With Hollywood studios largely absent, this year's Cannes Film Festival leaned into its indie roots, with no clear Palme d'Or frontrunner emerging from a strong field of arthouse directors ahead of Saturday's closing ceremony.
The nine-member jury led by South Korean director Park Chan-wook must choose one of 22 films from Cannes veterans, including Spain's Pedro Almodovar, Iran's Asghar Farhadi and Romania's Cristian Mungiu, for the festival's top award.
Tilda Swinton poses for photographers upon arrival at the awards ceremony during the 79th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Saturday, May 23, 2026. © John Locher, AP
Winning an award at Cannes typically transforms careers, shapes the awards season that follows and cements directors in the canon.
Recent examples include last year's second-place winner, "Sentimental Value" starring Renate Reinsve, which later took the Oscar for best international feature film, as well as 2024 winner "Anora", which went on to sweep the Oscars with five wins.
All bets are off
Several films have drawn strong early reactions from critics and audiences, though the race remains open.
The Guardian's critic, Peter Bradshaw, predicts Russian Andrey Zvyagintsev's "Minotaur", about infidelity and moral corruption, as the winner, while on prediction market platform Polymarket, care home drama "All of a Sudden" from Japan's Ryusuke Hamaguchi was in the lead on Friday evening.
On industry publication Screen Daily's jury grid that collates reviews, "Minotaur", "All of a Sudden" and "Fatherland" from Poland's Pawel Pawlikowski have the three highest scores.
Cannes Film Festival 2026: FRANCE 24's journalists share their favourites
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Cannes Film Festival 2026: FRANCE 24's journalists share their favourites © France 24
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Romanian director Mungiu, who brought the Reinsve-led "Fjord" to this year's festival, as well as Japan's Hirokazu Kore-eda are this year's only competitors who have previously won the top prize.
Only two US directors were in the competition dominated by European auteurs: James Gray with "Paper Tiger" starring Adam Driver, and Ira Sachs with the Rami Malek-headed "The Man I Love".
Other prizes to be handed out on Saturday night include the Grand Prix, jury prize, best director, best actor, best actress and best screenplay.
The 79th iteration of the festival officially kicked off on May 12 with the French romantic comedy "The Electric Kiss".
From left: Cristian Mungiu, Renate Reinsve and Sebastian Stan pose for photographers upon arrival at the awards ceremony during the 79th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Saturday, May 23, 2026. © Scott A Garfitt, AP
(FRANCE 24 with Reuters)
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