A Momentous Year for Film on La Croisette

More than Sundance, more than Berlin, Venice or Toronto, the film festival I have unshakable faith in when it comes to programming of either future cinematic classics or wildly ambitious failures is the Cannes Film Festival. Since 1946, the festival has been held at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in Cannes, France, and has awarded the Palme d’Or (basically, Best Picture) to films like “The Third Man,” “The Wages of Fear,” “Taxi Driver,” “Black Orpheus,” “La dolce vita,” “The Conversation” and more recently, masterpieces like “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives,” “Titane” and “Dancer in the Dark.”

What I respect so much about the festival is that even when they invite Hollywood blockbusters and screen films that will most likely have a huge commercial appeal, the movies that usually take home the top prizes are auteur-driven works of startling originality that push the medium of motion pictures into new and sometimes uncomfortable areas. Last week, the lineup for the 79th Cannes Film Festival was announced, and frankly, it’s a jaw-dropper, packed to the rafters with new films from some of the finest filmmakers alive. Here’s a brief look at some of the films I’m the most excited to catch:

In Competition-

“All of a Sudden:” Dir. Ryusuke Hamaguchi. Making his French-language debut, Hamaguchi gets philosophical. Loosely based on the letters between philosopher Makiko Miyano and medical anthropologist Maho Isano, this should be a profound and moving examination of death that only the director of “Drive My Car” could achieve.

“Bitter Christmas:” Dir. Pedro Almodóvar. The Spanish provocateur’s last film, “The Room Next Door,” is his best since 2011’s “The Skin I Live In,” so count me cautiously optimistic about his newest transgression, which follows several artists as they struggle with grief, writer’s block and other maladies.

“Coward:” Dir. Lukas Dhont. This is from the director of 2022’s “Close,” one of the most moving and gorgeously realized films of the decade so far. “Coward” follows a Belgian soldier in 1916 as he discovers his artistic side while engaged in trench warfare during WWI. Expect to bring tissues.

“Fjord:” Dir. Cristian Mungiu. So, Mungiu is easily one of the most undersung filmmakers working, with at least two (“4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days” and the terribly titled “R.M.N.”) stone-cold classics in his filmography. “Fjord” follows Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve as a married couple who move to a remote Norwegian village and become suspected of disturbing behavior by their distrustful neighbors. Hoping for a cringey, pitch-black comedy.

“Gentle Monster:” Dir. Marie Kreutzer. After her last film, “Corsage,” I’m in love with Kreutzer’s fearlessly idiosyncratic style. “Gentle Monster” sounds like a psychologically harrowing drama about women sacrificing their dreams and careers for the men in their lives and the repercussions society puts on them.

“Hope:” Dir. Na Hong-Jin. One of the finest South Korean filmmakers working, Hong-Jin is responsible for one of the most exhausting thrillers (”Chaser”) and most unforgettable horror movies (“The Wailing”) ever made. “Hope” sees him with his biggest budget yet, telling an epic sci-fi adventure about aliens invading the Korean demilitarized zone.

“Parallel Tales:” Dir. Asghar Farhadi. As one of the most powerfully relevant living filmmakers, Farhadi could never make another movie and still be considered a master after “A Separation” and “The Past.” Luckily, we have “Parallel Tales” coming with Isabelle Huppert, which is focused on the Nov. 15 terrorist attacks in Paris.

“Sheep in the Box:” Dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda. Maybe the one I’m the most excited for. Kore-eda, the visionary behind “Monster,” “Shoplifters” and “Broker,” returns with a quiet and contemplative science fiction drama about a couple who purchase an infant robot after the death of their son. Kore-eda is a master at subtle devastation, so this should be a heartbreaker.

Un Certain Regard — (basically the award for innovative filmmaking)

“Everytime:” Dir. Sandra Wollner. I’m obsessed with Wollner’s last film, “The Trouble with Being Born,” so count me as first in line to see her newest, which is being described as a psychological drama about a mother, her daughter and a teenage boy taking a trip to the Canary Islands.

“Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma:” Dir. Jane Schoenbrun. “We’re All Going to the World’s Fair” and “I Saw the TV Glow” are two of the most exciting and experimental films of the last decade, so Schoenbrun has me raptly attentive to anything they have coming up next. They describe their newest as “an insane yet cozy midnight odyssey that beckons to unsuspecting viewers from the horror section at the local video store.” Sounds like it’s made just for me.

Also hyped for:

“The Beloved” Dir. Rodrigo Sorogoyan
“The Birthday Party” Dir. Léa Mysius
“The Man I Love” Dir. Ira Sachs
“A Woman’s Life” Dir. Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet
“Her Private Hell” Dir. Nicolas Winding Refn
“Jim Queen and the Quest for Chloroqueer:” Dir. Nicolas Athane and Marco Nguyen
“Elephants in the Fog:” Dir. Abinash Bikram Shah
“Yesterday the Eye Didn’t Sleep” Dir. Rakan Mayasi

This article appears in the Source April 16, 2026.