The 2026 Cannes Film Festival Winners
The 2026 Cannes Film Festivalย has just wrapped up, having platformed and celebrated the auteur, the arthouse, and the emotionally replete drama. 22 features competed this year for the Palme d’Or, the highest prize up for grabs, with reports that 141 countries submitted 2,541 films for review.
Park Chan-Wook, the acclaimed South Korean behind Lady Vengeance (Kind Miss Geum-ja) and Decision to Leave (Heeojil gyeolsim), served as the main competition’s Jury president.
Starring Sandra Hรผllerย and Hannsย Zischler, Polish filmmaker Paweล Pawlikowski’sย German-language film Fatherlandย (Vaterland) took home a trophy for its direction of a story about an exiled novelist travelling with his daughter from West to East Germany during the Cold War in 1949.
Meanwhile, Romanian film artist Cristian Mungiuย was awarded the esteemed prize of Palme d’Or for his drama Fjord, starring Sebastian Stanย andย Renate Reinsveย as a Romanian-Norwegian couple whose move to the wife’s Norwegian hometown proves challenging due to its progressive manner. The director’s first recipient of the award came in 2007 with his art feature, 4 luni, 3 sฤptฤmรขni ศi 2 zile (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days).ย
Additionally, a socially and politically charged body horror titled Sangurine from France and a Korean survival horror feature called Colony oversaw a Cannes release this year.
Acting wins were handed to stars Bradley Fiomona Dembeassetย for his performance as a young aspiring rap artist from Congo, as well as Virginie Efiraย for her work as a nursing home director attempting to revolutionise the care home.
Ari Aster’sย latest release, Paper Tiger, starring Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson, was also submitted. Additional releases included Ira Sachs’ย The Man I Loveย and a queer body horror titled Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma by Jane Schoenbrun.
The 2026 Cannes Film Festival Winners:
Palmeย d’Or–Fjordย by Cristian Mungiu
Grand Prix– Minotaur byย Andrey Zvyagintsev
Best Director– Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossiย forย La Bola Negra (The Black Ball), and Pawel Pawlikowski for Vaterland (Fatherland)ย
Best Screenplay– Emmanuel Marreย forย Notre Salut (A Man of His Time)
Jury Prize– Dasย getrรคumte Abenteuer (The Dreamed Adventure) by Valeska Grisebach
Best Actress– Virginie Efira as Marie-Lou Fontaine and Tao Okamoto as Mari Marisaki for Soudain (All of a Sudden/Kyลซ ni guai ga waruku naru)ย by Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Best Actor– Emmanuel Macchia as Pierre andย Valentin Campagneย as Francisย forย Coward by Lukas Dhont
Camera d’Or for Best First Film– BenโImana (The Children of God) byย Clรฉmentine Dusabejambo
Palm d’Or for Best Short Film– Para Los Contincantesย (To Opponents) by Federico Luis
Un Certain Regard Prize for Best Film–Everytime by Sandra Wollner
Un Certain Regard Jury Prize for First Film–Elephants in the Fog by Abinash Bikram Shah
Un Certain Regard Special Jury Prize–Ironย Boyย byย Louis Clichy
Un Certain Regard Best Actor–Bradley Fiomona Dembeasset as Robert in Congo Boy byย Rafiki Fariala
Un Certain Regard Best Actress–Marina de Tavira as Amalia, Daniela Marรญn Navarro as Elsa, Mariangel Villegas as Isabel in Siempre Soy Tu Animal Materno (Forever Your Maternal Animal) by Valentina Maurel
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