Cannes opens with 'The Electric Kiss'

Pierre Salvadori’s “The Electric Kiss” opened the 2026 Cannes Film Festival on May 20, launching the 79th edition with an out-of-competition screening in Cannes, according to the festival and Deadline. The French-language film, listed by the festival as “La Vénus électrique,” was announced earlier this spring as the opening title and then screened as the event got underway this week. Deadline said its Cannes reviews and live coverage began on May 20 and will continue through the Palme d’Or announcement. The official festival selection also includes new competition films from Cristian Mungiu and Hirokazu Kore-eda. ### Why is “The Electric Kiss” the film attached to opening night? The Festival de Cannes said “The Electric Kiss” was chosen as the opening film for the 79th edition and classified it as out of competition. Deadline separately reported that the movie served as the festival’s opening-night picture. (deadline.com) Festival materials describe the film as a period comedy set in 1928 Paris. In an interview published by the festival, Salvadori said the film reunites Anaïs Demoustier, Pio Marmaï, Gilles Lellouche and Vimala Pons in a story involving a fake medium, a grieving painter, a gallery owner and a ghost moving through the Paris art world. (festival-cannes.com) ### What did Deadline say as Cannes got underway? Deadline’s May 20 Cannes reviews page said the 2026 festival was underway with Salvadori’s film as the opening-night title. The outlet framed the page as a running list of reviews from the festival. Deadline also published a separate interview with Salvadori before the screening, describing the film as a Roaring Twenties Paris-set romantic tragicomedy. (festival-cannes.com) That report named Pio Marmaï, Anaïs Demoustier, Vimala Pons and Gilles Lellouche in the cast. ### Which returning directors are in competition this year? The Festival de Cannes official selection for 2026 includes Cristian Mungiu’s “Fjord” in competition. (deadline.com) The same selection lists Hirokazu Kore-eda’s “Sheep in the Box” among the competition titles. The festival’s competition lineup also includes films by Pedro Almodóvar, Asghar Farhadi, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, James Gray, Pawel Pawlikowski, László Nemes, Ira Sachs and Andrei Zvyagintsev, according to the official selection page. (deadline.com) ### How does the festival itself describe this year’s slate? The Festival de Cannes published its 2026 selection in April and later updated the list after adding titles. (festival-cannes.com) The official release places “The Electric Kiss” outside competition while setting the main Palme d’Or field with more than 20 competition features. (festival-cannes.com) The selection page also breaks out sections including Un Certain Regard, Cannes Premiere, Midnight Screenings and special screenings. “The Electric Kiss” appears on the festival’s broader selection page under out-of-competition titles. ### What happens next at Cannes? May 20 marked the start of Deadline’s rolling Cannes coverage, and Vanity Fair has also said it is tracking events through the Palme d’Or announcement, indicating the festival’s press cycle is now moving into the review and awards-watch phase. (festival-cannes.com) The Palme d’Or announcement is the next major milestone for the festival, while competition screenings for films including Mungiu’s “Fjord” and Kore-eda’s “Sheep in the Box” remain central to the 2026 lineup as press and jury attention builds in Cannes. (festival-cannes.com 1) (festival-cannes.com 2) (deadline.com)