Julianne Moore will be honored with the 2026 Women in Motion award at the Cannes Film Festival, presented by Kering and the Festival de Cannes.
Kering and Cannes will bestow this award upon Moore at the annual Women in Motion awards ceremony, held this year on May 17.
“I’m genuinely grateful for this recognition from Kering and the Festival de Cannes,” Moore said in a Thursday statement of the honor. “Being part of Women in Motion’s legacy is incredibly meaningful to me. I’ve always believed that visibility matters, that the stories we choose to tell can widen the space for women, and for a richer diversity of voices, both on screen and behind the camera.
“Continuing to work together to amplify female and diverse voices and to support the next generation of creators helps build a cinema that is more open, more representative, while driving real change,” Moore concluded.
Since 2015, the Women in Motion award has recognized women in the arts who have made significant contributions to both their artform and society over the course of their careers. Moore’s recognition comes one year after the award went to Nicole Kidman. Previous recipients include Donna Langley, Michelle Yeoh, Viola Davis, Isabelle Huppert and Jane Fonda (the first to be awarded the prize).
“Julianne Moore does not use cinema to reassure. For 40 years, she has chosen characters who destabilize, who suffer without resolution, who refuse easy sympathy and in doing so, she has claimed territory on screen that did not exist before she walked into it,” said Cannes Film Festival President Iris Knobloch. “The Women in Motion Award recognizes not only what she has achieved, but what she has made possible for every actress who comes after her.”
“Julianne Moore fully embodies the spirit of Women In Motion,” added Kering Chairman François-Henri Pinault. “Through the consistency of her artistic choices, the depth and complexity she brings to her performances, and her longstanding dedication to advancing meaningful representation both on and off screen, she has helped redefine what it means to be a leading woman in cinema. Her career and her commitment clearly mirror the values Women in Motion has championed since its inception.”
The Women in Motion awards ceremony will also recognize filmmaker Margherita Spampinato, who will receive the 2026 Emerging Talent Award. Women in Motion uses the Emerging Talent Award to recognize first-time female feature filmmakers — in this case, Spampinato, who directed her 2025 debut “Gioia Mia.”
Brennand, Spampinato’s predecessor, selected this year’s recipient for the Emerging Talent Award, which comes with a a €50,000 grant to support Spampinato’s sophomore feature.
“I am grateful and happy to receive the 2026 Women In Motion Emerging Talent Award, and it is a great honor to receive it from Marianna Brennand, a director I deeply admire,” Spampinato said in a statement. “This award moves me because it supports the creativity and freedom of new female voices in cinema and the arts around the world.”
The 2026 Women In Motion Awards ceremony will be held on May 17 as part of the 79th edition of the Festival de Cannes.
