Credits: Gil Zetbase / Wikimedia Commons — CC BY-SA 4.0.
From May 12 to 23, 2026, the 79th edition of the Cannes Film Festival will take place on the Croisette. The jury will be presided over by Park Chan-wook, with an official selection already unveiled. In addition, several star names are being put forward by the media. A few days before the opening, the challenge is to identify confirmed attendances. Moreover, it is necessary to distinguish appearances that are plausible because of films. Finally, expectations alone fuel the Cannes drama.
Names Already Opening the Conversation
Every spring, Cannes begins before the opening. Official announcements set the framework. The media add the layer of expected faces. It is in this gap that part of the Cannes fever is born.
This year, BFM TV notably cites Scarlett Johansson, Cate Blanchett and Gilles Lellouche among the personalities most expected on the Croisette. But this list must be handled with caution. At this stage, these names reflect media anticipation, not a public confirmation from the Festival for each of them. At Cannes, the distinction is essential, because a star can be tied to a specific film. Moreover, they can be linked to a rumor of attendance or a promotional effort. Also, there are cases where a star is simply an effect of hype.
The institutional elements, for their part, are established. The Festival will take place from May 12 to 23, 2026. The feature film jury will be chaired by South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook. Among the announced jurors are Demi Moore, Chloé Zhao, Ruth Negga and Stellan Skarsgård. Eye Haïdara will lead the ceremonies. And the opening will be « La Vénus électrique » by Pierre Salvadori, presented out of competition.
These facts already outline a very legible edition. A jury president with a strong cinephile signature. Jurors able to draw attention well beyond the world of auteur cinema alone. A French opening. And, around this foundation, a media conversation dominated by stars whose attendance remains, for some, to be confirmed.
A Festival That Holds Prestige and Programming Together
The 2026 official selection measures this edition. It brings together filmmakers as established as Pedro Almodóvar, Asghar Farhadi, James Gray, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Koreeda Hirokazu, Cristian Mungiu, Rodrigo Sorogoyen and Andrei Zvyagintsev. This density also explains the attention paid to actors and actresses. At Cannes, an appearance is never valuable only for itself. It refers to a film, a producer, a distributor, an international market.
The jury already provides a concrete preview. Demi Moore brings an immediately identifiable Hollywood weight. Chloé Zhao embodies a more fluid circulation between independent cinema and big productions. Stellan Skarsgård, for his part, has long linked critical prestige and broader notoriety. These are not decorative names. Their presence helps define the tone of an edition.
Cannes has worked this way for a long time. The Festival shows films, but it also organizes their visibility. It is not enough for a work to be selected. It must also exist in the global conversation during those few days. Indeed, the Croisette becomes a center of gravity for critics, the market and distributors.
It is in this context that the names of Scarlett Johansson or Cate Blanchett should be situated. Their drawing power is obvious. They immediately give the edition international reach, whether they are officially announced or expected around a film. Moreover, they can be simply associated with the event by media anticipation. At Cannes, a famous name acts as a narrative accelerator.
Between Confirmed Attendance and Mere Expectation, the Line Remains Decisive
This is where cultural reporting must resist the reflex of a mere gallery of portraits. The Festival announces films, juries and events. The rest often proceeds from an interpretation of the program, artists’ trajectories and Croisette habits.
In the case of Scarlett Johansson, Cate Blanchett or Gilles Lellouche, the wording must therefore remain exact. At this stage, it is more accurate to say these names are circulating insistently in pre-festival articles. Indeed, it is premature to state their attendance as a given. This caution does not weaken the piece. On the contrary, it gives it solidity.
The Festival, for its part, already provides plenty of concrete material. Peter Jackson is to receive an Honorary Palme d’Or during the opening ceremony and participate in a public conversation. Eye Haïdara will lead the ceremonies. The screening schedule and sections are gradually shaping the fortnight’s rhythm. These are the elements that allow the edition to be measured, far more than the mere circulation of faces.
That said, the hierarchy of names is never neutral. Gilles Lellouche attracts attention because he occupies a clearly identified place in French cinema, between popularity, credibility and media exposure. Cate Blanchett, on the other hand, immediately evokes an idea of festival prestige. Scarlett Johansson, meanwhile, concentrates a form of Hollywood power that goes far beyond the cinephile public alone. Each of these names therefore tells a different story about Cannes.
The Real Issue Remains the Place of Films
It would be reductive to stop at the mere sparkle of stars. If Cannes retains such authority, it is because visual prestige relies on programming that continues to structure film debate. The 2026 competition brings together established auteurs, highly visible French works and several offerings from distant aesthetic horizons.
In the other sections of the official selection, one also finds Judith Godrèche, Jane Schoenbrun, Daniel Auteuil, Christophe Honoré, Géraldine Nakache, Quentin Dupieux and Steven Soderbergh. This range shows what Cannes still does better than other generalist festivals: make established auteurs, filmmakers more exposed to mainstream audiences and works destined to live thereafter in very different circuits coexist.
France holds an important place. « La Vénus électrique » by Pierre Salvadori opens the Festival out of competition. Other films by Jeanne Herry, Léa Mysius, Agnès Jaoui, Guillaume Canet or Daniel Auteuil appear in various sections. Behind the steps and the photographers, Cannes is also a stage where French cinema presents itself, compares itself, hierarchizes itself and seeks its place in the international landscape.
A few days before the opening, the Croisette must therefore be read methodically. Names circulate fast, sometimes faster than confirmations. The media look for faces. The Festival patiently installs its architecture. Cannes 2026 thus appears to rest on a clear line. Indeed, a highly exposed jury and a dense international selection characterize the event. Additionally, a strong French presence is notable, while a media machine as effective as ever turns anticipation into an event.
The real stake of this edition already appears. Knowing how to distinguish what belongs to cinema, what belongs to communication and what is born of their meeting. It is precisely in this in-between that Cannes remains unparalleled. A place where films still matter enough for the stars to make sense.
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