Cannes Critics’ Week Lineup

Cannes Critics’ Week will open its 2026 edition with *In Waves*, the first animated feature ever chosen to launch the Cannes sidebar. (deadline.com) Organizers unveiled 11 features and 13 shorts on Monday, selected from 1,050 feature submissions and 2,400 short submissions for the section’s 65th edition. Seven films will play in competition, and the sidebar runs from May 13 to May 21 in Cannes. (variety.com, thewrap.com) *In Waves* is the debut feature from French Singaporean director Phuong Mai Nguyen and adapts A. J. Dungo’s 2019 graphic memoir set in California. Deadline reported that the English-language voice cast includes Will Sharpe and Stephanie Hsu, and Variety reported that the French version includes Lyna Khoudri and Rio Vega. (deadline.com, variety.com) Critics’ Week is not the main Cannes competition. It is a parallel section focused on first and second features, which makes it a launchpad for newer directors rather than an awards race dominated by established names. (variety.com, thewrap.com) That role gives the lineup outsized industry attention each spring, because Cannes often introduces filmmakers before they move into the festival’s bigger sections or the wider awards circuit. The Wrap said past Cannes debuts in Critics’ Week include Guillermo del Toro, Julia Ducournau, Bernardo Bertolucci, Jacques Audiard, Ken Loach and Alejandro González Iñárritu. (thewrap.com) This year’s competition titles include Zou Jing’s *A Girl Unknown*, Sara Ishaq’s *The Station*, Blerta Basholli’s *Dua*, Bruno Santamaria Razo’s *Seis meses en el edificio rosa con azul*, Marine Atlan’s *La Gradiva*, Alexander Murphy’s *Tin Castle* and Aina Clotet’s *Viva*. The section will close with Félix de Givry’s *Adieu monde cruel*. (thewrap.com, deadline.com) The lineup also reflects how international this year’s Cannes programming is. The Wrap reported that none of the seven competition films or four special screenings in Critics’ Week come from United States filmmakers, even though *In Waves* is set in California. (thewrap.com) The broader 2026 Cannes festival runs from May 12 to May 23, with the official selection announced on April 9. Festival organizers said the main lineup includes films from directors including Pedro Almodóvar, Asghar Farhadi, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Cristian Mungiu and Ira Sachs. (festival-cannes.com, deadline.com) Trade and fashion coverage is already treating Cannes as an early marker for the next awards season. Vogue’s roundup of 17 anticipated festival releases said the 2026 edition is lighter on Hollywood studio titles and heavier on international arthouse films, with Park Chan-wook serving as jury president. (vogue.com, festival-cannes.com) For Critics’ Week, the immediate test is simpler: whether a California-set animated love story can do for this sidebar in May what Cannes discoveries often do every year — arrive as a debut and leave as a name to watch. (deadline.com, thewrap.com)