The Cannes Film Festival has released the official selection for its 78th edition, featuring a mix of returning auteurs and first-time filmmakers. Scheduled to run from May 13 to 24, this year’s lineup includes world premieres from directors such as Wes Anderson, Julia Ducournau, Ari Aster, and Richard Linklater.
Announced by festival delegate general Thierry Frémaux and president Iris Knobloch during a press conference in Paris, the lineup spans the main competition, Un Certain Regard, and various sidebars. French actor and Academy Award winner Juliette Binoche will serve as jury president. The rest of the jury remains unannounced.
Among the films selected for competition is Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme, debuting shortly before its theatrical release. Ari Aster returns with Eddington, a Western-inflected film distributed by A24. Linklater brings Nouvelle Vague, focused on the making of Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless. Ducournau’s Alpha is set in the 1980s and centers on a young girl rumored to carry a mysterious illness.
U.S. distributor Neon enters this year’s competition with two titles: Alpha and Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value, the latter reuniting the filmmaker with Renate Reinsve. Neon has won the Palme d’Or five years in a row, including for Parasite, Titane, and Anora.
Other competition entries include Kelly Reichardt’s Vietnam-era heist film The Mastermind, Jafar Panahi’s A Simple Accident, and Oliver Hermanus’s The History of Sound, a World War I-era romance starring Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor. The Dardenne brothers return with Young Mothers, while Dominik Moll presents the crime drama Dossier 137. The slate also includes new work from Carla Simón, Hafsia Herzi, Chie Hayakawa, and Mascha Schilinski.
The festival will open with Leave One Day, the debut feature by Amélie Bonnin. It screens out of competition alongside Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, which returns to Cannes ahead of its global release. Other out-of-competition entries include Vie Privée by Rebecca Zlotowski and The Richest Woman in the World by Thierry Klifa.
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Un Certain Regard features several first-time filmmakers. Scarlett Johansson makes her directorial debut with Eleanor the Great, while Harris Dickinson’s Urchin explores life on the margins in London. British-Nigerian director Akinola Davies Jr. enters with My Father’s Shadow, starring Sope Dìrísù. Other entries in the section include Aisha Can’t Fly Away by Morad Mostafa, Once Upon a Time in Gaza by Tarzan and Arab Nasser, and The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo by Diego Céspedes.
Special screenings this year include Stories of Surrender, a documentary about U2’s Bono directed by Andrew Dominik, and A Magnificent Life by Sylvain Chomet. Tell Her That I Love Her by Romane Bohringer also joins this category.
The Cannes Premiere selection includes Fatih Akin’s Amrum, Kirill Serebrennikov’s The Disappearance of Josef Mengele, Raoul Peck’s Orwell: 2 + 2 = 5, and Splitsville by Michael Angelo Covino. Midnight screenings are scheduled for Songs of the Neon Night by Juno Mak, Exit 8 by Genki Kawamura, and Dalloway by Yann Gozlan.
This year’s selection was drawn from a record 2,909 submissions, highlighting the festival’s reach across international cinema. Cannes continues to attract attention from established names and emerging talent alike.
