Cannes 2026 Competition Films Ranked: Palme d'Or Goes to Mungiu's 'Fjord'

The 2026 Cannes Film Festival competition, judged by a jury led by South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook, concluded with the Palme d'Or awarded to Cristian Mungiu's 'Fjord,' a divisive social drama set in a remote Norwegian town. The festival was considered weaker than the previous year's strong lineup. Other major prizes included the Grand Prix to Andrey Zvyagintsev's 'Minotaur,' a political thriller set in Putin's Russia post-2022 Ukraine invasion; Best Director shared by Paweł Pawlikowski for 'Fatherland' and Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi for 'The Black Ball'; Best Actress shared by Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto for Ryûsuke Hamaguchi's 'All of a Sudden'; Best Actor shared by Emmanuel Macchia and Valentin Campagne for Lukas Dhont's 'Coward'; and Best Screenplay to Emmanuel Marre for 'A Man of His Time.' The competition featured 22 films, with notable entries including James Gray's 'Paper Tiger,' Arthur Harari's 'The Unknown,' and Pedro Almodóvar's 'Bitter Christmas.' The festival ran for twelve days, and the ranking from best to worst was published by The New Yorker's critic.