Cinema is alive at Cannes 2026

Rito Kuwaki stars as the adopted robot son of a grieving couple in the sci-fi drama “Sheep in the Box,” by Japanese auteur Hirokazu Kore-eda, one of 21 films competing for the Palme d’Or at Cannes 2026.

Peter Howell

Movie Critic

Wars rage with uncertain outcomes across the globe, but as far as the Cannes Film Festival is concerned “the language of cinema has won,” fest director Thierry Frémaux declared April 9.

He was specifically debunking gloomy “death of cinema” predictions by cultural soothsayers, as he and festival president Iris Knobloch unveiled a rich selection of films from 141 countries for next month’s annual celebration in the south of France.

But ongoing conflicts in Iran and Ukraine were clearly top of mind for the two Cannes leaders as they introduced the Official Selection for the fest’s 79th edition, which includes new movies by Pedro Almodóvar, Steven Soderbergh, Ron Howard, Asghar Farhadi, Paweł Pawlikowski, Ira Sachs, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Cristian Mungiu and Ryusuke Hamaguchi.

“We are gathering at a time of great uncertainty,” Knobloch said, noting that the debut Cannes festival of 1939 — which was halted by the outbreak of the Second World War — was launched to show that film “was not a luxury, it was a necessity.”

That spirit continues today, she added, as Cannes persists to showcase “mankind at its best and its capacity to dream.”

Filmmakers evidently agree. Frémaux said 2,541 features were submitted to Cannes selectors, an increase of 1,000 from a decade ago.

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