Cannes 79th Edition Opens With Park Chan-wook Jury, 22 Competition Films

The 79th Festival de Cannes opens its doors on Tuesday 12 May 2026 at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès on the Croisette and runs through Saturday 23 May. For the first time in the festival’s history, the presidency of the official-competition jury is held by a South Korean filmmaker: Park Chan-wook, author of Oldboy (Grand Prix Cannes 2004), The Handmaiden, Decision to Leave (Best Director Cannes 2022) and his recent No Other Choice. Park is the first Asian filmmaker to chair the jury since Wong Kar-wai in 2006.

Park Chan-wook on his approach

The festival’s official biography describes Park’s cinema as: “Visceral, subversive, baroque — Park Chan-wook’s cinema is defined by audacity in every sense of the term: in narrative, in style and in moral posture.” Park himself, in remarks to festival-cannes.com, framed his presidency: “To preside over the Palme d’Or jury is an honour I carry with great humility. My commitment is to do justice to all the voices that compose this competition, from the most established to the most emerging. Cinema is a universal dialogue, and our role is to listen before we speak.”

The jury

Park’s jury includes Demi Moore (returning to Cannes after her triumph in The Substance by Coralie Fargeat in 2024), Chloé Zhao (Oscar for Best Director for Nomadland in 2021), Stellan Skarsgård (Oscar-nominated for Sentimental Value by Joachim Trier, which won the Grand Prix Cannes 2025), Ruth Negga, Isaach De Bankolé, Laura Wandel (director of Playground), Diego Céspedes (Un Certain Regard 2025 winner) and Paul Laverty (double Palme d’Or with Ken Loach).

22 films in official competition

The 2026 Official Selection includes 22 films in competition, with new feature films from Pedro Almodóvar, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Asghar Farhadi, James Gray (Paper Tiger with Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson), Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Cristian Mungiu, Na Hong-jin, Lászlo Nemes, Marie Kreutzer, Pawel Pawlikowski (1949), Léa Mysius, Ira Sachs, Andrey Zvyagintsev (Minotaur) and the recently added Judith Godrèche. The opening film, screened out of competition, is La Vénus Electrique by Pierre Salvadori — a period piece set in the 1920s.

The economic and media frame

Eye Haidara, Franco-Malian comedian, is the master of ceremonies for opening (12 May at 19:00 CET) and closing (23 May), broadcast live on France 2 and france.tv. France Télévisions has co-produced 19 films presented at Cannes 2026, making the public group the leading financier of French free-to-air cinema. The Marché du Film runs in parallel from 13 to 21 May, with over 13,000 industry professionals expected. The total economic impact is estimated at €200 million for Cannes and the surrounding hinterland, with hotels at 100% occupancy and rates up an average of +15% versus 2025.

The wider Riviera moment

Cannes 2026 anchors a Riviera season of unusual density: Top Marques Monaco opened in early May, Monaco Fashion Days is on 21 May, and the Monaco Grand Prix runs 22-25 May. The luxury concession network from Cannes to Nice to Monaco reports auto sales up +18% versus May 2025. With Park Chan-wook’s nomination as jury president and the Selection’s strong slate of international auteurs, the 79th edition positions Cannes as the world’s premier auteur cinema event in a year of geopolitical and industrial volatility.