Cannes awards Palme d'Or to 'Fjord'

Cristian Mungiu’s “Fjord” took the Palme d’Or at the 79th Cannes Film Festival, according to the festival’s official winners list published after the closing ceremony on May 23. The prize was awarded by the feature-film jury led by South Korean director Park Chan-wook, who presided over this year’s competition. The same official list gave the Grand Prix to Andreï Zviaguintsev’s “Minotaure” and the Best Screenplay prize to Emmanuel Marre for “Notre Salut.” The 2026 edition ran from May 12 to May 23 in Cannes, France, with the closing ceremony staged at the Grand Théâtre Lumière in the Palais des Festivals, according to festival materials. Cannes had said in advance that the winners of the 79th edition would be unveiled during the closing ceremony on Saturday, May 23. (festival-cannes.com) ### Who won the top prizes in competition? The festival’s official winners list named “Fjord,” directed by Cristian Mungiu, as the Palme d’Or winner. It listed “Minotaure,” directed by Andreï Zviaguintsev, as the Grand Prix winner and credited Emmanuel Marre with the Best Screenplay prize for “Notre Salut.” The same list also recorded ex-aequo Best Director prizes for Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi for “La Bola Negra,” and for Pawel Pawlikowski for “Fatherland.” (festival-cannes.com) Festival materials also showed the acting prizes were split between duos. Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto won Best Performance for an Actress for “Soudain,” while Emmanuel Macchia and Valentin Campagne won Best Performance for an Actor for “Coward,” according to the official list. ### What is “Fjord” about, and who made it? (festival-cannes.com) “Fjord” is a 146-minute competition film from Romania, France, Norway, Sweden and Denmark, according to its Cannes page. The festival describes it as the story of the Gheorghius, a devout Romanian-Norwegian couple who move to a village on a distant fjord and come under scrutiny after their teenage daughter appears at school with bruises. (festival-cannes.com) The Cannes entry lists Cristian Mungiu as director and credits Sebastian Stan, Renate Reinsve, Lisa Carlehed, Ellen Dorrit Petersen, Lisa Loven Kongsli, Henrikke Lund-Olsen and Vanessa Ceban in the cast. Associated Press described the film as a Norway-set drama about political polarization. ### What did Park Chan-wook’s jury say about the choice? Park Chan-wook said at the jury press conference that “Fjord definitely deserved the Palme d’Or,” according to the festival’s published highlights from the session. (festival-cannes.com) The jury press conference page said Park was joined by Demi Moore, Ruth Negga, Laura Wandel, Diego Céspedes, Isaach de Bankolé, Paul Laverty, Chloé Zhao and Stellan Skarsgård. Chloé Zhao said the jury’s decisions on the acting prizes reflected the tenderness it saw in on-screen relationships. The festival’s account of the press conference quoted her as saying the jurors were moved by those relationships “in an age when loneliness is so widespread in our societies.” ### Why are “Minotaure” and “Notre Salut” part of the story? (festival-cannes.com) Andreï Zviaguintsev’s “Minotaure” emerged as the runner-up by taking the Grand Prix, the festival’s second-highest competition honor. In a Cannes winners’ event published after the ceremony, Zviaguintsev said he and his co-writers spent a year and a half on the screenplay and that he felt compelled, as a Russian director, “to testify to the real truth” during what he called a crisis in Russia. (festival-cannes.com) Emmanuel Marre’s “Notre Salut” won Best Screenplay, and the film also received the CST Award for Best Artist-Technician for editor Nicolas Rumpl, according to the same official winners list. Cannes describes “Notre Salut (A Man of His Time)” as a period film set in September 1940 in Vichy, centered on Henri Marre as he seeks a place in the new authoritarian administration. (festival-cannes.com) ### Where can readers verify the results and what comes next? The Festival de Cannes has published the complete 2026 winners list, individual award pages and the feature-film jury press conference on its official site. The festival’s live and media pages also carry post-ceremony photos, press conference material and award-specific entries for “Minotaure” and “Notre Salut.” (festival-cannes.com)