The selection is over. The suspense is over, but the wait begins for movie lovers. At the side of Iris Knobloch, the president of the Cannes Film Festival, Thierry Frémaux, the general delegate of the global cinema event, revealed 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” by Pedro Almodóvar, “L’Inconnue” by Arthur Harari, “Minotaure” by Andreï Zviaguintsev, “El ser querido” by Rodrigo Sorogoyen, “Moulin” by László Nemes, “Histoires de la nuit” by Léa Mysius, and “Histoires parallèles” by Asghar Farhadi. Here are the highlights of the official selection as well as the films selected out of competition.
– Stars expected. On the Croisette, director Peter Jackson and actress-director-singer Barbra Streisand, both with a sizeable trophy collection, will each receive an honorary Palme. Another Hollywood star is the actor John Travolta, who will present his first film as a director, “Vol de nuit pour Los Angeles.”
– Eye Haïdara as MC. French actress Eye Haïdara will host the opening and closing ceremonies. Rising to fame in “Le Sens de la fête,” which earned her a César nomination for Best Female Newcomer in 2018, she will take over from Laurent Lafitte, who hosted in 2025.
– Seven awards at stake. While all eyes are on the Palme d’Or, about a third of the official selection will leave the festival with an award. In 2025, “L’Agent Secret” won two awards: Best Director for Kleber Mendonça Filho and Best Actor for Wagner Moura, boosting its success in theaters where it approached half a million admissions. The Palme d’Or winner, “Un simple accident,” by Iranian director Jafar Panahi, sold over 700,000 tickets. The jury president, South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook, and the jurors, whose names are not yet known, will have to evaluate the selected films.
