Every May, Cannes Film Festival arrives to deliver us a kind of temperature check on cinema; of where things might be heading next. And the 2026 edition feels especially telling.
Selected from more than 2,500 submissions spanning 141 countries, this year’s program kicks off on Tuesday May 12, and as is expansive as ever. Festival president Iris Knobloch acknowledged the broader sense of uncertainty shaping the world right now, which makes the role of cinema — and the way it brings us together to watch a story unfold — feel all the more valuable and significant. What that translates to is a program full of intention. There are returning Palme d’Or winners, long-awaited new projects from major auteurs, and plenty of emerging voices woven throughout the lineup.
Below, the RUSSH edit of what to know — or should we say, what to watch — from this year’s Cannes slate.
Cannes Film Festival 2026 highlights
Club Kid, Jordan Firstman
Making his directorial debut in the Un Certain Regard category is Firstman — who you'll know either from his chaotic Instagram videos, or perhaps for his role in Rachel Sennott's I Love LA. Club Kid stars himself alongside Cara Delevingne and Diego Calva,
with a story about a New York party promoter who’s forced to look after a son he never knew he had.
Fjord, Cristian Mungiu
Cristian Mungiu’s English-language debut arrives with serious star power. Renate Reinsve is back at Cannes (she was here only last year with Sentimentel Value), this time playing opposite Sebastian Stan as a couple who relocate to a remote Norwegian town, only to find their relationship unravelling against the isolating landscape.
Her Private Hell, Nicolas Winding Refn
This is Refn's first first feature in several years, so naturally it's got some anticipation attached to it. Screening out of competition, Her Private Hell stars Charles Melton, Sophie Thatcher and Havana Rose Lui — but that's pretty much all we can gauge from the cryptic logline, which reads: “A hypnotic, unhinged thriller with an original story promising plenty of glamour, sex, and violence.” Consider me intrigued.
Hope, Na Hong-jin
Centred on a married couple whose lives are upended by an escalating crisis, Hope is billed as a Korean sci-fi thriller, starring Taylor Russell, Hoyeon, Alicia Vikander and Michael Fassbener. The crisis in question involves the spotting of a wild tiger, which sends the neighbourhood into lockdown — but not all is as it seems, and as the situation grows more dangerous, they’re forced to confront not only the external threat, but their trust in one another.
The Man I Love, Ira Sachs
Set in 1980s New York at the height of the AIDS crisis, this film follows a man navigating love and loss within a rapidly changing city. It's also described as a "musical fantasy" which might sound unusual, but if you need convincing, the cast shoudl do the trick: it stars Rami Malek, Rebecca Hall, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Luther Ford.
The full program
Competition
- Minotaur, Andrey Zvyagintsev
- El Ser Querido (The Beloved), Rodrigo Sorogoyen
- The Man I Love, Ira Sachs
- Fatherland, Paweł Pawlikowski
- Moulin, László Nemes
- Histoire de la nuit (The Birthday Party), Léa Mysius
- Fjord, Cristian Mungiu
- Notre salut, Emmanuel Marre
- Gentle Monster, Marie Kreutzer
- Nagi Notes, Koji Fukada
- Hope, Na Hong-jin
- Sheep in the Box, Hirokazu Kore-eda
- Garance (Another Day), Jeanne Herry
- The Unknown, Arthur Harari
- All of a Sudden, Ryusuke Hamaguchi
- Das Geträumte Abenteuer (The Dreamed Adventure), Valeska Grisebach
- Coward, Lukas Dhont
- La Bola Negra (The Black Ball), Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo
- A Woman’s Life, Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet
- Parallel Tales, Asghar Farhadi
- Amarga Navidad (Bitter Christmas), Pedro Almodóvar
Out of Competition
- The Electric Kiss (La Venus électrique), Pierre Salvadori (Opening Film)
- Her Private Hell, Nicolas Winding Refn
- Diamond, Andy Garcia
- Karma, Guillaume Canet
- L’Objet du Delit, Agnès Jaoui
- La Bataille de Gaulle: L’Âge de Fer, Antonin Baudry
- L’Abandon, Vincent Garenq
Un Certain Regard
- La más dulce (Strawberries), Laïla Marrakchi
- Club Kid, Jordan Firstman
- Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, Jane Schoenbrun
- Everytime, Sandra Wollner
- I’ll Be Gone in June, Katharina Rivilis
- Yesterday the Eye Didn’t Sleep, Rakan Mayasi
- El Deshielo (The Meltdown), Manuela Martelli
- Siempre Soy Tu Animal Materno (Forever Your Maternal Animal), Valentina Maurel
- Elephants in the Fog, Abhinash Bikram Shah
- Benimana, Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo
- Le Corset (Iron Boy), Louis Clichy
- Congo Boy, Rafiki Fariala
- All the Lovers in the Night, Yukiko Sode
- Uļa, Viesturs Kairišs
- Words of Love, Rudi Rosenberg
Special Screenings
- John Lennon: The Last Interview, Steven Soderbergh
- Avedon, Ron Howard
- Les Survivants du Che, Christophe Dimitri Réveille
- Les Matins Merveilleux, Avril Besson
- Rehearsals for a Revolution, Pegah Ahangarani
- L’Affaire Marie Claire, Lauriane Escaffre and Yvo Muller
- Cantona, David Tryhorn and Ben Nicholas
Midnight Screenings
- Roma Elastica, Bertrand Mandico
- Full Phil, Quentin Dupieux
- Gun-Che (Colony), Yeon Sang-ho
- Jim Queen, Nicolas Athané and Marco Nguyen
- Sanguine, Marion Le Coroller
Cannes Premiere
- Propeller One-Way Night Coach, John Travolta
- The Samurai and the Prisoner, Kiyoshi Kurosawa
- Heimsuchung (Visitation), Volker Schlöndorff
- The Match, Juan Cabral and Santiago Franco
- La Troisième nuit (When the Night Falls), Daniel Auteuil
