Cannes 2026. Lukas Dhont is OUT, Pawel Pawlikowski is READY [Updated]

UPDATE: Paweł Pawlikowski is rushing to get a cut of his film ready for Cannes. The film is currently in sound mixing and is now expected to come out this year.

Furthermore, Andrey Zvyagintsev has confirmed that “Minotaur” will be at Cannes — set to be the Russian master’s first film in nearly a decade. Zvyagintsev is a two-time Oscar nominee known for his bleak, Russia-set cinema. He won the Venice Film Festival’s top prize in 2003 for “The Return” and the Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize in 2017 for his last film, “Loveless.” His most acclaimed work remains 2014’s extraordinary “Leviathan.”

I’m also hearing that Leila Marrakchi’s “Strawberries” is a real possibility for the competition lineup. Right now, it’s either Competition or Un Certain Regard for the Spain-set drama. The film follows Moroccan women who travel to Andalusia for promised farm work and a better future, but instead face abuse and harsh conditions.

Meanwhile, although no title has been firmly selected just yet, Pierre Salvadori’s “Venus Electrificata” is apparently one of the frontrunners for the opening-night slot — which means Cannes might kick off again this year with a feel-good French movie. As for the polar opposite of that, I’m hearing Bertrand Mandico’s “Roma Elastico” is eyeing a Midnight slot.

EARLIER: Some notable updates about the 79th Cannes Film Festival, whose lineup will be announced on April 9. I’m told no opening night film has been selected just yet, so don’t expect one to be announced in the coming week. Now, here are the latest rumors I’ve heard…

After Östlund, Malick, Leigh, and Iñárritu, filmmakers who look to not have their films ready for Cannes include Lukas Dhont (“Coward”). Furthermore, question marks are starting to arise over whether Carlos Reygadas (“Wake of Umbra”), and Paweł Pawlikowski (“1949”) will be screening at the festival, with the latter very well possibly waiting it out until 2027.

In fact, as it stands, only a handful of films have so far been selected for competition: Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “All of a Sudden” and Cristian Mungiu’s “Fjord” among them.

I’m also hearing that Arthur Harari’s “The Unknown,” which was highly tipped by most, might now be headed for Locarno or Venice — word remains murky as to why, but rumors are that it was met with perplexity by some programmers.

All of these top filmmakers potentially missing Cannes has me wondering if this might finally be the year Pedro Almodóvar wins the Palme d’Or. His latest, “Bitter Christmas,” is earning mostly positive reviews out of Spain. Almodóvar is the one filmmaker whom most international critics agree has long been overdue for the festival’s highest honor — a director whose body of work has not only defined modern Spanish filmmaking but has consistently been heralded over the span of nearly five decades.

On a potentially more positive note: word originally was that James Gray’s “Paper Tiger” might still be headed to Cannes, and that it was only being perceived as “unfinished” as part of a deliberate narrative to avoid the stigma of a perceived Cannes rejection and preserve its value ahead of a potential launch at the Venice Film Festival, where optics matter just as much as the film itself. The film is definitely ready, having already garnered an MPA rating.

I get it — by framing the absence from Cannes as a timing issue rather than a selection outcome, they maintain leverage with buyers and protect commercial perception, especially in light of how rollout narratives can backfire. Though without on-the-record confirmation, it remains a well-informed but unverified interpretation rather than established fact.

Finally, German filmmaker Fatih Akin has his new movie finished and ready to go; it’s called “Ghosts.” It’s a supernatural love story set in modern Hamburg. Akin was at Cannes last year with “Amrum,” which screened in the Cannes Premiere sidebar — will he be there again this year?