The 79th Cannes Film Festival is beginning today, May 12, and will conclude on May 23.
A woman gestures from the balcony of the Hotel Martinez, next to a poster of Bollywood star Alia Bhatt, on the eve of the start of the 79th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, on May 11, 2026. (Photo by Olivier CHASSIGNOLE / AFP) (AFP)
A look at everything to look forward to as Cannes rolls its red carpet for cinema royalty on May 12.
Icons headline main competition
Twenty-two films from around the world are part of the festival’s main competition, vying for the prestigious Palme d’Or for best film. These include the latest films from cine icons such as Spain’s Pedro Almodóvar, Japan’s Hirokazu Kore-eda, and Romania’s Cristian Mungiu, as well as emerging talents such as Belgian prodigy Lukas Dhont and France’s Lea Mysius.
AI- and technology-themed Sheep in the Box by Hirokazu Kore-eda is considered one of the frontrunners, along with Hope, by South Korean director Na Hong-jin.
The nine-person jury this year is headed by South Korean director Park Chan-Wook, and also features Demi Moore. The awards will be handed out on May 23.
Member of the jury US actress and producer Demi Moore arrives for a dinner with fellow members of the jury at the Grand Hyatt Cannes Hotel Martinez, on the eve of the opening ceremony of the 79th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 11, 2026. (Photo by Sameer AL-DOUMY / AFP) (AFP)
Hollywood’s great snub
Unlike previous editions, when Tom Cruise brought his blockbusters to the festival or Disney premiered Star Wars films, this year, the biggest films from Hollywood are absent from Cannes. Upcoming films like Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey or Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day won’t premiere at the film festival.
Reasons for their absence include cost-cutting, their growing preference for tightly controlled social media-led launches, and the risk that a mauling from the Cannes critics can doom a movie.
Hollywood will not be totally absent, though. Vin Diesel and co-star Michelle Rodriguez from The Fast and the Furious will fly in for a special 25th anniversary screening of the first film in the franchise. And John Travolta will unveil his directorial debut, Propeller One-Way Night Coach. Other top stars expected to attend include Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver, who star in the independent film Paper Tiger, while Rami Malek will promote The Man I Love. Barbra Streisand and director Peter Jackson will pick up lifetime achievement awards. But the big studios are absent from this year’s Cannes lineup.
An AI John Lennon
Director Steven Soderbergh will present his documentary John Lennon: The Last Interview, which features The Beatles songwriter hours before his murder. Soderbergh has turned the audio-only recording into a film, using archival photos as illustrations and, controversially, AI-generated images of the late singer.
A documentary featuring an AI John Lennon will screen at Cannes.
Indian stars in attendance
Many top Indian stars will walk the red carpet of Cannes this year. Festival favourite Aishwarya Rai will return once again, having been a staple at Cannes for over two decades. She will be joined by Alia Bhatt, returning after her debut last year. Aditi Rao Hydari and Tara Sutaria will also attend.
Aishwarya Rai, a regular at the Cannes Film Festival for two decades, will return this year too. (Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP) (AFP)
Filmmaker Chidambaram, best known for Manjummel Boys, will showcase the best of Malayalam cinema at Cannes this year as he takes his upcoming film Balan: The Boy to the Cannes market.
Abhimanyu Mathur is Deputy Editor, Entertainment at Hindustan Times. With almost 15 years of experience in writing about everything from films and TV shows to cricket matches and elections, he inhales and exhales pop culture and news. Currently, he watches movies and TV shows and talks to celebrities for a living, while occasionally writing about them as well. A journalism graduate of Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Delhi University, Abhimanyu began his career with Hindustan Times at the age of 20, swapping classrooms for newsrooms at an early age. He began his journey in the early days of digital journalism, later switching to the madness of print journalism. Work has led him to far off places like Japan and Jordan, as well as to the interiors of Haryana and the Indo-Pak border. He dabbled in city reporting in places like Meerut, Gurgaon, and Delhi, covered the Olympics and Cricket World Cups, before finding his calling in entertainment and lifestyle during the pandemic. A Rotten Tomatoes Certified Film Critic, he is equally at home covering stories on ground as he is interviewing celebrities and studios, and sometimes prefers to shepherd teams in delivering traffic through the day. Even as his role has evolved from reporter to supervisor over the years, his first love remains writing (and of late, talking on camera). With a good understanding of cinema and its trends, and a keen eye for detail, he continues to spark conversations around showbiz for readers around the world.Read More
