The 2026 edition of the Cannes Film Festival lowered its curtains on Saturday night by announcing the winner of this year’s Palme d’Or, the festival’s top prize.
Romanian director Cristian Mungiu brought home the award for his child abuse drama ‘Fjord’, his English-language debut.
This is the second Palme d’Or for Mingiu, who won the renowned honour in 2007 for his film ‘4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days’.
The second-most prestigious prize of the festival, the Grand Prix, was awarded to Andrey Zvyagintsev’s ‘Minotaur’, while ‘The Dreamed Adventure’, by Valeska Grisebach, brought home the Jury prize.
‘Minotaur’ is set in a small Russian town, and it follows a man as he finds out his wife is having an affair, while also casting a critique on the Ukraine war.
‘The Dreamed Adventure’ recounts the quest of a Bulgarian archeologist, Veska, as she gets involved in an illegal mission to help an old friend.
A conversation about faith and abuse
‘Fjord’ follows the life of the Gheorghius, a family of fervent Romanian evangelicals, as they move from Romania to Norway.
The husband, Mihai (played by Romanian-born American actor Sebastian Stan), is married to a Norwegian woman, Lisbet (Norwegian actress Renate Reinsve, of ‘Sentimental Value’ fame).
The family relocates to Lisbet’s native small town, creating a life for themselves that is based on discipline and religious devotion – ideals that are also instilled in the education of their children.
Here, they meet their non-Christian neighbours, who initially welcome them warmly.
The situation degenerates when one of the children is found with bruises all over her body, and her parents are accused of child abuse.
LGBTQ+ stories awarded at Cannes, multiple tied winners
This year’s edition of the Cannes Film Festival also saw the presence of a few stories featuring LGBTQ+ characters, with some of them being awarded important prizes.
The Best Actor prize was awarded to Emmanuel Macchia and Valentin Campagne for their roles in the WWI queer drama ‘Coward’, by Belgian director Lukas Dhont.
The film sets itself apart from ‘standard’ war dramas, and it follows a group of Belgian soldiers as they form a theatrical troupe aiming to entertain their fellow cadets.
The shows, often performed in drag, are a way to boost morale among the troupes, and also responsible for the affair that evolves between Francis and Pierre, two of the members of the ensemble.
Another tied award was granted to Spanish directors Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi for ‘La Bola Negra’, another queer story set in war times, in this instance during the Spanish Civil War.
The film, adapted from one of Gabriel Garcia Lorca’s unfinished works, follows three different men at different times in history, and reflects about hidden sexuality and repression.
The other winner of the directing accolade was Pawel Pawlikowski, who directed ‘Fatherland’, a feature following German writer Thomas Mann as he returns to his homeland after WWII.
Finally, Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto both won the award for Best Actress for Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s ‘All of a Sudden’.
MORE FILM NEWS: Quinta Brunson set to reimagine ‘Betty Boop’ origin story
Geoffrey H. Latayan 
Hazel Camba 
Jheruleene Anne Ramos