The selection is over. The end of the suspense but also the beginning of the wait for cinema lovers. According to Iris Knobloch, president of the Cannes Film Festival, Thierry Frémaux, the delegate general of the global cinema gathering, unveiled on Thursday, April 9, the official selection of films that will compete for the Palme d’Or from May 12 to 23. In total, 2,541 feature films were submitted to the selection committee from 141 different countries.
Among the 21 selected films: “Amarga Navidad” (Pedro Almodovar), “L’Inconnue” (Arthur Harari), “Minotaure” (Andrei Zviaguintsev), “El ser querido” (Rodrigo Sorogoyen), “Moulin” (László Nemes), “Histoires de la nuit” (Léa Mysius), and “Histoires parallèles” (Asghar Farhadi). Here are the highlights of the official selection as well as the films chosen out of competition.
– Expected Stars: Director Peter Jackson and actress-director-singer Barbra Streisand will each receive an honorary Palme. Another Hollywood star, actor John Travolta, who steps behind the camera for “Night Flight to Los Angeles,” will present his first film as a director.
– Eye Haïdara as Mistress of Ceremonies: French actress Eye Haïdara will host the opening and closing ceremonies. Known for her role in “Le Sens de la fête” which earned her a nomination for Best Female Newcomer at the 2018 César Awards, she will succeed Laurent Lafitte who hosted the festival in 2025.
– Seven Awards at Stake: While the Palme d’Or attracts all the attention, about one-third of the official selection will leave the festival with an award. In 2025, “The Secret Agent” won two awards: Best Director for Kleber Mendonça Filho and Best Actor for Wagner Moura, leading to a successful run in theaters with close to half a million admissions. The Palme d’Or winner, “A simple accident,” by Iranian director Jafar Panahi, surpassed 700,000 tickets sold. The jury president, South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook, and his jurors, whose names are not yet known, will have to decide on the selected films.
