It’s been rather slow moving when it comes to approvals for the 79th Cannes Film Festival, but I’ve gotten some intel that I’ll share below.
Before I do that, here’s a new poster for Almodóvar’s “Bitter Christmas,” hitting theaters in Spain this March, but still very much in the cards for Cannes. This rollout has happened time and time again with Almodóvar’s films — Spain first, then Cannes.
Meanwhile, is Ruben Östlund trolling us? He recently stated that “The Entertainment System is Down,” which wrapped production in April 2025, might only be ready for Cannes 2027. He needs over 12 months to complete this film? I don’t believe him.
Meanwhile, as has become tradition for the last six years, we have Terrence Malick’s “The Way of the Wind” yet again circling Cannes, and the film apparently has a rough cut of well over 3.5 hours in length, but given how this might be his last film, and Malick can’t seem to make up his mind in the editing room, odds are 50/50 he’ll finally unveil this film in 2026.
Speaking of 3 hours, that’s the length of Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “All of a Sudden,” which is also the current runtime of Albert Serra’s rough cut for “Out of This World,” his English -language debut starring Riley Keough.
Now, I’m hearing barely any films have been confirmed for competition, it’s way too early, according to my source, but one sure-thing seems to be Asghar Farhadi’s “Parallel Tales,” which has the Iranian filmmaker hitting Paris with an all-star French cast Isabelle Huppert, Virginie Efira, Vincent Cassel, and Catherine Deneuve.
Also practically locked is Cristian Mungiu’s “Fjord,” starring Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve, which recently released a first look image. Mungiu has been a mainstay at Cannes for nearly 20 years, and won the Palme d’Or in 2007 for “4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days.” Mungiu’s past Cannes-premiered films include “Graduation,” “RMN,” and “Beyond the Hills.”
Finally, some big news: Joel Coen’s “Jack of Spades” will indeed be submitted for Cannes. The film could have waited it out for the fall fests, but its current aim is the Croisette — we’ll see if it gets accepted and invited for competition, but this 19th century gothic noir, starring Josh O’Connor and Frances McDormand, is one of our most anticipated films of 2026.
MAJOR CONTENDERS
Bitter Christmas (Pedro Almodovar)
The Entertainment System is Down (Ruben Östlund)
Fjord (Cristi Mungiu)
Jack of Spades (Joel Coen)
Paper Tiger (James Gray)
The Way of the Wind (Terrence Malick)
Minotaur (Andrey Zvyagintsev)
All of a Sudden (Ryusuke Hamaguchi)
Her Private Hell (Nicolas Winding Refn)
Parallel Tales (Asghar Farhadi)
Coward (Lukas Dhont)
Hope (Na Hong-jin)
1949 (Pawel Pawlikowski)
Out of this World (Albert Serra)
Sheep in the Box (Hirokazu Kore-eda)
Untitled (Mike Leigh)
It Will Happen Tonight (Nanni Moretti)
POTENTIAL CONTENDERS
Après (Kirill Serebrenikko)
Butterfly Jam (Kantemir Balagov)
The Loved One (Rodrigo Sorogoyen)
Wake of Umbra (Carlos Reygadas)
The Basics of Philosophy (Paul Schrader)
On Land and Sea (Hlynur Palmason)
Mimesis (Kaouther Ben Hania)
Gentle Monster (Marie Kreutzer)
The Long Winter (Andrew Haigh)
Let Love In (Felix Van Groeningen)
Double Freedom (Lisandro Alonso)
Switzerland (Anton Corbijn)
The Man I Love (Ira Sachs)
The Costume (Corneliu Porumboiu)
The Diary of a Chambermaid (Radu Jude)
Bucking Fastards (Werner Herzog)
Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (Jane Schoenbrun)
The Dream Adventure (Valeska Grisebach)
FRENCH CONTENDERS
The Unknown (Arthur Harari)
Red Rocks (Bruno Dumont)
Full Phil (Quentin Dupieux)
Moulin (Laszlo Nemes)
A Good Little Soldier (Stephane Brizé)
Roma Elastico (Bertrand Mandico)
Histoires De La Nuit (Lea Mysius)
De Gaulle: Part One (Antonin Baudry)
I’ll Forget Your Name (Yann Gonzalez)
I’ve narrowed down the hundreds upon hundreds of films that will screen this fall to 34 titles—vote for your most anticipated.