5 takeaways from the 2026 Cannes Film Festival: AI, queer cinema

Cannes usually features at least one full-throttle Hollywood moment. Last year, Tom Cruise brought Mission: Impossible – Final Reckoning To the Palais, the same place where he made his debut top gun: maverick 2022. This year, Hollywood is starring Christopher Nolan (odyssey) and Steven Spielberg (Information release date) prefers to pass through the Croisette. None of the studio films graced that famous red carpet.

It was telling that the biggest crowd on the festival’s red carpet belonged to Universal’s 25-year-old action series. Late night anniversary screening fast and furious There were loud cheers outside the Palais and in the theater, and the celebration even brought Vin Diesel to tears. It was a moving moment, but also a quietly damning moment for a festival that had to go back a quarter of a century to find its Hollywood moment.

The reasons why the majors stayed home are manifold. Cannes is expensive, critics can be unforgiving, and box office success for festival premieres is never guaranteed. (At the presentation in Cannes, mission: impossible 8 It doesn’t seem to have helped much when the movie was finally released in theaters). Warner Bros.’ Last Year’s Success Battles continue one after another and sinner — the failure of two Academy Award-winning blockbusters to make it through the festival circuit — suggests that Cannes needs a studio more than Cannes needs a studio.

LGBTQ+ films dominated Cannes this year. The festival’s biggest and hottest films focused on queer characters, themes, or perspectives.

In competition, Ira Sachs the man i loveRami Malek received 10 minutes of applause and chatter for his Oscar-winning performance as a gay performance artist navigating the AIDS crisis in 1980s New York. bohemian rhapsody Star.

Lukas Dhondt, Belgian film director girl and closewhich surprised most critics, but was not hollywood reporterDavid Rooney — with cowardhis World War I drama about strange love in the trenches. And then there was Javis[Spanish coaching duo Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi]. La Bora Negra The film, which weaves together three generations of gay men during the Spanish Civil War and beyond, received the longest standing ovation in festival history (reportedly 20 minutes) and overwhelming critical acclaim.

Outside of competition, Jane Schoenbrunn’s Queer Slasher Teen sex and death at Miasma camp “Un Certain Regard” and “Jordan Firstman’s” opened club kidan Adam Sandler-like comedy with drugs and puppets, was the festival’s hottest ticket.

For the first week, the Marche felt like a wake to anyone you ask. When I asked them on the last day, the atmosphere had changed considerably. After a sluggish opening week with many sellers staring at their phones, the Cannes film market felt something of a second wind in its final stages, with a flurry of high-profile acquisitions injecting much-needed energy into what had been a cautious and defensive market.

The game-changing deal was struck early: Jordan Firstman breaks through Cannes club kid The film was sold to A24 after a fierce bidding war, with the indie distributor reportedly paying $17 million for world rights to the surprisingly sweet (and mostly family-friendly) comedy set in the gay club scene.

Then came the late surge.

Netflix picked up the animation work in the wavesand as of this writing is on the verge of securing domestic rights to the festival’s favorites. black ball (La Bora Negra) Starring Penelope Cruz and Glenn Close, Title by Léa Seydoux gentle monster. Both look like award plays for the streamer. Clockworx, the emerging specialty label that brings you a restored version of Ken Russell’s 1971 classic from Warner Bros. devils Cannes Classic screening scheduled, director Park Chan-wook in talks to appear Rattle Creek BanditsA revenge western written by bone tomahawk Written and directed by S. Craig Zahler, the North American cast will include Matthew McConaughey, Austin Butler, Pedro Pascal, and Tang Wei. If it were to close, it would be an important statement of intent for the newly created WB division.

While this year may not have been a bumper year in terms of contract volume, there was a sense of valuing quality over quantity, and as we neared the end, we began to see hopeful budding signs for the independent film industry.

The biggest drama at Cannes 2026 was off-screen and involved an escalating civil war between French film industry professionals and the country’s top studio Canal+.

On the eve of the festival, around 600 French film experts, including Juliette Binoche, Adele Haenel and Swann Arlot, signed an open letter protesting Canal+’s largest shareholder, right-wing media mogul Vincent Bollore. The letter minced no words in its condemnation of Bollore’s expanding French media empire. He is already a leading force in film and television production and is planning to buy UGC, the country’s third-largest theatrical company through Canal+ – a “fascist takeover of the collective imagination”.

The anti-Bolloré petition gained momentum after Canal+ CEO Maxime Saada spoke in Cannes and said he intended to blacklist the signatories. Thousands of people submitted their names to the open letter, including international stars such as Javier Bardem, Mark Ruffalo, Yorgos Lanthimos and Ken Loach.

By the end of the festival, there were over 3,500 names on the petition. France’s largest union representing entertainment workers has announced that it will file a lawsuit against Canal Plus over Saada’s threat of blacklisting. Audiences at the Cannes screening made their feelings known, booing loudly every time the Canal+ and Studiocanal logos appeared on the big screen.

With France’s general elections to be held next year and the far-right People’s Party expected to take on the presidential race, this French film drama is far from reaching its climax.

A humanoid robot spotted running up and down the Croisette River seemed to encapsulate the film industry’s worst AI fears. Machines are here and they are taking your place. But inside the palais and market tents, the conversation around artificial intelligence has moved beyond fear to one of anxious acceptance.

Demi Moore, a member of this year’s Cannes jury, said at the festival’s opening press conference that the battle against AI is “a battle we will lose,” suggesting the film industry needs to “find ways to work with AI.”

That is not Cannes’ official position. The festival has banned films that use generative artificial intelligence from its competition lineup. But in discussions at the Cannes film market and other industry events over the past two weeks, the tone is shifting.

Meta, the AI-friendly technology giant, has signed on as an official partner of the festival in a multi-year agreement. The AI ​​tool is [out of competition] Festival Entry: Steven Soderbergh Documentary John Lennon: The last interview. The Marché du Film hosted the AI ​​for Talent Summit, which focused on how to take the AI ​​revolution for granted and instead focus on ethical AI use, data sovereignty, and how technology can be used to enhance rather than replace creativity.

For the independent film industry, this felt like a turning point.