Fjord wins Palme d'Or at Cannes

Cristian Mungiu’s “Fjord” won the Palme d’Or at the 79th Cannes Film Festival, according to the festival’s official winners list and multiple reports published after the closing ceremony. The award was announced by a jury led by South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook at the end of the festival in Cannes, France. “Fjord” is a Norway-set drama and marks Mungiu’s second Palme d’Or after his 2007 win for “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days.” ### How was the top prize confirmed? The Festival de Cannes published its official palmarès listing “FJORD réalisé par Cristian MUNGIU” as the Palme d’Or winner. The same official list named Andreï Zviaguintsev’s “Minotaure” for the Grand Prix and showed Pawel Pawlikowski and the duo Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi sharing the directing prize. (festival-cannes.com) NBC News and France 24 also reported that “Fjord” took the top prize at the closing ceremony. Those reports described the film as a Norway-set drama and said the award came at the end of the 2026 edition of the festival. ### What is “Fjord” about? Festival de Cannes described “Fjord” as Mungiu’s first foreign-language film and said its story unfolds in a Norwegian setting. (festival-cannes.com) The festival’s synopsis says a Romanian-Norwegian couple moves to a village at the end of a fjord, where their family becomes close to neighbors before school authorities discover concerns about the children’s education. (nbcnews.com) RogerEbert.com and NBC News both characterized the film as a drama centered on a Romanian family in Norway, while NBC said it deals with political polarization. UPI reported that the cast includes Sebastian Stan, and NBC said Renate Reinsve also stars. ### Why is this win notable for Mungiu? Cristian Mungiu had already won the Palme d’Or in 2007 for “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days,” according to the festival’s own background note on “Fjord.” That made this his second victory in Cannes’ top competition, a detail repeated by NBC News, RogerEbert.com and other festival coverage. (festival-cannes.com) (rogerebert.com) Le Monde reported that the jury, chaired by Park Chan-wook, awarded Mungiu the Palme d’Or for the second time at the 79th edition. RogerEbert.com quoted Park as saying he had spent the festival discussing “films by diverse personalities alongside jurors with diverse personalities,” describing the process as a source of “happiness.” (festival-cannes.com) ### Who else won at Cannes this year? Andreï Zviaguintsev’s “Minotaure” won the Grand Prix, according to the official Cannes list. The same list said the directing prize was shared by Pawel Pawlikowski for “Fatherland” and Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi for “La Bola Negra.” The official winners list also gave the screenplay prize to Emmanuel Marre for “Notre Salut” and the Jury Prize to Valeska Grisebach’s “Das Geträumte Abenteuer.” It awarded the acting prizes to Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto for “Soudain,” and to Emmanuel Macchia and Valentin Campagne for “Coward.” (festival-cannes.com) (lemonde.fr) ### Where can readers find the official record? The Festival de Cannes has posted both the official 2026 winners list and a separate Palme d’Or press conference entry for “Fjord.” Those festival pages provide the formal record of the awards announced at the close of the May 12-23 event in Cannes. (festival-cannes.com) The 79th Festival de Cannes ran from May 12 to May 23, 2026, according to the festival site. The next public materials tied to the win are the festival’s archived video and press pages for the Palme d’Or conference featuring Mungiu and “Fjord.” (festival-cannes.com 1) (festival-cannes.com 2)