The winners of the 79th edition of the Cannes Film Festival were revealed on Saturday evening during the closing ceremony, the high point of a rich fortnight where the most influential film festival, once again, brought together great authors and new talents on the Croisette, all tinged with politics.
The Palme d’or 2026 was awarded to “Fjord” by Romanian cinematographer Cristian Mungiu, who succeeded to “Un simple accident” by Jafar Panahi, consecrated in 2025.
Inspired by several recent news stories, “Fjord” explores the growing divides between progressive values and religious conservatism. The film follows the Gheorghiu family, strict Romanian evangelicals living in a small Norwegian town on the edge of a fjord.
Mihai, played by Sebastian Stan – recently noted for his interpretation of Donald Trump in “The Apprentice” (2024) by “Ali Abbasi” – is a Romanian aeronautical engineer married to a Norwegian, Lisbet (Renate Reinsve of “Sentimental Value”). When the couple returns to the latter’s native region, they find part of their extended family and Mihai obtains a position as a computer scientist within the local evangelical community. Very religious, the parents raise their children in a strict discipline which they consider to be the natural expression of their faith. Initially warmly welcomed by the institutions and the neighborhood, the family however sees its balance waver when a teacher discovers unexplained bruises on the body of one of the girls.
This is the second Palme for Cristian Mungiu, already rewarded in 2007 for “Four months, three weeks, two days.”
The 2026 Grand Prize went to “Minotaur” by Russian director Andreï Zviaguintsev (“Léviathan”, “Faute d’amour”), which succeeds “Valeur sentimentale” by Norwegian Joachim Trier. Filmed in exile, it is his first film in nine years.
On stage, Zvyagintsev delivered an overtly political speech, making a direct appeal to Russian President Vladimir Putin to “stop the carnage” in Ukraine, more than four years after the start of the Russian invasion.
“There is someone else I would like to speak to in person today,” a déclaré was filmed in russe. “Millions of people on both sides of the contact line dream of only one thing: that the massacres finally stop. And the only person who can put an end to this butchery is the President of the Russian Federation. The whole world is waiting for this.”
The Directing Prize was awarded jointly to Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo for the queer fresco “La Bola Negra”, as well as to Polish director Pawel Pawlikowski for “Fatherland”. They succeed Kleber Mendonça Filho, rewarded in 2025 for “The Secret Agent”.
Also speaking out on the contemporary political climate, Pawlikowski defended the need for independent cinema. “Cinema must reflect political reality, but not according to conditions imposed from above”, he declared, in a context marked by the mobilization of the collective “Zapper Bolloré”. “It takes courage to show what people really see”
“Cinema must resist, which is why we made this film.” he added.
Hommage à Mahmoud Darwich
Before the award for directing, Quebec prodigy Xavier Dolan paid tribute to Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish by quoting one of his most famous texts: “On this earth, there is what deserves life: the hesitation of April, the smell of bread at dawn, the opinions of a woman about men, the writings of Aeschylus, the beginning of love, grass on a stone, mothers standing on a flute net and the fear that memory inspires in conquerors” (translation by Elias Sanbar, Gallimard).
The jury for the official competition was chaired this year by South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook. Nineteen feature films competed for the Palme d’Or.
An edition marked by conflicts and the return of auteur cinema
This 2026 edition confirmed several trends already perceptible in recent years: an assertive return of auteur and independent cinema, a more discreet presence of Hollywood productions, and a strong domination of stories linked to war, to exile, migration and contemporary political tensions.
Many films have drawn on recent history or tense geopolitical contexts to question authoritarian excesses, social fractures and collective trauma. The most commented works in the selection have often been praised for their intimate dimension and their formal audacity, far from the logic of frankness.
Themes of mourning, identity and the psychological consequences of violence also ran through much of the programming.
Beyond the films themselves, Cannes continues to assert its role as a global cultural platform, where cinema, fashion, luxury, new technologies and the well-being industry now intersect more than ever.
In 2025, the Iranian Jafar Panahi won the Palme d’Or for “A Simple Accident”, while Joachim Trier received the Grand Prize for “Sentimental Value”. Juliette Binoche then chaired the jury, after Greta Gerwig in 2024.
Among the highlights of this edition was also Jane Schoenbrun’s “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma”, presented at the opening of the Un Certain Regard section, an illustration of the renewed dialogue between established filmmakers and new voices in world cinema.
The films awarded in 2026 will not be released in theaters for several months, but exceptional screenings, scheduled in certain cinemas in France, will offer a preview to the general public from the beginning of June.
This text was translated with the help of artificial intelligence. Report a problem: [feedback-articles-fr@euronews.com].
