Festival Circuit 2026

[Mr Sausage]

This is also an issue where people have chosen their sides and are unlikely to budge. The point of these Berlinale confrontations has little to do with political change, and aren’t going to accomplish anything even if they did. Their point is to police in-group boundaries. All this does is encourage people to perform their belonging by speaking evermore loudly in evermore tangential contexts in a competition for who’s the most in-group.

So I sympathize with Wenders and others who don’t want to be involved in this kind of tribalist display.

[therewillbeblus]

PTA had a good response at a recent event where he said he's not a politician but communicates his feelings on politics/world events/life through his films, and pointed to OBAA as what reporters can look to if they want an answer from him

[Zot!]

I find the alternative of trying to insinuate that your film festival line-up is revolutionary enough that it is going to solve all that ails the world is at best pandering naivete and more likely just false advertising. And what if a participating film is NOT political enough, or political in the wrong way? The idea that a a jury should intentionally prejudice themselves to fit any preconceptions is of course ridiculous, and beats the purpose of the contest.

[Captain Paranoia]

Yeoh’s husband is all over the Epstein emails, so methinks she already wants to lay low

I did not know that (though then again I have no idea about her husband in general, not that I really care for her personal life). As for Yeoh I did think it was somewhat off to ask her about American politics when I sense she may genuinely not have the full picture as she said (she lives in Switzerland), even further for her response to be considered worthy attention for the press. It partly fuels my observation about parasocial desires in demanding celebrities state their viewpoints about political events, often hoping that they will preach to the choir. (wonder how long this conversation will go before the thread splits)

[thirtyframesasecond]

Who really cares whether Channing Tatum has a view on a conflict thousands of miles away from where he lives?

[domino harvey]

Park Chan-wook is president of this year’s Cannes jury

[Omensetter]

Cannes line-up:

COMPETITION
Bitter Christmas — Pedro Almodóvar
A Woman’s Life — Charline Bourgeois-Taquet
La Bola Negra — Javier Calvo + Javier Ambrossi
Coward — Lukas Dhont
Parallel Stories — Asghar Farhadi
Nagi Notes — Kôji Fukada
The Dreamed Adventure — Valeska Grisebach
Sudden — Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
The Unknown — Arthur Harari
Garance — Jeanne Herry
Sheep in the Box — Hirokazu Kore-eda
Gentle Monster — Marie Kreutzer
Notre Salut — Emmanuel Marre
Fjord — Cristian Mungiu
Histoires de la Nuit — Lea Mysius
Hope — Na Hong-Jin
Moulin — László Nemes
Fatherland — Pawel Pawlikowski
The Man I Love — Ira Sachs
The Beloved — Rodrigo Sorogoyen
Minotaur — Andrey Zvyagintsev

UN CERTAIN REGARD
Elephants in the Fog — Abinash Bikram Shah
Iron Boy — Louis Clichy
Benimana — Marie-Clementine Dusabejambo
Congo Boy — Rafiki Fariala
Club Kid — Jordan Firstman
Uļa — Viesturs Kairišs
La más dulce — Laïla Marrakchi
Meltdown — Manuela Martelli
I Am Always Your Maternal Animal — Valentina Maurel
Yesterday the Eye Didn’t Sleep — Rakan Mayasi
I’ll Be Gone in June — Katharina Rivilis
Words of Love — Rudi Rosenberg
Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma — Jane Schoenbrun
All the Lovers in the Night — Yukiko Sode
Everytime — Sandra Wollner

OUT OF COMPETITION
La Bataille de Gaulle : L’age de fer — Antonin Baudry
Karma — Guillaume Canet
Diamond — Andy Garcia
L’abandon — Vincent Garenq
L’Objet Du Delit — Agnes Jaoui
Her Private Hell — Nicolas Winding Refn
The Electric Kiss — Pierre Salvadori

CANNES PREMIERE
When the Night Falls — Daniel Auteuil
El partido — Juan Cabral and Santiago Franco
Kokurojo: The Samurai and the Prisoner — Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Heimsuchung — Volker Schlondorff
Propeller One-Way — John Travolta

SPECIAL SCREENINGS
Rehearsals for a Revolution — Pegah Ahangarani
Les Matins Merveilleux —Avril Besson
Avedon — Ron Howard
L’affaire Marie-Claire — Yvo Muller, Lauriane Escaffre
Cantona — Ben Nicholas and David Tryhorn
Les Survivants du Che — Christophe Réveille
John Lennon: The Last Interview — Steven Soderbergh

MIDNIGHT SCREENINGS
Jim Queen — Nicolas Athane and Marco Nguyen
Full Phil — Quentin Dupieux
Sanguine — Marion Le Coroller
Roma elastica — Bertrand Mandico
Colony — Yeon Sang-ho

[Never Cursed]

A lot of people seem pretty violently disappointed by the Competition lineup, but it's difficult for me to see many real differences between it and those of previous years, the lack of American studio films notwithstanding

[dda1996a]

A lot of people seem pretty violently disappointed by the Competition lineup, but it's difficult for me to see many real differences between it and those of previous years, the lack of American studio films notwithstanding

I feel like that is the point of criticism - this feels for the most part like the lineup of a decade ago, with too many old, expected male directors on the lineup. I like most of them, but it just feels like a retread.

Vaselka's presence is exciting though!

[Never Cursed]

I feel like that is the point of criticism - this feels for the most part like the lineup of a decade ago, with too many old, expected male directors on the lineup.

I get it, but, like, what specifically makes this selection so egregious? I agree that it would have been nice for someone like Jane Schoenbrun to make Competition, but are people not always complaining about the inclusion of idiosyncratic European directors (Ken Loach is a really easy example) to the detriment of everyone else? Also, is there anything to suggest that more "interesting" fare had been submitted and rejected or sidelined?

[beamish14]

Volker Schlondorff must surely be the first filmmaker to have films screen at Cannes 60 years apart.

[hearthesilence]

I don’t understand how people can get so angry when nobody knows what was submitted and the actual quality of those movies.

[Never Cursed]

Volker Schlondorff must surely be the first filmmaker to have films screen at Cannes 60 years apart.

The distance between Godard's first film (RoGoPaG) and final film (Scenarios) at New York Film Festival is somehow 61 years!

I don’t understand how people can get so angry when nobody knows what was submitted and the actual quality of those movies.

Agreed 100%. Fremaux-prognosticating has become kind of tiresome.

[dda1996a]

I feel like that is the point of criticism - this feels for the most part like the lineup of a decade ago, with too many old, expected male directors on the lineup.

I get it, but, like, what specifically makes this selection so egregious? I agree that it would have been nice for someone like Jane Schoenbrun to make Competition, but are people not always complaining about the inclusion of idiosyncratic European directors (Ken Loach is a really easy example) to the detriment of everyone else? Also, is there anything to suggest that more "interesting" fare had been submitted and rejected or sidelined?

I wouldnt say egregious, more like playing it safe. It just doesnt feel exciting, but I guess that could also be more about how world cinema feels rather stuck these days.

I'm a Jarmusch fan, but I was kind of happy to see Cannes finally decline some mainstays (even if Venice continues to award top.honors to lesser films as lifetime awards i.e the horrendous Almodovar that won)

[Omensetter]

I really don't see your criticism of the lineup consisting of "old, expected male directors". If we're talking just Competition, 12/21 of the directors are under fifty. 11/21 of the directors (I'm counting the Javis as one unit) are new to Competition. The only directors who've appeared three times or more are Hamaguchi, Farhadi, Kore-eda, Almodóvar, Mungiu, and Zvyagintsev. The selection committee has proven itself willing to reject mainstays in recent years with Jarmusch (who threw a tantrum in an interview) and Leigh. I don't know which female filmmakers they aren't putting in Competition.

I haven't been paying attention to the tea this year, so I don't know what was rejected. Obviously, the selection committee can only work with what's submitted and with what's ready. I guess if the overall names in Competition feel familiar, then it's because all but two (Harry and the Javis) have played Cannes in some capacity, which is to be expected given the overall ecosystem of film festivals.

[dda1996a]

I merely replied to the comment about how many seem to be dissapointed with the lineup with a possible reason.
I could care less

[yoloswegmaster]

James Gray's latest film has been added to the competition and, to no one's surprise, has been picked up by Neon. That makes it 6 competition titles that they have picked up the rights for.

[therewillbeblus]

Ross McElwee is going to be in person for a Q&A at IFF Boston this weekend for the screening of Remake (and on a very different plane, Boots Riley was there tonight and it was a riot)

[hearthesilence]

FWIW, I caught the premiere at MoMA and it was excellent. Essential viewing, especially if you've been keeping up with his entire filmography because it addresses much of his past work as his son appears in so much of it.

[therewillbeblus]

Some festival screenings, none great

I Love Boosters: Boots Riley continues his previous film's strategy of applying a broad range of surreal absurdities to promote his anti-capitalist/communist ethos. Like his last film's faux-slapdash approach, the results are hit-or-miss with points for swinging for the fences. There are more ideas at play here, but YMMV on what ratio succeed in their aims. I think most people will at least think it's fine, which is about where I landed. The Tune-Yards score is terrific, though, and adds a lot to the film.

Maddie's Secret: Like those sitting through Friendship while not being on Tim Robinson's wavelength, I sat through this not on John Early's, and the result was often painful with some decent gags thrown in sporadically. Being accustomed to his style of humor will probably help a lot on this one. Unfortunately there's a load of wonderful talent in this, who are largely wasted - Kate Berlant, in particular. But it's another YMMV sitch - half the crowd I saw it with was roaring and half were silent. The film does get points for managing to both hit a satirical edge with its subject of eating disorders, and also treat it with sensitivity and respect. Definitely difficult to pull off, but Early did a pretty good job in that department.

I Want Your Sex: This is mid-tier Araki in a light, playful mood, and it's often funny with his-brand-of warm (which often feels cold!) The satirical gags about the art world are better than I Love Boosters (though Riley admitted in the Q&A that he didn't really care about a commentary on fashion or art itself, as much as serving a communist manifesto), but the real comedy and engagement with the audience comes from its central conceit about the allure of various relationship dynamics that achieve a unique type of intimacy, and how messy that becomes with competing wills at play. Wilde is boldly wild, and Cooper Hoffman proves once again that he can carry a romantic comedy as the lead. Charli xcx is unrecognizable purely because of the desexualized role she plays, and she nails it.

Hokum: Sorry, but this is just hokey. The plot is unoriginal and the dumb reveals get churned out early and sloppily. There are some effective scares, but it's all programmatic, silly, and too long. A few laughs occurred just at the presence of Adam Scott doing deadpan stuff, but even those aren't earned. David Wilmot is MVP, of course.

Carolina Caroline: A chick flick about the enticement of the bad boy coming to town to whisk you away, dressed up like a con thriller. This movie is lame to the bone. I really enjoyed the director's previous Dinner in America, but that film did something original with its offbeat dynamics. This is a paint-by-numbers narrative with some awful dialogue thrown in. I really like both leads, but they can't save a programmer like this.

Blue Heron: A festival favorite that just didn't land for me. The first half is fine - there are some interesting observations in its authentic approach to one's memories, shot in a way that is irregular like memory - though, frustratingly, not with consistency. But there’s a midway pivot where the filmmaker involves herself and all good will extended to the film dissipates. I can see the perspective that she takes a more honest approach, but the way in which she manipulates the audience feels more like a vanity project than an earnest engulfment of emotion. While more direct, this isn't successful in the way The Souvenir films are as self-reflexive engagement with the artist.

[hearthesilence]

Blue Heron didn't land for me either. Part of it was the filmmaking, which had a very sentimental approach that wasn't for me. It also felt like watching an NPR podcast with far too much conveyed through dialogue, whether it was a character openly expressing all of their thoughts (virtually detailing the struggle that's driving the story from the perspective of the storyteller) or having experts in a relevant field laying out their professional analysis - I'm tempted to say you could've lost the picture and dubbed in a few passages of exposition and it would've been right at home. This even undermines the welcome experimentation towards the end, though to be honest even that part played a bit awkwardly even though it was clear what was going on. (And again, there were very sentimental moments that just weren't for me.)

I was under the impression this was a very personal work, possibly autobiographical, so I don't enjoy being critical about it - I don't wish any ill will on anyone who obtains catharsis or therapy in dealing with their personal struggles by making a film about it, but that doesn't add up to a great film.

[therewillbeblus]

Perhaps a better point of comparison would be Aftersun, which not only effectively implemented the artist themselves into the picture without forced sentimentality, but also better expressed the fragmentation of memory as reflected in its style.

[rrenault]

Why is Farewell, My Concubine in Cannes Classics this year? Hasn’t that already been well-spoken for in the 4K era…?

Ken Russell’s The Devils, on the other hand…

[yoloswegmaster]

It's normal for then to screen older restorations. They screened the restoration of Amores Perros last year despite the restoration being done in 2020.

[Lowry_Sam]

Surprised there's been no posts about Cannes drama now that it's underway & that there hasn't been enough interest for its own thread since 2014.
The Guardian trots out its (annual?) article on Cannes Controversies for the occasion again this year.