The Palme d'Or and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival went to the same film, “Fjord” by Cristian Mungiu. The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) also honored the film. The festival jury, chaired by Korean director Park Chan-wook, awarded its Grand Prix to “Minotaur” by Andrey Zvyagintsev (France, Latvia, Germany 2026), the Best Director Award ex aequo to the directing duo Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi for their film “La bola negra” (The Black Ball, Spain, France 2025) and to Paweł Pawlikowski for his film “Fatherland” (Poland, Germany, Italy, France 2026). "Das geträumte Abenteuer" (The Dreamed Adventure) by Valeska Grisebach (Germany, France, Bulgaria, Austria 2026) won the Prix du Jury.
The 79th Cannes Film Festival opened on 12 May with the French-Belgian co-production *La Vénus électrique* (The Electric Kiss) by Pierre Salvadori. Set in Paris in 1928, the film tells the story of the relationship between a painter and a fairground performer who claims to be a medium and promises to put him in touch with his late wife. In the International Competition, the festival screened 22 films, including new works by Pedro Almodóvar, Cristian Mungiu, Asghar Farhadi, Andrey Zvyagintsev and Hirokazu Kore-eda.
The Cannes Classics section featured, among others, newly restored versions of Bawang bieji (Farewell My Concubine, Hong Kong 1993) by Chen Kaige, Człowiek z żelaza (Man of Iron, Poland 1981) by Andrzej Wajda, L'Innocente (The Innocent, Italy, France 1976), and Sanshiro Sugata, Akira Kurosawa’s cinema debut (Japan 1943).
At the opening ceremony, New Zealand director Peter Jackson was honoured with a Golden Palm; the same award was presented to Barbra Streisand at the closing ceremony. The Ecumenical Jury awards its prize to a film from the International Competition. It has been presenting its awards since 1974.
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