Cannes Directors’ Fortnight Unveils Starry 2026 Lineup

Kantemir Balagov’s New Jersey-set drama Butterfly Jam, starring Barry Keoghan and Riley Keough, will open the 58th edition of Cannes Directors’ Fortnight.

It is among 19 features, selected from 1,800 submissions, and nine short and medium-length works announced on Tuesday by the parallel section for its 2026 edition running from May 13 to 23, alongside the Cannes Film Festival.

Butterfly Jam revolves around a teenager from growing up in New Jersey’s Circassian community, with dreams of becoming a wrestler, whose life takes an unexpected turn when one of his father’s misguided schemes goes wrong.

It is exiled Russian director Balagov’s first English-language feature after his 2019 Cannes breakout Beanpole.

It is produced by Alexander Rodnyansky’s AR Content, Pascal Caucheteux’s Why Not Productions (Emilia Pérez) and Goodfellas, which is also handling sales.

Artistic Director Julien Rejl, and his team have delivered one of the most high-profile and starriest Directors’ Fortnight selections since he took first took the helm for the 2023 edition.

Aside from Butterfly Jam, with Keoghan and Keough, the lineup also features Reed Van Dyk’s Iraqi war veteran drama Atonement, with Kenneth Branagh, Hiam Abbass and Boyd Holbrook; Arie Esiri and Chuko Esiri’s ‘Mrs Dalloway-reimagining Clarissa with Sophie Okonedo, David Oyelowo and Ayo Edebiri, and July Jung’s Dora, starring Japanese actress Sakura Ando (Shoplifters) and K-pop star and actress Kim Do-yeon.

Shot in 35mm in Nigeria, Clarissa is the second feature from the Esiri brothers after debut Eyimofe (This Is My Desire), which premiered in Berlin and went on to win five African Movie Academy Awards.

Neon acquired U.S. rights to the film earlier this year and is also handling international sales. It one of two Neon prebuys in this year’s selection alongside documentary Once Upon A Time In Harlem, which debuted in Sundance this year. Read Deadline’s deep dive into the film here.

Rejl, who marked his early editions with a desire to true discoveries, that had not even been scouted up by development labs, appears to have changed his approach for this edition.

A number of established directors have made the cut this year including Clio Barnard’s I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning; Radu Jude’s The Diary of a Chambermaid; Alain Cavalier’s Thanks for Coming (Merci d’être venu); Lisandro Alonso’s Double Freedom, Quentin Dupieux‘s Le Vertige and Domingo Sotomayor’s La Perra.

Starring Anthony Boyle, Joe Cole, Jay Lycurgo, Daryl McCormack and Lola Petticrew and adapted from the book of the same name by Keiran Goddard, I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning marks Bernard’s third time in Ava & Ali and The Selfish Giant.

Cavalier’s Thanks for Coming (Merci d’être venu) continue his series of works documenting his life and thought on filmmaking as he ages, and could be the last work of the 94-year-old director.

Jude’s adaptation of Octave Mirbeau’s classic The Diary of a Chambermaid, starring Ana Dumitrascu alongside Vincent Macaigne and Mélanie Thierry, marks the Romanian director’s first time in Cannes.

A late submission, Argentinian director Alonso’s new film is described as a demi-remake of his 2001 breakthrough film Freedom revisiting the protagonist Misael in a different time of Argentina’s history.

There is still space for first films in the section, which last year debuted Iraqi drama The President’s Cake, which went on to win the Cannes Caméra d’Or prize, open to all first films playing across the Official Selection and parallel sections, and then made it to the short list in the International Feature Film category 98th Academy Awards as Iraq’s submission.

Six first films are in the mix this year including 9 Temples To Heaven by Thai director Sompot Chidgasornpongse, a long-time collaborator of Apichatpong Weerasethakul who previously took assistant director credits on Memoria and Cemetery of Splendour.

Other debuts include Atonement, Norwegian director Eivind Landsvik’s Low Expectations, French filmmaker Maxence Voiseux’s documentary Gabin, Swiss-Italian director Sarah Arnold’s Too Many Beasts and Japanese director Kohei Kadowaki’s We Are Aliens.

As previously announced, Directors’ Fortnight will fete Claire Denis will be feted with the honorary Golden Carriage (Carrosse d’Or) at the opening ceremony on May 13.

Cannes Directors’ Fortnight 2026 Edition

Feature Films

(*denotes first film and eligibility for Caméra d’Or)

Butterfly Jam (opening film)
Dir: Kantemir Balagov

9 Temples To Heaven *
Dir: Sompot Chidgasornpongse

Atonement *
Dir: Reed Van Dyk

Clarissa
Dirs: Arie Esiri & Chuko Esiri

Death has no master (La muerte no tiene dueño)
Dir: Jorge Thielen Armand

The Diary of a Chambermaid
Dir: Radu Jude

Dora
Dir: July Jung

Double Freedom (La libertad doble)
Dir: Lisandro Alonso

Gabin * – documentary
Dir: Maxence Voiseux