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As one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world, the Cannes Film Festival routinely brings together a star-studded and auteur-driven slate of movies to the south of France. For decades, Cannes has been the launching pad for movies that go on to become some of the most acclaimed and talked-about of the year. 2025’s edition, after all, saw the premieres of multiple award-winning titles such as It Was Just an Accident, Sirāt, Sentimental Value, and The Secret Agent.
This year’s festival may not have had splashy American movie or major blockbuster screenings (aside from a special 25th anniversary screening of The Fast and the Furious), but it was home to several premieres of films that are already generating early awards buzz, or at the very least have gotten people talking. From dramas to sci-fi thrillers, here are some of the movies to keep an eye out for from Cannes that hopefully will come to a cinema near you soon.
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Club Kid – A Dazzling Debut From Jordan Firstman
Even though it didn’t play in Competition, Club Kid became one of the festival’s breakout hits. Actor Jordan Firstman’s directorial debut stars Firstman as an outgoing New York party promoter who learns that he has a 10-year-old son. The movie dazzled critics and audiences with its tender, comedic, sweet, and honest father-son story set in NYC’s queer club scene. A24 picked up the family drama for distribution, so expect to see more of this Cannes favorite later this year.
Hope – A Stylish Korean Sci-Fi Action Romp
Korean director Na Hong-jin premiered his latest sci-fi action thriller in Cannes, which made noise as one of the more exciting sci-fi films from the festival. The monster movie centers on a group of villagers who must fend off alien monsters in a rural town. While the set-up may not be the most inventive, critics have praised the movie’s slick, stylish, and crowd-pleasing action, making for a thrilling experience. Considering that this comes from the same director who gave us modern Korean hits such as The Chaser and The Wailing, we’re excited to see this one.
Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma – A Homage to Slasher Movies
Jane Schoenbrun has made a name for herself as one of the most inventive horror directors of the 2020s, such as in the coming-of-age horror flick and allegory to trans identity I Saw the TV Glow. She’s back this year with her third feature film starring Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson that premiered at Cannes to an enthusiastic response.
A meta homage to slasher movies of past decades, the film follows a queer director who is hired to direct a sequel to a slasher movie. She soon becomes obsessed with the idea of casting the actress who played the “final girl” from the original movie in the sequel, leading to a bloody film that explores self-discovery, identity, and sexual desire.
Fjord – Cannes Film Festival 2026’s Palme d’Or Winner
One of the darlings of the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, Romanian director Cristian Mungiu had Southern France talking with his political family drama starring Renate Reinsve and Sebastian Stan. It centers on a Romanian family living in Norway who face a child abuse case that quickly consumes their lives and shapes how they are perceived by their adopted community.
Tackling timely themes such as otherness experienced by immigrants and tension caused by cultural differences, the movie dazzled critics and the Cannes jury, who awarded the film the coveted Palme d’Or. This marks distributor Neon’s seventh consecutive year to win the festival’s highest honor and Mungiu’s second time to receive the Palme d’Or following his 2007 win for the sublime 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. It’s safe to say the well-received moral drama is one to watch this year.
The Black Ball – Spanish Drama Meets Queer Epic
The ambitious queer epic landed on the map of many cinephiles when The Black Ball earned a 16-minute standing at its premiere, with rave reviews following soon after. Directors Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo deliver a tale to remember that ties itself to Spain’s queer history and spans 85 years. Set in 1932, 1937, and 2017, it follows three gay men and the lives they live despite the barriers and prejudice they face in society. With a win for Best Director under its belt, The Black Ball has the potential to make waves on the international film scene this year.
Her Private Hell – One of Cannes Most Divisive Horror Movies This Year
What’s a Cannes Film Festival without a controversial movie that reportedly had walk-outs? That’s the case for Her Private Hell, the newest film from director Nicolas Winding Refn, the same director who gave us the equally divisive The Neon Demon in 2016. Starring Sophie Thatcher, Charles Melton, and Havana Rose Liu, the sci-fi thriller centers on a young woman who is searching for her father. This leads her to meeting an American GI who is also on his own quest to save his daughter from hell. And this is all happening in a dystopian metropolis where nothing is as it seems.
Given the avant-garde movie’s concept, it’s not a story that would be easy to get at first viewing, but the sensory thriller promises to be one of the most unique of the year. Neon is showing the film in US cinemas this July and potentially in more countries after.
Minotaur – A Powerful Critique of Putin’s Russia
This remake of Claude Chabrol’s 1969 thriller The Unfaithful Wife from exiled Russian auteur Andrey Zvyagintsev is both an excellent thriller and a poignant critique of Russia’s current political landscape, especially following its invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The film follows Gleb, an executive who is facing increasing corporate pressure to have his employees participate in Russia’s war in Ukraine. Making matters worse, he thinks that his wife is unfaithful, which leads him down a deadly path.
Equal parts dreadful and darkly comedic, the film took home the Grand Prix, the festival’s runner-up prize, and is being backed by Mubi, which has a history of promoting Cannes Festival favorites in years past.
Colony – The Newest Nightmare From the Creator of Train to Busan
Ten years after he captured the world’s attention with Train to Busan, director Yeon Sang-ho is back with a new zombie movie that had Cannes buzzing with its out-of-competition screening. The action horror film is set in a quarantined building due to a virus outbreak turning humans into, you guessed it, zombies. It is here we find the main cast of characters as they are trapped in the building and must fight for their survival and find a way to escape. You won’t have to wait long to watch this as Colony will be screening in Philippine cinemas on May 27.
The Man I Love – One of Rami Malek’s Best Performances to Date
Rami Malek enters the Best Actor conversation in this queer drama from Ira Sachs. Set in 1980s New York City, the movie centers on Jimmy George, a performance artist who has AIDS, and his adventures in life and love despite his worsening condition. Led by a stellar performance from Malek, the film is a tender and heartwarming look into the life of a gay man and artist, and a peek into the queer experience.
Featured Image and Photos: IMDB (via Website), JORDAN FIRSTMAN (via Instagram)
Frequently Asked Questions
Directed by Romanian auteur Cristian Mungiu, Fjord follows a Romanian Evangelical IT specialist who relocates his family of seven to his wife’s native rural village in Norway. The family’s lives quickly spiral into crisis when they get entangled with the local child welfare system over an abuse case. The narrative tackles heavy, contemporary themes of “left-wing fundamentalism,” ideological radicalization, and the immense cultural friction experienced by immigrants trying to integrate into an adopted, progressive community.
While most family dramas lean heavily on tragic tropes, Club Kid operates as a fiercely funny, tender, and honest “stealth tearjerker” set against New York City’s vibrant queer nightlife culture. The story follows a washed-up underground party promoter who is suddenly forced to grow up when he discovers he has a 10-year-old son. Its unique blend of comedic wit, authentic depiction of party subcultures, and heartfelt father-son dynamic made it a massive breakout hit, sparking an eight-figure bidding war before being acquired by A24.
Serving as a loose remake of Claude Chabrol’s 1969 thriller The Unfaithful Wife, Minotaur transposes the classic infidelity narrative into modern, wartime Russia. The film follows Gleb, a corporate executive navigating immense institutional pressure to force his employees to fight in the ongoing war in Ukraine, while simultaneously descending down a deadly path of paranoia regarding his wife’s loyalty. The Grand Prix-winning thriller blends dreadful suspense with dark comedy to deliver an uncompromising critique of corporate complicity and political oppression.
Directed by Jane Schoenbrun, the film serves as a meta-cinematic homage to classic retro slasher movies while deeply exploring themes of identity, sexual desire, and queer self-discovery. The plot follows a queer director who is hired to helm a horror sequel and becomes profoundly obsessed with casting the “final girl” actress from the original production. True to Schoenbrun’s established style, the film utilizes psychological horror and surreal atmospheres to act as an artistic exploration of trans and queer subtext rather than relying on cheap jump scares.
A frequent mistake is expecting a straightforward, linear narrative structure and evaluating the project based solely on initial audience comfort or walk-out reports. Films like Nicolas Winding Refn’s Her Private Hell are designed as avant-garde, sensory experiences that prioritize abstract world-building and dystopian moods over traditional storytelling logic. Dismissing the film because its plot is difficult to decipher at first viewing overlooks the complex engineering of its neon-soaked, sci-fi setting and its deliberate subversion of standard thriller conventions.
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