by Alex Billington
May 29, 2026
Are film festivals still important? How relevant are they nowadays? Is there something strange going on with film festivals worldwide that no one is talking about? These are some of the prominent questions on my mind in 2026 as the year rattles on. From Sundance to Berlinale to SXSW to Cannes and eventually right to Telluride/TIFF/Venice in the fall, there’s always another edition of each festival to look forward to coming up. The 2026 Cannes Film Festival just concluded in France, celebrating its 79th year in 2026, with an exciting jubilee 80th anniversary celebration coming up in 2027. But was it a good year in Cannes? Did they even play any good films? I’ve read some reports from outsiders who were not at the festival saying that they think it was an unexciting and mostly muted year in Cannes – not that many breakout films, not much that actually sounds exciting to watch. Well, I’m here to say they’re wrong. There ARE a handful of outstanding films from Cannes this year. Though perhaps not as many as usual. So there is some truth to their claim, and the Cannes 2026 was a bit lackluster overall, however I still believe that Cannes remains the king (or is it the queen?) of film festivals. They’ve still got all the best films, they’re still programming many iconic all-timer cinematic creations, and they’re still the vital place where it cinema history happens in May year after year.
Among the thousands of media and critics and journalists in Cannes, the two big questions that kept coming up over & over in conversations were: Has Cannes lost its way and isn’t that great anymore at choosing the best films to play? Does Cannes need big Hollywood movies and studio projects to be relevant? This latter question bothers me so much because the definitive answer is: no. No debate is necessary. Cannes simply does not need to play Hollywood movies, it doesn’t need them for prestige or star power (despite what some will say), none of that actually really matters… Good cinema is all that matters and will always be what matters most– no matter where it came from, no matter the budget, no matter who makes it. If there is a Hollywood movie worthy of premiering at Cannes, then sure why not screen it, that’s all good. But this year the constant media conversation was centered around this sort of pearl-clutching fear of but what are they going to do without a big Hollywood movie this year?! Nothing! Cannes, like many festivals, tries to choose a selection blindly without any bias. Of course, there are many major favorites and certain filmmakers they prefer, plus a bias towards any/everything French. But in general, Hollywood’s lack of presence didn’t affect the overall festival experience nor does it speak to the 2026 selection. The films were good anyway. Though I will concede and say that the films at Cannes 2026 were only good, not great – which is a different issue.
Halfway into the 2026 festival, I dropped a little thread on Twitter expressing thoughts on the bigger issue: All these complaints about Cannes being bad, no good films, Thierry Frémaux has lost it, they’re irrelevant, etc. They’re missing the bigger point which is – it’s not really the festival, it’s the entirety of cinema that is mid right now. If this is all THIS festival can play the industry is really lacking. Of course there are some real highlights & genuinely phenomenal films in the line-up. Always are. BUT this is more of a reflection of how cinema is struggling, how creativity is stagnant, how the industry is in a rough place now, and not just simply Cannes choosing not great films. No one likes to talk about this because it means admitting the world is going to sh*t and it’s all connected and even the movie industry is suffering (looking at what’s happening in Los Angeles). But I do believe the whole world is stuck in a rut right now and that includes cinema, too. I’ve been attending film festivals worldwide constantly for the past 20 years, I’ve sat through a number of different eras of cinema so far. The 2010s were a Golden Era for Sundance, but after the pandemic they’ve been struggling to return to that glory. Cannes is a in a bit of a rut as well, but that’s because I truly believe cinema (and art and creativity) is in a bit of a rut. It’s harder to get financing, dangerous to say the wrong with thing in your film, and audiences’ tastes have changed. I feel lucky every time we do see a terrific film.
Thinking back on Cannes, I did see a good amount of films that I believe could easily be counted as the Best of 2026: Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s All of a Sudden (aka Soudain –a personal instant all-timer fave), Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Minotaur (which really should’ve won the Palme d’Or), Jordan Firstman’s Club Kid, Sandra Wollner’s Everytime, Abinash Bikram Shah’s Elephants in the Fog, Marine Atlan’s La Gradiva, Jing Zou’s A Girl Unknown, Pierre Le Gall’s Flesh and Fuel, Lukas Dhont’s Coward, Javier Calvo & Javier Ambrossi’s The Black Ball (aka La Bola Negra), Ira Sachs’ The Man I Love, James Gray’s Paper Tiger (though some critics hated it), Paweł Pawlikowski’s Fatherland, Leah Nelson’s Tangles. And maybe a few others. Even though opinions on all of these films are subjective, of course, it’s pretty clear that Cannes did have a few phenomenal films to feature this year. Even if it’s not the strongest year, even if there were a lot of duds and misfires, the selection still did still feature a few of the best films of 2026. The rest of it cannot just be chalked up to, oh they rejected so many other good films, it’s their fault. Many other films were not ready in time for Cannes, or were never submitted, or might show up next year for the 80th festival (there are still rumors both Terrence Malick and Ruben Östlund will play their new films at Cannes 2027 instead).
Discussing what isn’t working within the industry and what’s broken with world in 2026 is a tricky topic to cover. Though there is no doubt about –things are pretty bad. It’s hard to talk about because every year, at every festival, critics and viewers will nevertheless find something incredible and claim that cinema is doing fine because they saw some good films. Yes it’s true they are still making great films, and I’m glad that many filmmakers are still delivering masterpieces in 2026, but that doesn’t mean the industry is healthy. In fact, the film industry is extremely unhealthy right now, which is evident in so many crises within many areas: financing woes, corporate mergers, strikes, LA production collapse, box office, moviegoing etiquette, layoffs, etc. Every single aspect of the industry struggling also effects how the films turn out. There were a number of major filmmakers who brought new films to Cannes this year that turned out to be huge disappointments. The biggest “bad films from good directors” at Cannes 2026 being: Pedro Almodovar’s Bitter Christmas, Hirokazu Koreeda’s Sheep in the Box, and Asghar Farhadi’s Parallel Tales. The rest of the line-up never really stood out, and even though I enjoyed some good films, they’re not the kind that will shake up cinema. But this is just one festival. They’re always going to have a mix of really good and really bad films. Will they ever have a line-up again so strong that literally every new film is great? Maybe one day, but I honestly don’t see this happening again soon. It’s going to take a while to get the whole industry on the right track again…
So has Cannes lost its touch? Nope! Do they still have the prestige? Yep! Though I seem to be one of the few saying this following my two week trip to the South of France to bask in the glory of the Mediterranean sun and the latest cinema offerings from Thierry Frémaux and his Cannes programming team. In opposition to my positivity, a few of my colleagues have also written about how disappointed they were with Cannes 2026. Wellington Almeida just published his festival recap with the headline: “Cannes Is In Crisis“; Blake Williams (who has been going for 20+ years as well) writing for Mubi’s Notebook published his final recap describing Cannes as “a festival with so few surprises these last few years.” While the glorious Cannes era of The Tree of Life and Amour and Drive may be over, we’re in a new era –for better or worse. There are always going to be real discoveries within the Cannes selection. They’re still the most powerful player in the film festival industry, the reigning champ that finds the best of the best and cherry picks their international faves. Even without Hollywood movies, and with bad movies from good filmmakers, the festival still remains a magical place where cinema comes to thrive and shine and glimmer– and be scrutinized by thousands of critics – under the lights of its famous red carpet. At this moment in cinema history, masterpieces may be few & far between. But I’m relieved I got to see at least one real masterpiece at Cannes (Hamaguchi’s All of a Sudden) this year. And I’ll happily be back next year to keep watching more of whatever Frémaux wants to show us.
