Villa Albertine resident Ugo Arsac was awarded Best Immersive Work at the 79th Festival de Cannes for Katàbasis, created during his residency in New York. The Jury of the Immersive Competition, presided by choreographer and filmmaker Blanca Li, presented him with the prize at the Carlton Hotel, where the Immersive Competition was hosted for its third edition — welcoming up to 200 guests per showcase.
Drawing on the myth of katabasis — a descent into the underworld — this interactive documentary explores New York’s underground labyrinth, within the city’s unconscious layers. Katábasis gives voice to those who live in these spaces, work through their tunnels, or hide in their corners: buried in unexpected places, their stories collide and resonate, shaping a vital and complex territory. The experience shifts perspective, revealing the bowels of the metropolis at the heart of a polarized American society.
“Katàbasis is a magnificent immersive work, deeply human, authentic and emotionally powerful, that allows us to reconnect with what binds together seemingly ordinary human beings.” — Blanca Li, Immersive Competition Jury President
Phuong Mai Nguyen opens Critics’ Week with In Waves — acquired by Netflix
2023 Villa Albertine resident Phuong Mai Nguyen arrived at Cannes with In Waves, her animated feature adaptation of AJ Dungo’s beloved 2019 graphic memoir. Selected to open the prestigious Critics’ Week sidebar, Shortly after its premiere, Netflix acquired global rights outside France — marking the streamer’s first major deal out of the 2026 festival, a sign of both the film’s quality and its broad appeal.
In In Waves, AJ, a shy teenager, meets Kristen while in high school in Los Angeles. Kristen is passionate about surfing… and she’s the most beautiful person he’s ever met. He falls madly in love with her. As life seems to finally come together for AJ, Kristen’s life starts falling apart, shattered by illness. Together, they will fight adversity with dignity and enjoy their now-shared passion for surfing and for the ocean, but also their loyal band of friends… even when they know Kristen is doomed. This is what happens when love and friendship become a wave stronger than anything else.
For the first time in the section’s history, an animated feature will open Critics’ Week (May 13–21). In Waves is among the 11 titles selected this year, marking a significant milestone for animation within this section of the Festival de Cannes.
2023 Villa Albertine resident Phuong Mai Nguyen’s film, In Waves, opened Cannes Critics Week and was subsequently purchased by Netflix.
Discover the full list of French (co-) produced winners at Cannes 2026
The 79th Cannes Film Festival confirmed the enduring strength of French and French co-produced cinema on the international stage. Across the official competition and the festival’s parallel sections — including Critics’ Week, the Directors’ Fortnight, and the Immersive Competition — French projects and co-productions secured major prizes.
FJORD, directed by Cristian MUNGIU
Romania, France, Norway, Sweden, Denmark Feature Films – Palme d’or
The Gheorghius, a devout Romanian Norwegian couple, resettle in a village set in a distant fjord where they become close to their neighbours, the Halbergs. Their children bond despite their different education.
When adolescent Elia Gheorghiu shows up at school with some bruises on her body, the community asks itself if the traditional education that the Gheorghiu children get from their parents might have anything to do with it.
146 minutes, 2026
MINOTAURE, directed by Andreï ZVIAGUINTSEV
France, Latvia, Germany Feature Films – Grand Prix
Russia, 2022. When Gleb, a successful company director, finds himself under siege from mounting corporate pressures and an increasingly unstable world, the collapse of his carefully ordered life accelerates toward violence.
140 minutes, 2026
Javier CALVO & Javier AMBROSSI for LA BOLA NEGRA
Spain, France Feature Films – Best Director Prize (ex-æquo)
‘La bola negra’ tells the interconnected stories of three men in three different eras. Three lives intimately linked by sexuality and desire, pain and inheritance, and one of Federico García Lorca´s last, unfinished works.
155 minutes, 2025
Pawel PAWLIKOWSKI for FATHERLAND
Poland, Germany, Italy, France Feature Films – Best Director Prize (ex-æquo)
FATHERLAND centres on the relationship between the Nobel Prize-winning writer Thomas Mann and his daughter Erika, actress, writer and rally driver. In the summer of 1949, at the height of the Cold War, father and daughter embark on a challenging and emotional road trip in a black Buick taking them across a Germany in ruins – from US dominated Frankfurt to Soviet controlled Weimar. Returning home after sixteen years of exile in the US, Thomas Mann has to face not only a divided fatherland, but also deep fracture within his own family.
With FATHERLAND, Pawlikowski picks up where he left off with his award-winning Ida and Cold War, exploring – in his elliptic, distilled way – the themes of identity, family, love and guilt amid the turmoil and confusion of post-war Europe.
September 1940. Henri Marre arrives alone in Vichy as the authoritarian regime settles in. Broke, estranged from his family, and carrying copies of his self-published manifesto Notre Salut (Our Salvation), the 49-year-old is determined to secure what he believes is his rightful place in the new administration. In his writing, Henri sets out his patriotic convictions and his engineer’s methodology: efficiency above all. Claiming he wants to help save France after defeat, he does whatever is required to remain useful, serving the machinery of the new order with increasing skill. But he may be pursuing something more urgent: escape from his own ruin.
155 minutes, 2026
DAS GETRÄUMTE ABENTEUER, directed by Valeska GRISEBACH
Germany, France, Bulgaria, Austria Feature Films – Jury Prize
In Svilengrad, a small town on the Bulgarian border, Veska, crosses paths with Said, an old acquaintance whose car has been stolen. Offering her help, she brings him along to the excavation site where she is working as an archaeologist. As they reconnect, Veska is pulled more into the shady world that he (Said) has emerged from, soon embarking on her own exploration of the criminal ties that lurk beneath the surface of this seemingly innocent town at the outskirts of Europe. As figures from her own past start to close in, Veska is forced to confront the truth about the town and her experiences.
167 minutes, 2026
Virginie EFIRA and Tao OKAMOTO in SOUDAIN
France, Japan, Germany, Belgium Feature Films – Best Performance for an Actress
Director of a care facility for the elderly, Marie-Lou strives to introduce an innovative care philosophy based on listening and respecting residents’ dignity, despite resistance from part of her staff. Her encounter with Mari, a Japanese theater director battling cancer, will profoundly reshape her path. By forming a deep, supportive friendship, the two women join forces in a shared struggle to “make the impossible possible.”
Directed by HAMAGUCHI Ryusuke
196 minutes, 2026
Emmanuel MACCHIA and Valentin CAMPAGNE in COWARD
Belgium, France, Netherlands Feature Films – Best Performance for an Actor
As the First World War drags on, Pierre, a soldier newly arrived at the front, is eager to prove himself. Behind the lines, he meets Francis, who decides to lift the spirits of his comrades by putting together a theatre show. While the violence continues, both men try to find ways to escape the brutality of war, even if only for a moment.
In a Nepalese village nestled in the heart of a forest inhabited by wild elephants, Pirati, the matriarch of a Kinnar community, dreams of escaping to live with the man she loves. But when one of her daughters goes missing, she must investigate and choose between her desire for freedom and her responsibilities to her community.
103 minutes, 2026
IRON BOY, directed by Louis CLICHY
France, Belgium Un Certain Regard – Special Jury Prize
In rural France, Christophe (10) tries to live up to his rigid and distant father on the family farm. But the young boy starts to lean over and collapse without warning – on the tractor, at school, at dinner…
A doctor finds the solution: Christophe must wear an iron corset to keep himself upright. Forced to reinvent his life away from the farm, Christophe discovers a new passion for music, meets a new friend, and follows her into his first mischief.
But will any of this really fix what is out of balance?
89 minutes, 2026
Bradley FIOMONA DEMBEASSET, in CONGO BOY
Central African, France, The Democratic Republic Of The Congo, Italy Short Films – Best Actor
Bangui, Central African Republic. 17 year-old Robert dreams of a career in music, but civil war is tearing the country apart. When both his parents are thrown into prison, he is left to look after his four younger siblings on his own, juggling daily life, odd jobs, school exams and concert stages, determined to follow his dream.
Directed by Rafiki FARIALA
95 minutes, 2026
Marina DE TAVIRA, Daniela MARÍN NAVARRO, Mariangel VILLEGAS in SIEMPRE SOY TU ANIMAL MATERNO
Belgium, France, Mexico Short Films – Best Actresses
After years studying in Europe, Elsa returns to Costa Rica to reunite with her family. She finds her younger sister living alone in the family home, growing increasingly distant and reclusive, as if slipping into a world of her own. Their parents, meanwhile, are absorbed in their own lives. Her father drifts through a series of affairs, while her mother is immersed in republishing the erotic poems of her youth, neither fully grasping the urgency of the situation. Elsa’s return draws the three women into a confrontation with what still binds them, despite everything
Directed by Valentina MAUREL
100 minutes, 2025
BEN’IMANA, directed by Marie-Clémentine DUSABEJAMBO
Rwanda, 2012. In the years following the Genocide against the Tutsi, community-led trials for justice and reconciliation continue across the country. Vénéranda, a survivor, leads dialogue between victims and the families of perpetrators, helping others rebuild their lives and look towards the future. But when she learns of her daughter’s unexpected pregnancy, she is forced to confront the limits of her own convictions.
101 minutes, 2025
ALDRIG NOK (Never Enough), directed by Julius LAGOUTTE LARSEN
Agnes and Selma, best friends, shared everything. When Selma leaves their Copenhagen flat, a void settles in. Left on her own, Agnes drifts. The harder she tries to hold on, the more the bonds begin to fray.
25 minutes, 2026
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