop of the 2024 Paris Olympics. Selected for numerous festivals, including Berlinale, Busan, Shanghai, New Horizons, São Paulo and San Francisco, the film won several awards, including best international film at BAFICI and France’s prestigious Louis Delluc Prize.

Anna Cazenave Cambet

After studying photography, Anna Cazenave Cambet enrolled at La Fémis to study film directing, graduating with honours from the jury chaired by Claire Denis in 2017. While at La Fémis she made her first short film, Gabber Lover, which was selected for the Cinéfondation Selection and won the Queer Palm at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016.

She continued her exploration of intimate stories with a second short film, Iemanja. In 2020, she directed her debut feature, Gold For Dogs, which received the Critics’ Week label. For her second feature, she adapted Constance Debré’s novel Love Me Tender, starring Vicky Krieps in the lead role. The film was presented in Un Certain Regard at Cannes in 2025 and has been at numerous international festivals, including London, Rio de Janeiro, Thessaloniki, and Cinemania

Salif Cissé 

Actor, screenwriter and director Salif Cissé discovered theatre in high school before training at France’s National Academy of Dramatic Arts, the Conservatoire National Supérieur d’Art Dramatique in Paris. In 2020, he made a remarkable film debut in Guillaume Brac’s All Hands On Deck (presented at the Berlinale, among other festivals), then navigated between arthouse cinema and mainstream productions. 

He starred in the series Lupin, and in the films Film Lovers! by Arnaud Desplechin, selected for the Special Screenings strand at Cannes in 2024, Guess Who Is Calling? by Fabienne Godet, which won the audience award at the 2025 Tübingen-Stuttgart International French-Language Film Festival, and Meteors by Hubert Charuel, selected for Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival in 2025).

Cissé is also continuing his creative work with the 2020 mini-series Couronnes, his short film Allies, presented in 2024 at the Namur International French-Language Film Festival and the Brussels Short Film Festival, and the writing of his debut feature. He will represent France at the European Shooting Stars in 2026.

Alice Douard

Alice Douard studied film directing at La Fémis. Her graduation film, Extrasystole, was selected for numerous festivals and won awards at Clermont-Ferrand and MyFrenchFilmFestival. She then directed several short films, including Girls in 2015 and Due West in 2019, while also working as a script supervisor.

In 2022, she founded Les Films de June with Marie Boitard and directed Expecting, which won the César award for best fiction short film in 2024 after a successful international run. That same year, she shot and coproduced her debut feature, Love Letters, which was selected for the Special Screenings at Critics’ Week, competed for the Caméra d’Or at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, and was screened at numerous international festivals, including Zurich, Hamburg, São Paulo and Cinemania. The film also won the Tomorrow in Sight label created by Unifrance and the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs.

Guillaume Marbeck

Guillaume Marbeck makes his acting debut as Jean-Luc Godard in Richard Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague opposite Zoey Deutch. The film premiered in competition at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival before screening at the Telluride Film Festival and numerous international festivals. Prior to teaming with Linklater, he directed the experimental short Boléro en Si(lence), which was featured as additional imagery in Didier Le Pêcheur’s The List Of My Desires, produced by Pathé.

He has also established himself as an accomplished portrait photographer and worked as a cinematographer on a series of short films, including Voluntary Infection, which he wrote and directed, and Félix Burgan’s Rock And A Hard Place. His years spent exploring every facet of filmmaking in pursuit of directing ultimately led him to discover acting. He will next appear in Couture, directed by Alice Winocour.

Thomas Ngijol

Propelled into the spotlight by stand-up comedy in the 2000s, Thomas Ngijol made his mark in cinema with 2011’s Back To Square One which he co-wrote and co-directed with Fabrice Éboué, and in which both actors starred. The film—which did well at the French box office and won the audience award at MyFrenchFilmFestival—marked the beginning of a journey that explores, both in front of and behind the camera, issues of identity and transmission.

He went on to direct Fastlife (2013) and Black Snake, The Legend Of Black Snake (2017), in which he also starred, confirming his taste for popular mainstream stories dealing with issues of power and domination.

In 2025, he directed and starred in Untamable, his most intimate film, shot entirely in Cameroon. Presented at the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes, the film was screened at festivals including in London, Helsinki and Cologne and won the Marc-André Lussier jury prize at Cinemania in Montreal and the best actress award at the Les 7 jours du 7ᵉ art festival in Conakry.

Park Ji-Min

Born in Seoul, Park Ji-Min is a visual artist and actress based in Paris. It was her collaboration with Davy Chou on Return To Seoul that brought her in front of the camera. Deeply inspired by her work, he cast her in the lead role of the film, which was presented at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard in 2022. Her performance earned her several nominations (best newcomer at the 2023 Asian Film Awards, best female Revelation at the 2024 César and Lumières awards) and accolades (L.A. Film Critics New Generation award, Asia Pacific Screen Awards best new performer award).

She then collaborated with José Caltagirone and Valentine Milville on the Apple TV+ series La Maison.

In 2025, she appeared in several films presented at Cannes: Love Me Tender by Anna Cazenave Cambet (Un Certain Regard), A Private Life by Rebecca Zlotowski (Official Selection – Out of Competition), and The Little Sister by Hafsia Herzi (Official Competition), in which she played the second lead. She will soon be starring, under the direction of Christophe Honoré, in Un Mariage Au Goût d’Orange.

Théodore Pellerin

Théodore Pellerin began his career at a very young age in Quebec television series and films. He gained recognition in 2016 in Xavier Dolan’s It’s Only The End Of The World, which was screened at numerous international film festivals, including Cannes, Toronto, London, and Morelia in Mexico.

He then alternated between film and television roles, moving from Quebec arthouse cinema, starring alongside costars that included Jeanne Leblanc, Sophie Dupuis, Philippe Lesage, to US productions, working with actors and filmmakers such as  Joel Edgerton and Eliza Hittman, and on TV series including On Becoming A God in Central Florida and The OA. 

In 2022, he appeared in Lionel Baier’s Continental Drift (South), presented at Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes. In 2024, he played Jacques de Bascher in the French series Becoming Karl Lagerfeld  for Disney+. In 2025, he impressed in the title role of Pauline Loquès’ Nino, presented at Critics’ Week, which earned him the Louis Roederer Foundation rising star award and a nomination for the 2026 Lumières award for best male Revelation. He will soon be seen opposite Marion Cotillard and Artus in Nicole Garcia’s Milo. 

Ella Rumpf

French-Swiss actress Ella Rumpf first came to the attention of German audiences in Simon Jaquemet’s War, but it was Julia Ducournau’s Raw, presented at festivals including Sundance, Cannes’ Critics’ Week, Toronto and London, that attracted the gaze of French audiences in 2016.

She went on to play a series of memorable roles in Jakob Lass’s Tiger Girl, Guillaume de Fontenay’s Sympathy For The Devil, and Anna Novion’s Marguerite’s Theorem, presented in the Special Screenings section at Cannes. Her performance in the latter reaped the Lumières award and the César award for best female Revelation in 2024. At the same time, she appeared in several international series (Tokyo Vice, Succession).

In 2025, Rumpf played one of the leading roles in Alice Douard’s film Love Letters, presented in a Special Screening at Critics’ Week. She will soon be seen in Couture by Alice Winocour, Novak by Harry Lagoussis, and Jupiter by Alexandre Smia.