What Might Be Playing at the 79th Cannes Film Festival?

Next week, the Cannes Film Festival will announce its 79th lineup. The fest is often seen as a launching point for the next wave of cinema, after the Academy Awards have had time to settle. There’s no way to know right now what Cannes will showcase, to be fair, but the festival does have auteurs that they invite to return time and time again. So, a bit of guesswork is in order today. The Hollywood Reporter and Variety have covered some of the rumors this week, so definitely check those rundowns out, but we’re about to do the same as well.

A quick refresher on what played last year is probably in order. The coveted Palme d’Or went to Jafar Panahi‘s It Was Just an Accident, while the Grand Prix went to Joachim Trier‘s Sentimental Value. Other notable titles that played Cannes 2025 In Competition included Die My Love, Eddington, Nouvelle Vague, The Phoenician Scheme, The Secret Agent, and Sirāt. The Un Certain Regard section featured Pillion, while Out of Competition, we saw the likes of Highest 2 Lowest and Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.

As is always the case, the list of what won’t be playing it always longer and even higher profile than what will be playing. Don’t expect to see The Adventures of Cliff Booth, Digger, Disclosure Day, The Mandalorian & Grogu, The Odyssey, or Toy Story 5, among potential blockbusters. Something like The Entertainment System Is Down from festival favorite Ruben Östlund or Terrence Malick’s The Way of the Wind are still a year off. So, this Cannes won’t necessarily be a star-studded one, but coming off of the Oscar success of last year’s lineup, contenders abound will be screening.

In terms of Cannes friendly filmmakers, Pedro Almodóvar, Lukas Dhont, Asghar Farhadi, James Gray, and Paweł Pawlikowski all have likely movies in the lineup. Almodóvar has Bitter Christmas, Dhont has Coward, Farhadi returns with Parallel Tales, Gray’s Paper Tiger is one of the higher profile titles to probably play the south of France, while Pawlikowski has 1949. These all would be surprising exclusions at this point. Paper Tiger may well end up the biggest American title in the lineup, which could allow Gray to finally shine. Rumors are that it’s quite good, so that could make it an early Palme favorite, especially if there’s going to be an American winner this year.

The only other notable American title could turn out to be Jane Schoenbrun‘s Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, which is heavily rumored to be In Competition. That would be a major step up for the indie filmmaker, though would potentially set them up as a future festival favorite. If nothing else, genre works have found a home at Cannes of late, so even if this is just an offbeat horror title, it won’t suffer for it.

Thinking of directors who could be coming back to the fest after a time away, we have Lars von Trier‘s After and Nicolas Winding Refn’s Her Private Hell. Both are controversial filmmakers who have fans but also major detractors, so these likely won’t go from Cannes to the Academy Awards, but certainly, should they bow, will generate a ton of discussion.

A potential Oscar player, considering how NEON has already picked up North American rights, is Cristian Mungiu’s Fjord, especially for Renate Reinsve. Another presumed awards contender, even within my initial predictions, is Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s All of a Sudden, though as always, consider future awards with a grain of salt when thinking about Cannes and beyond.

Moving on, Takashi Miike and Werner Herzog have frequented the festival before, so they easily could again, while lower level Cannes favorites in Quentin Dupieux with Full Phil and Nanni Moretti with It Will Happen Tonight should end up joining the fray. Longer shots but still possibilities include Joel Coen‘s Jack of Spades, as well as the next film from Mike Leigh, provided he’s done with whatever he’s working on.

We’ll see what the lineup looks like soon enough, but the above titles, as well as what THR and Variety have posited, suggest a strong Cannes, even without a major Hollywood presence. Sit tight, as the announcement is just about a week away…

Stay tuned to see what ends up playing at the 79th Cannes Film Festival!