2026 Cannes Film Festival: Cristian Mungiu’s ‘Fjord’ wins the Palme d’Or; ‘Minotaur’ wins the Grand Prix; Los Javis and Paweł Pawlikowski win Best Director; Emmanuel Macchia and Valentin Campagne win Best Actor; and Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto win Best Actress
by SanderSo47
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From Zack Snyder to Cannes’ winner, not bad for Okamoto.
Neon’s acquisition of Fjord makes it the seventh film in a row where they have bought the distribution rights to a film prior to it’s Palme D’or win. Despite some speculation that other competitors like Minotaur or The Black Ball would break Neon’s streak this year, it didn’t come to pass.
At least, Minotaur and The Black Ball didn’t go home empty handed.
Cristian Mungiu is now the 11th director to win the Palme D’or twice after winning in 2007 for his abortion drama Four Months, Three Weeks, and Two Days (2007) over notable competition such as No Country For Old Men that year.
Paweł Pawlikowski won his second Best Director award after previously winning for his last film, Cold War (2018).
A shame that James Gray (Paper Tiger) and Na Hong-Jin (Hope) got snubbed. Hopefully, Neon does a decent distribution for their films as well as the other films that they have acquired, no matter when they’re great, decent, or bad.
Cristian Mungiu previously won for *4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days*.
Other directors who won twice:
– Alf Sjöberg: *Torment* and *Miss Julie*
– Francis Ford Coppola: *The Conversation* and *Apocalypse Now*
– Bille August: *Pelle the Conqueror* and *The Best Intentions*
– Emir Kusturica: *When Father Was Away on Business* and *Underground*
– Shōhei Imamura: *The Ballad of Narayama* and *The Eel*
– Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne: *Rosetta* and *L’Enfant*
– Michael Haneke: *The White Ribbon* and *Amour*
– Ken Loach: *The Wind That Shakes the Barley* and *I, Daniel Blake*
– Ruben Östlund: *Square* and *Triangle of Sadness*
I jokingly asked in the r/oscarrace thread if anyone was manifesting Fjord winning the Palme d’Or… and then it happens 20 *minutes* later. Am I psychic?
Can’t believe a Northernlion biopic won the Palme