Seven films from first- and second-time directors will compete in the 2026 Critics’ Week sidebar to the Cannes Film Festival, Critics’ Week organizers announced on Monday.
The scarcity of American films, which was on display when Cannes announced its official selection last week, continued into Critics’ Week, or La Semaine de la Critique. None of the seven competition films or four special screenings come from U.S. filmmakers, with almost 20 countries represented but France dominating just as it did in the main lineup.
The opening film will be Vietnamese filmmaker Phuong Mai Nguyen’s animated “In Waves,” a first for Critics’ Week. The sidebar will close with Felix de Givry’s “Adieu monde cruel.”
Both the opening and closing films come from first-time directors. Other first-timers in Critics’ Week are Sara Ishaq, Zou Jing, Bruno Santamaria Razo, Julien Gaspar-Oliveri and Pierre Le Gall.
Critics’ Week is its 65th year as Cannes’ oldest independent sidebar. It was the section that brought the Cannes debuts of Guillermo del Toro, Julia Ducournau, Bernardo Bertolucci, Jacques Audiard, Ken Loach and Alejandro G. Iñárritu.
Last year’s Critics’ Week selections included Shih-Ching Tsou’s “Left-Handed Girl,” which made the Oscars international shortlist as the Taiwanese Oscar entry, as well as Sven Bresser’s Dutch Oscar entry “Reedland” and Pauline Loques’ Cesar Award winner “Nino.”
New initiatives this year include Sony funding a 4,000 Euro prize for the winner of Critics’ Week’s Discovery Prize for Short Film and the Institut français partnering with the Critics’ Week and the Marché du Film for a program of conferences, panels and workshops.
This year’s Critics’ Week will begin on May 13, the day after Cannes kicks off, and run through May 21. The festival’s other major independent sidebar, Directors Fortnight, is scheduled to announce its lineup on Tuesday.
The lineup:
Opening film:
“In Waves,” Phuong Mai Nguyen
“A Girl Unknown,” Zou Jing
“The Station,” Sara Ishaq
“Dua,” Blerta Basholli
“Seis meses en el edificio rosa con azul,” Bruno Santamaria Razo
“La Gradiva,” Marine Atlan
“Tin Castle,” Alexander Murphy
“Viva,” Aina Clotet
Closing film:
“Adieu monde cruel,” Felix de Givry
Special screenings:
“Stonewall,” Julien Gaspar-Oliveri
“Flesh and Fuel,” Pierre Le Gall