Cannes 2026: Directors’ Fortnight Lineup Includes New Films From Kantemir Balagov, Radu Jude, Lisandro Alonso, and Quentin Dupieux

With the Cannes lineup 95% announced, attention is shifting this morning to its most closely watched parallel section: the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs (Directors’ Fortnight), which unveiled its very promising lineup.

The Quinzaine has historically functioned as Cannes’ most adventurous parallel section — less constrained than the Competition and often more willing to champion bold, offbeat, or emerging voices.

In recent years, under the tutelage of Artistic Director Julien Rejl, it has somewhat revamped its approach, installing loosely abided-by rules of not accepting films that were rejected by Cannes and prioritizing films that do not yet have distribution. That has somewhat changed with this year’s lineup.

Many of the titles I reported on Saturday were announced. Kantemir Balagov’s “Butterfly Jam,” starring Barry Keoghan, Riley Keough, Harry Mellin, and newcomer Talha Akdogan in the lead role. This is Balagov’s first film since 2019’s “Beanpole.” A first look image has also been released — which can be seen above.

Radu Jude’s “Diary of a Chambermaid” is the other one. The Romanian filmmaker of “Do Not Expect Much From the End of the World” keeps releasing movie after movie — he’s on a relentless streak, but has never been to Cannes. His films either kept getting rejected and/or ended up at Berlin, where he’s become a mainstay.

Coming off “Jauja,” Lisandro Alonso is back with “La libertad doble,” premiering at the Quinzaine — which makes sense since this is a spiritual sequel to 2001’s “La libertad,” which premiered at the Quinzaine.

Then there’s Clio Barnard’s third film to be selected by the Quinzaine, “I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning.” Barnard is coming off the underwhelming “Ali & Ava,” but she’s also the filmmaker behind “The Selfish Giant,” so here’s hoping this latest kitchen-sink-styled drama is more like the latter.

Of course, as mentioned on Saturday, Quentin Dupieux’s “Le Vertige,” an animated film, is the closing night film this year — he already has “Full Phil” playing as a Midnight screening in the official selection. Does this guy ever stop making movies?

Meanwhile, there’s one American filmmaker — NEON’s documentary, David Greaves’ “Once Upon A Time in Harlem,” fresh off a triumphant Sundance premiere where it earned widespread acclaim, is continuing its festival run at the Quinzaine. Great news. It will very likely be a frontrunner for the Best Documentary Oscar come next year.

Butterfly Jam (Kantemir Balagov)
9 Temples To Heaven (Sompot Chidgasornpongse)
Atonement (Reed Van Dyk)
Clarissa (Arie Esiri & Chuko Esiri)
Death has no master (Jorge Thielen Armand)
The Diary of a Chambermaid (Radu Jude)
Dora (July Jung)
La libertad doble (Lisandro Alonso)
Gabin (Maxence Voiseux)
I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning (Clio Barnard)
Low Expectations (Eivind Landsvik)
Once Upon A Time In Harlem (David Greaves)
La Perra (Dominga Sotomayor)
Shana (Lila Pinell)
Thanks for Coming (Merci d’être venu) (Alain Cavalier)
l’Espèce Explosive (Sarah Arnold)
Viva Carmen (Sebastian Laundenbach)
We Are Aliens (Kohei Kadowaki)
Le Vertige (Quentin Dupieux)