{"id":480121,"date":"2026-05-12T01:57:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T01:57:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/480121\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T01:57:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T01:57:23","slug":"cannes-2026-which-irish-stars-will-be-there-and-what-will-win-the-palme-dor-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/480121\/","title":{"rendered":"Cannes 2026: Which Irish stars will be there and what will win the Palme D\u2019Or? \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe\u2019ve been seeing films that make us happy,\u201d Thierry Fr\u00e9maux, director of Cannes<\/a> film festival, said after revealing the 2026 selection a few weeks ago. \u201cCinema<\/a> is in a state of constant creativity and renewal.\u201d <\/p>\n

All true. And the world\u2019s most important film festival continues to reflect those changes. It is more important than ever. At no point in the event\u2019s lengthy history has it had such an influence on the Academy Awards. Visit the French city this month and, with thousands of movie<\/a> professionals buzzing about, it would be easy to dismiss all suggestions of cinema\u2019s ill health. The Palme d\u2019Or is the award every highfalutin director wants to win, and few previous editions have had such a distinguished line-up of auteurs. <\/p>\n

The 2026 official selection has, nonetheless, kicked up a few questions. Chief among them is \u2026<\/p>\n

1. Where are the studio blockbusters?<\/p>\n

For the first time in some years, Cannes is conspicuously short of the biggest stars in the biggest movies. Recent editions have boasted new films in the Mad Max, Top Gun, Mission: Impossible and Indiana Jones franchises. <\/p>\n

Fr\u00e9maux was clearly hoping that Steven Spielberg\u2019s Disclosure Day, which opens in June, would make it to the Croisette, but Universal Pictures wasn\u2019t interested. <\/p>\n

\u201cQuantitatively, studios are producing fewer blockbusters,\u201d the Cannes director said. Well, maybe. This may just be a question of timing. Disclosure Day aside, no obvious contenders present themselves. Toy Story 5, arriving on June 19th, might have been a goer, but animated films don\u2019t have the same oomph. The Odyssey is due in July, but Christopher Nolan rarely opens at festivals.<\/p>\n

2. But there are Americans here, right?<\/p>\n

Oh sure. James Gray, one of the competition\u2019s most regular visitors, is back with Paper Tiger, a crime drama starring Scarlett Johansson, Adam Driver and Miles Teller. That film will be up against Rami Malek and Rebecca Hall in Ira Sachs\u2019s The Man I Love, a musical set during New York\u2019s Aids years. <\/p>\n

In what seems to be a recurring phenomenon here, movie stars are back behind the camera. Andy Garcia directs Vicky Krieps and Brendan Fraser in the thriller Diamond. John Travolta makes his feature-directing debut with a family drama entitled (deep breath) Propeller One-Way Night Coach. Both of those are out of competition. Many more of our US cousins are scattered across the programme.<\/p>\n

3. What is in it for the Irish?<\/p>\n

No doubt many of our film-makers were pitching for spots, but there was, alas, no repetition of the 2024 announcement, when an unprecedented six Irish productions made it into the festival. <\/p>\n

The only Irish film in the selection is Alexander Murphy\u2019s documentary Tin Castle. Telling the story of the O\u2019Reilly Traveller family, the film will play in the prestigious Critics Week strand, aimed at first- and second-time film-makers. It was there, in 2022, that Paul Mescal launched Aftersun, for which he eventually scored an Oscar nomination. <\/p>\n

\"TinTin Castle, a documentary about Irish Travellers by Alexander Murphy <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a beautiful documentary,\u201d Eamon Hughes, the film\u2019s producer, told The Irish Times. \u201cAnd screening it to these audiences means a lot to both us the film-makers and, also, to the O\u2019Reilly family.\u201d<\/p>\n

4. But isn\u2019t there plenty of Irish talent about?<\/p>\n

You bet. We can\u2019t pretend all Irish actors involved will have time to tread the red carpet, but there are certainly plenty of thespians on the cast lists. <\/p>\n

Barry Keoghan will surely want to be there to see Kantemir Balagov\u2019s Butterfly Jam, in which he stars opposite Riley Keough, open the Directors\u2019 Fortnight strand. <\/p>\n

Balagov blew everyone away with Beanpole, a tale of Leningrad during the second World War, at Cannes in 2019. Many eyes will therefore be on this study of life around a Circassian diner in New Jersey, the cast of which also features Harry Melling and newcomer Talha Akdogan. <\/p>\n

5. Did we hear that Clio Barnard\u2019s new film features a string of Irish stars?<\/p>\n

Barnard, the Yorkshire-born director of the celebrated The Arbour, has, indeed, cast Ireland\u2019s finest in her take on Keiran Goddard\u2019s novel I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning. Written with Enda Walsh, the film stars Anthony Boyle and Lola Petticrew, both from Belfast, opposite the Nenagh actor Daryl McCormack in a tale set in Birmingham. <\/p>\n

\"DarylDaryl McCormack stars in I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning. Photograph: Hoda Davaine\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

That plays in Directors\u2019 Fortnight, as does Reed Van Dyk\u2019s Iraq War drama Atonement, starring Kenneth Branagh. <\/p>\n

Michael Fassbender turns up in the main competition alongside his wife, Alicia Vikander, in Na Hong-jin\u2019s Hope. The Korean action flick has already generated deafening buzz.<\/p>\n

6. Is that our Ruth Negga on the main jury?\"RuthRuth Negga takes on prestigious role. Photograph: Pierre Suu\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

It certainly is. Limerick\u2019s proudest daughter will be treading the red carpet nightly as the films competing for the Palme d\u2019Or screen. It\u2019s a prestigious gig that has involved a few former jurors in famous fights. <\/p>\n

Joining her around the table will be actor Demi Moore, the Swedish great Stellan Skarsg\u00e5rd and the Ivory Coast star Isaach de Bankol\u00e9. Three international film-makers flesh out the bones: Laura Wandel, from Belgium; Diego C\u00e9spedes, from Chile; and the Oscar-winner Chlo\u00e9 Zhao, from China. <\/p>\n

Paul Laverty, writer of Palme d\u2019Or winners The Wind That Shakes the Barley and I, Daniel Blake, will also be under the watchful eye of the jury\u2019s president, Park Chan-wook. Jacob Elordi was all set to serve before breaking a foot. <\/p>\n

7. So is it really the battle of the auteurs?<\/p>\n

It looks that way. You can see that as a good or a bad thing. A host of previously honoured directors are in competition. Ry\u00fbsuke Hamaguchi, Pedro Almod\u00f3var, Lukas Dhont, Pawel Pawlikowski, Andrey Zvyagintsev, L\u00e1szl\u00f3 Nemes and Asghar Farhadi have all won big prizes here. <\/p>\n

Two former Palme d\u2019Or winners reappear: Hirokazu Kore-eda with the science-fiction puzzler Sheep in the Box and Cristian Mungiu with the hotly tipped family drama Fjord. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Hokum review: Adam Scott excels in this Irish ghost story with a sly sense of funOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

This presumably means the standard will be high, but it also speaks of a return to familiar faces. For newer voices one need look towards the sidebars and satellite strands. On which topic \u2026<\/p>\n

8. Teenage Sex and Death What Now?<\/p>\n

For many, the hottest ticket at the event will be Jane Schoenbrun\u2019s Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma. The American film-maker has already dragged up a fervent cult following for their self-conscious horror movies We\u2019re All Going to the World\u2019s Fair and I Saw the TV Glow. <\/p>\n

It was much predicted that Schoenbrun would premiere in the main competition, but, in the event, they open the parallel Un Certain Regard sidebar. Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson star in (as you probably guessed) a riff on 1980s slasher flicks. The trailer promises another collision of broad shocks and graduate-school chin-rubbing. <\/p>\n

9. What will be the big subjects of discussion on the Croisette?<\/p>\n

Two big topics will dominate. Shareholders at Warner Bros Discovery recently approved a takeover by Paramount (Skydance) that looks to involve the exchange of some $111 billion. Many on the ground here will be among the 4,000 Hollywood professionals who signed a letter opposing the merger. <\/p>\n

Then there is the growing threat from AI that caused the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to tweak its rules last week. <\/p>\n

With all that in mind, one might expect attendees to be pushing carts up Rue d\u2019Antibes while yelling \u201cBring out your dead.\u201d (\u201cFaites ressortir vos morts.\u201d) <\/p>\n

10. What will win the Palme d\u2019Or (or secure an Oscar nomination)?\"SandraSandra H\u00fcller could secure an Oscar nomination for her performance in Fatherland. Photograph: Kate Green\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

As ever, at this time of year, we turn to the busy film programmer Neil Young. The Wearside man, now resident in Vienna, has Pawlikowski\u2019s Fatherland, the monochrome tale of Thomas Mann\u2019s later years, as Palme favourite, at 4-1. That film could surely also land a best-supporting-actress nomination at the Oscars for Sandra H\u00fcller. Pawlikowski won the Academy Award for best foreign-language film with Ida in 2015. <\/p>\n

Young follows that up with Andrey Zvyagintsev\u2019s Minotaur, at 5-1, and Ryusuke Hamaguchi\u2019s All of a Sudden, at 6-1. <\/p>\n

Many already have Cristian Mungiu\u2019s Fjord, starring Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve, down as a likely best-picture nominee, but the Romanian director\u2019s vision may yet prove too bleak for the academy.<\/p>\n

The 79th Cannes film festival runs from Tuesday, May 12th, until Saturday, May 23rd<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe\u2019ve been seeing films that make us happy,\u201d Thierry Fr\u00e9maux, director of Cannes film festival, said after revealing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":480122,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[75],"tags":[289,69378,11519,113811,18,117,19,195535,17,80593,39533,97007,13327,7012,5997,210091,23473,45954,21008,609,190864,31461],"class_list":["post-480121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-barry-keoghan","tag-cannes-film-festival","tag-cristian-mungiu","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ira-sachs","tag-ireland","tag-james-gray","tag-john-travolta","tag-lola-petticrew","tag-michael-fassbender","tag-oscars","tag-paramount","tag-pawel-pawlikowski","tag-rami-malek","tag-ruth-negga","tag-scarlett-johansson","tag-steven-spielberg","tag-thierry-fremaux","tag-warner-bros-discovery"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116559127940766252","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=480121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/480122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}