{"id":7996735,"date":"2026-04-09T03:13:30","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T10:13:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/?p=7996735"},"modified":"2026-04-10T00:58:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T07:58:08","slug":"pedro-almodovar-steven-soderbergh-ron-howard-2026-cannes-film-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/creative-content\/movies\/pedro-almodovar-steven-soderbergh-ron-howard-2026-cannes-film-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"Pedro Almodovar, Steven Soderbergh, Ron Howard Films Headed to 2026 Cannes Film Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

Pedro Almodovar, Steven Soderbergh, Ron Howard, Pawel Pawlikowski, Lukas Dhont and Hirokazu Kore-eda are among the directors who will be bringing new films to the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, Cannes organizers announced on Thursday morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a press conference in Paris, Cannes general delegate Thierry Fr\u00e9maux and president Iris Knobloch unveiled 21 films that will screen in the main competition, along with additional titles in the Un Certain Regard section and in various out-of-competition sections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The festival announced fewer films than it usually does, particularly in UCR, but Fr\u00e9maux promised additions to the lineup in coming days, saying that some deals had yet to be finalized. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Past winners of the Palme d\u2019Or returning to Cannes include Hirokazu Kore-eda, who won for \u201cShoplifters\u201d in 2018 and is back with “Sheep in the Box”; and Cristian Mungiu, a winner for 2007\u2019s \u201c4 Weeks, 3 Months and 2 Days” who this year has the Norwegian-language film “Fjord,” starring the Oscar-nominated “Sentimental Value” actress Renate Reinsve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kore-eda’s film will be distributed in the United States by Neon, the company that has released the last six Palme d’Or winners. The company also has the competition selection “The Unknown” from Arthur Harari, the co-writer of the Palme winner “Anatomy of a Fall.” <\/p>\n\n\n

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\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"John\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\tRead Next<\/strong>
\n\t\t\tJohn Travolta to Premiere Directorial Debut at Cannes Film Festival<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The lineup also includes the previously announced \u201cPropellor One-Way Night Coach,\u201d the directorial debut of actor John Travolta; and \u201cThe Electric Kiss,\u201d a French film by Pierre Salvadori that will be the opening-night attraction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the lineup has a smaller-than-usual contingent of American films and an absence of major-studio movies, U.S. directors with films in the official selection include Gray; Ira Sachs, with “The Man I Love”; Howard and Soderbergh, with the documentaries \u201cAvedon\u201d and “John Lennon: The Last Interview,” respectively; Jane Schoenbrun, the indie director of \u201cI Saw the TV Glow\u201d who has the Hannah Einbinder\/Gillian Anderson slasher film \u201cTeenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma\u201d in Un Certain Regard; comedian\/filmmaker Jordan Firstman, also in UCR with \u201cClub Kid”; and actor-turned-director Andy Garcia with “Diamond.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other notable international auteurs in the selection are Andrey Zvyagintsev (“Leviathan”) with “Minotaur,” Laszlo Nemes (“Son of Saul”) with “Moulin,” Ryuske Hamaguchi (“Drive My Car”) with “Sudden” and Asghar Farhadi (“A Separation”) with “Parallel Tales.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actors with films in the official selection include Sandra Huller with “Fatherland,” Javier Bardem with “El Ser Querido,” Sebastian Stan with “Fjord,” Woody Harrelson and Kristen Stewart with Quentin Dupieux’s “Full Phil,” Charles Melton with Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Her Private Hell,” Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander with Na Hong-jin’s “Hope.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year\u2019s announcement comes after an impressive seven-year streak in which at least one film from the Cannes official selection has gone on to earn an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture every year, with a high of three nominees in 2024 and 2022. Over the last 10 festivals, 51 Cannes films have been nominated for Oscars, 16 have been nominated for Best Picture and two, \u201cParasite\u201d and \u201cAnora,\u201d have won Best Picture, the first to turn that double play since \u201cMarty\u201d in 1955.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The festival previously announced that director Peter Jackson and actress\/singer\/director Barbra Streisand will receive Honorary Palme d\u2019Or awards.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t
\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Barbra\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t
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\n\t\t\tBarbra Streisand to Receive Honorary Palme d'Or at Cannes 2026<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Additional selections will be announced in the coming weeks. The 79th annual Cannes Film Festival will begin on Tuesday, May 12 and run through Saturday, May 23, with South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook serving as the president of the main competition jury. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Directors Fortnight and Critics Week sidebars are expected to announce their lineups next week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is the 2026 official selection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Main Competition<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n


\u201cBitter Christmas\u201d (“Amarga Navidad”), Pedro Almodovar
“Parallel Tales,” Asghar Farhadi
“Minotaur,\u201d Andrey Zvyagintsev
\u201cThe Beloved” (“El Ser Querido\u201d), Rodrigo Sorogoyen
“A Woman’s Life,” Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet
“The Man I Love,” Ira Sachs
\u201cFatherland,\u201d Pawel Pawlikowski\u00a0<\/strong>
\u201cThe Birthday Party,\u201d Lea Mysius
“Moulin,” Laszlo Nemes
“Fjord,” Cristian Mungiu
\u201cGentle Monster,\u201d Marie Kreutzer
“Notre Salut,” Emmanuel Marre
\u201cNagi Notes,\u201d Koji Fukada\u00a0<\/strong>
\u201cHope,\u201d Na Hong-jin
“Sheep in the Box,” Hirokazu Kore-eda
“Another Day,” Jeanne Herry
“The Unknown,” Arthur Harari
“All of a Sudden,” Ryusuke Hamaguchi
“The Dreamed Adventure” (“Das Getraumte Abenteuer”), Valeska Grisebach
\u201cCoward,\u201d Lukas Dhont
“The Black Ball” (“La Bola Negra”), Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Un Certain Regard<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTeenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma,\u201d Jane Schoenbrun (opening film)
“Elephants in the Fog,” Abinash Bikram Shah
“Iron Boy,” Louis Clichy
“Ben’imana,” Marie-Clementine Dusabejambo
“Congo Boy,” Rafiki Fariala
\u201cClub Kid,\u201d Jordan Firstman
“Ula,” Viesturs Kairiss
“La mas dulce” (“Strawberries”), Laila Marrakchi
“The Meltdown” (“El Deshielo”), Manuela Martelli
“Forever Your Maternal Animal” (Siempre Soy tu Animal Materno”), Valentina Maurel
“Yesterday the Eye Didn’t Sleep,” Rakan Mayasi
“I’ll Be Gone in June,” Katharina Rivilis
“Words of Love,” Rudi Rosenberg
“Everytime,” Sandra Wollner
“All the Lovers in the Night,” Sode Yukiko<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Out of Competition<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Electric Kiss,” Pierre Salvadori (opening night film)
“Diamond,” Andy Garcia
“Her Private Hell,” Nicolas Winding Refn
“L’Abandon,” Vincent Garenq
“Karma,” Guillaume Canet
“Crescendo,” Agnes Jaoui
“La Bataille de Gaulle: L’Age de fer,” Antonin Baudry<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cannes Premiere<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPropellor One-Way Night Coach,\u201d John Travolta
“Kokurojo” (“The Samurai and the Prisoner”), Kiyoshi Kurosawa
“Visitation” (“Heimsuchung”), Volker Schlondorff
“The Third Night” (“La Troisieme Nuit”), Daniel Auteuil
“The Match,” Juan Cabral and Santiago Franco<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Special Screenings<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

“Rehearsals for a Revolution,” Pegan Ahangarani
“Les Matins Merveilleux,” Avril Besson
“L’Affaire Marie-Claire,” Lauriana Escaffre and Yvo Muller
“Avedon,” Ron Howard
“The Survivors of Che,” Christophe Reveille
“John Lennon: The Last Interview,” Stephen Soderbergh
“Cantona,” David Tryhorn and Ben Nicolas<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Midnight Screenings<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

“Colony” (“Gun-Che”), Yeon Sang-ho
“Full Phil,” Quentin Dupieux
“Roma Elastica,” Bertrand Mandico
“Sanguine,” Marion Le Coroller
“Jim Queen,” Nicolas Athane, Marco Nguyen

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stars with films at the festival include Javier Bardem, Renate Reinsve, Michael Fassbender, Woody Harrelson and Kristen Stewart<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1482,"featured_media":7996747,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"byline":{"profiles":[{"type":"byline_id","atts":{"term_id":504357,"post_id":7302600}}]},"_links_to":"","_links_to_type":0,"nb_breaking_email_type":"b8b5eaae-7af7-4a7d-8ff2-8ed7e2f9029d","nb_breaking_template":"single-story.html","nb_breaking_from_name":"TheWrap","nb_breaking_subject":"","nb_breaking_preview":"","nb_breaking_list":[],"nb_breaking_header_img":7555420,"nb_breaking_should_send":false,"nb_breaking_content":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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Discover why entertainment executives and professionals rely on the WrapPRO platform daily for exclusive coverage, analysis, deeper reporting, and access to VIP events & screenings throughout the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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