The Cannes Film Festival completed its 2026 competition lineup Wednesday by adding 16 titles to the 79th edition, headlined by James Gray’s crime thriller Paper Tiger — a star-packed New York story that ends weeks of public speculation and locks in one of the most anticipated world premieres of the festival season.
Gray’s film, starring Adam Driver and Miles Teller as two brothers whose pursuit of the American dream pulls them into a deadly Russian mafia scheme, will compete for the Palme d’Or alongside 21 other titles. The addition makes Gray one of only two American directors in competition — the other being Ira Sachs with The Man I Love — in a lineup otherwise dominated by international filmmakers. Neon acquired North American distribution rights to the film, extending a remarkable streak: the indie distributor has now released the past six consecutive Palme d’Or winners domestically, and arrives at this year’s festival with six titles in competition.
Cannes artistic director Thierry Frémaux had signaled his intent to include the film when he unveiled the initial lineup on April 8, calling it “very indie” and acknowledging he was still chasing the title. The European-heavy selection prompted questions about Hollywood’s reduced presence at the festival. Frémaux attributed the shift to structural changes in the industry, telling reporters that studios are “less prominent” and that European cinema — particularly France — has grown stronger as a result.
Outside the main competition, the additions carry considerable cultural weight. Judith Godrèche makes her feature directing debut with A Girl’s Story, an adaptation of Nobel laureate Annie Ernaux’s autobiographical novel, screening in Un Certain Regard. Godrèche, whose 2024 sexual abuse accusations against two prominent French directors convulsed the country’s film industry, previously directed a short film at Cannes in 2023. Her debut feature stars Valérie Dréville and Anna Mouglalis in a story set around the pivotal summer of 1958.
Also joining Un Certain Regard is Zachary Wigon’s Victorian Psycho, a gothic horror-thriller starring Maika Monroe, Thomasin McKenzie, Jason Isaacs, and Ruth Wilson. Based on Virginia Feito’s novel, the film follows a governess with psychopathic tendencies in Victorian England. Bleecker Street holds U.S. rights.
Greek director Konstantina Kotzamani’s Titanic Ocean, a coming-of-age drama set at a Japanese boarding school that trains teenage girls as professional mermaids, rounds out the Un Certain Regard additions. The festival runs May 12 through May 23.
