Clio Barnard wins Directors' Fortnight People's Choice

Clio Barnard’s “I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning” won the Directors’ Fortnight People’s Choice Audience Award at Cannes, trade outlets and the section’s organizer said on May 21. Deadline first reported the result, and the official Quinzaine des Cinéastes website listed Barnard’s film as the 2026 People’s Choice. The award is based on audience voting in the parallel Cannes section. The result gives Barnard one of the strand’s headline prizes before the main festival announces its top awards. ### Which prize did Clio Barnard win? The Quinzaine des Cinéastes website said “I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning” was the 2026 People’s Choice, with support from the Chantal Akerman Foundation. The site describes the honor as the People’s Choice for the Directors’ Fortnight strand, known in French as the Quinzaine des Cinéastes. Deadline reported that Barnard had “clinched” the People’s Choice Audience Award in the parallel Cannes section. Variety also described the prize as the Directors’ Fortnight People’s Choice Award, calling it the section’s only official prize. ### How is the award decided? The official Directors’ Fortnight website said the prize is an audience award. Eye For Film reported that the winner was “voted on by those who attended the screenings,” matching the section’s framing of the honor as a public-choice result rather than a jury prize. The Quinzaine des Cinéastes site said the award was launched in 2024 and called it “the first audience award in the history of the Festival de Cannes.” That gives the prize a short track record but a defined place inside the parallel section’s programming. ### What is Barnard’s film about? Deadline said “I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning” stars Anthony Boyle, Joe Cole, Jay Lycurgo and Daryl McCormack. Variety described the film as a British title and said it was the highest-profile U.K. winner in this year’s Directors’ Fortnight. Wikipedia and festival coverage identify the film as a 2026 drama directed by Barnard, co-written with Enda Walsh and based on Keiran Goddard’s novel of the same name. The film screened at Cannes on May 20, according to the available festival listing. ### Where does Directors’ Fortnight fit inside Cannes? Directors’ Fortnight runs alongside the main Cannes Film Festival rather than inside the competition for the Palme d’Or. The Quinzaine des Cinéastes site said the section has existed since 1969 and presents its own lineup during the festival. Cannes trade coverage treated the announcement as part of the side-awards cycle that arrives before the festival’s main closing prizes. Variety reported a second Fortnight-related award for Lila Pinell’s “Shana,” which took the SACD Coup de Cœur des Auteurs prize from the French rights society SACD. ### What happens next at Cannes? May 23 is the listed end date for the 2026 Directors’ Fortnight, according to festival materials. The main Cannes Film Festival is still moving toward its closing awards, including the Palme d’Or, as side sections finish their own announcements. Barnard’s film will now carry the Fortnight audience prize out of Cannes as buyers, distributors and festival watchers track the remaining awards from the Croisette over the final days of the event.