S Viswanath

If the celebrated auteur heavyweights take audiences on a solemn sojourn with their trademark cinematic styles and individual thematic concerns having pit their mastery to covet the prestigious Palme d’Or, an equally enterprising ensemble of cinema practitioners beckon cinephiles on a crackling trip

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (2026), directed by Jane Schoenbrun, is a queer comedy-horror film following a filmmaker hired to reboot a slasher franchise. She becomes obsessed with casting the reclusive “final girl” from the original, leading both women into a psychosexual, blood-soaked descent the story centers on the resurrection of the fictional Camp Miasma franchise.

Characters & Obsession: A queer director fixates on the reclusive actress who played the original “final girl,” creating a “frenzy of psychosexual mania”.

14 films
Elephants in the Fog the Nepali thriller is the directorial debut of Abinash Bikram Shah. The film which world premieres at Un Certain Regard is also nominated for the Caméra d’Or.Elephants in the Fog is an international co-production of Nepal, France, Germany, Brazil, and Norway. Pirati, the matriarch of a Kinnar community in a Nepalese village, is torn between fleeing with the man she loves and staying to fulfil her duty to search for a missing woman from her community.Follows Pirati, matriarch of a Kinnar community in a Nepalese village, who dreams of escaping to a normal life. When one of her daughters disappears, she must investigate and choose between love and responsibility.The film is set in a small Nepalese village nestled deep within a forest inhabited by wild elephants. Pirati is the matriarch of a community of transgender women.She longs for a “normal” life with Master, a moustachioed man she loves. But when one of her girls disappears, she must choose between love and her responsibility to her community.

Iron Boy (Le Corset) by Louis Clichy is an animation flick which follows 10-year-old Christophe in rural France who, after needing an iron corset to stay upright, discovers a new passion for music and friendship. Christophe, a young boy in rural France, struggles to meet his father’s expectations while dealing with a condition requiring an iron corset, prompting him to find a new, creative life.n rural France, Christophe (10) tries to live up to his rigid and distant father on the family farm. But the young boy starts to lean over and collapse without warning — on the tractor, at school, at dinner… A doctor finds the solution: Christophe must wear an iron corset to keep himself upright. Forced to reinvent his life away from the farm, Christophe discovers a new passion for music, meets a new friend, and follows her into his first mischief. But will any of this really fix what is out of balance?

The groundbreaking Rwandan drama film directed by Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo, marks the first Rwandan film selected for Cannes Film Festival’s Official Selection (Un Certain Regard). It follows Vénéranda, a Tutsi genocide survivor, navigating reconciliation and generational trauma.Set in Rwanda, it centers on Vénéranda, whose life of quiet stability is challenged by her daughter’s unexpected pregnancy, forcing her to face past trauma.et in Rwanda in 2012, Ben’Imana follows Vénéranda, a survivor of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, who is deeply involved in community-led processes of justice and reconciliation.

As she navigates mounting pressure in her work, a personal crisis within her own family forces her to confront the limits of her convictions. Centred on intimate portraits of women rebuilding their lives, the film follows individuals shaping a future in the shadow of a shared past.Rwanda, 2012. The country is emerging from an era of silence after the 1994 Tutsi genocide, and people’s courts are being set up with the aim of bringing justice and reconciliation. Veneranda, a survivor, is convinced of the need for these trials. Despite pressures, she organises discussion sessions between victims and the families of the executioners.

Therapy for some, an act of betrayal for others, these testimonial sessions revive and reveal the traumas that each of them try to overcome, in their own way. The wounds of Veneranda’s past are exposed again when she learns of her daughter’s unexpected pregnancy and the identity of the father. Veneranda has to face her own contradictions and the dark parts of her past.

Congo Boy (2026) is an autobiographical fiction film directed by Rafiki Fariala, scheduled for release in May 2026. The story follows 17-year-old Robert in Bangui, Central African Republic, who pursues a music career despite his father’s objections, navigating life after his parents are imprisoned. Amidst civil war, young Robert cares for his four younger siblings, balancing school, work, and his passion for music after his parents are imprisoned.Bangui, Central African Republic. Seventeen-year-old Robert would like to pursue a career in music despite his father’s objection. Robert, however, is not Central African like the other students: he is a Congolese refugee. When the Central African Republic plunged into crisis and saw clashes between militias at the end of 2013, Robert’s parents decided to flee the country. They obtained fake passports but were caught at the border. Both were sentenced to imprisonment.
Left alone with four younger siblings aged between three and eleven, Robert has to work non-stop to feed them and has no time to prepare for his baccalaureate. As playing in concerts pays well, against all odds music may help Robert save his family. A big contest is coming up at the stadium and a substantial cheque awaits the winner. Robert will have to fight on all fronts if he is to achieve first place.
Bangui, Central African Republic. 17 year-old Robert dreams of a career in music, but civil war is tearing the country apart. When both his parents are thrown into prison, he is left to look after his four younger siblings on his own, juggling daily life, odd jobs, school exams and concert stages, determined to follow his dream.

Club Kid marks Jordan Firstman’s feature directorial debut. A washed-up underground party promoter’s life changes when he must care for a son he didn’t know existed.

“Uļa” is a 2026 biographical film directed by Latvian director ViestursKairišs. The film is based on the real-life story of Ulyana Semjonova (Uļa), a legendary Soviet-Latvian professional basketball player known for her exceptional height (seven feet) and dominance in the sport.
Plot: Set in the 1970s, the story follows her journey at age 14, leaving the Latvian countryside for Riga, focusing on a “crucial stage” in her life involving dramatic physical changes and learning to overcome adversity.The film will be set around a basketball champion in ’60s Latvia, under the Soviet rule.

La más dulce (Strawberries) by Laila Mirrakchi is about Two young women leave their native Morocco to work a season picking strawberries in Spain, until abuse and harassment shatter their hopes. Supported by a Spanish lawyer, they must decide whether to speak out against a powerful system.

El Deshielo by 1992, Chile. Inés parents are away on business and she is left in the care of her grandparents, who own a hotel at the foot of a ski resort. Inés befriends Hanna, a European skier who has come to train in Chile. One night, Hanna disappears. The process of her search will unveil a series of hidden situations.
Film is second in a trilogy about Chile and follows 1976; each of the three films is focused in one of three decades after the beginning of Chile’s military dictatorship and until democracy was recovered.
It is set in Chile in 1992. Inés, a 10-year-old girl, spends time at her grandparents’ hotel at the foot of a ski resort. Her parents are away on a trip; they are part of the delegation transporting an iceberg to the Seville Expo. Hanna (Swedish), a 16-year-old skier staying at the hotel, becomes Inés’s crush. The two strike up a friendship until one night Hanna disappears under mysterious circumstances.

Forever Your Maternal Animal (Spanish: Siempre Soy Tu Animal Materno), a 2026 drama directed by Valentina Maurel, follows Elsa, who returns to Costa Rica from Europe to reconnect with her introspective younger sister while navigating detached parents. The film, picked up by Heretic ahead of its premiere, explores themes of memory, desire, and unspoken emotions.
The film explores the shifting space between closeness and estrangement, centering on 28-year-old Elsa’s return and her reconnection with her sister.“Forever Your Maternal Animal” follows Elsa, who returns to Costa Rica after years of studying in Europe and reconnects with her younger sister, who has drifted into an increasingly elusive and introspective world, as their parents retreat into their own private preoccupations.

Yesterday the Eye Didn’t Sleep is a 2026 drama film directed by German-born Palestinian filmmaker Palestinian filmmaker Rakan Mayasi, selected for the Un Certain Regard section at the 79th Cannes Film Festival. Set in the Bekaa Valley, the film follows a search for a missing girl amidst tribal codes and revenge. The film explores a story of two sisters in a fog-veiled valley, dealing with themes of blood, memory, and silence.In a valley shrouded in fog and tribal codes, two sisters go into the night as an offering. Between blood, memories and silences, they try to contain the fire that threatens to spread.

I’ll Be Gone in June is a 120-minute German coming-of-age drama directed by Katharina Rivilis and produced by Wim Wenders, set for release in 2026. The film follows Franny, a 16-year-old German exchange student in post-9/11 New Mexico who finds connection with a local boy named Elliott. A 16-year-old German exchange student, Franny, experiences cultural displacement, heat, and adolescent melancholy before finding a kindred spirit in a boy named Elliott. The film is recognized for its portrayal of “wandering youth” and the surreal atmosphere of the American desert.

Words of Love is a 2026 romantic drama film directed by Rudi Rosenberg, scheduled for release in May 2026. The film is set to explore themes of romance. Hafsia Herzi stars as a woman doing her best to keep the peace in a house filled with a teenager, her rambunctious little brother and a cheese-loving dog. When the teen daughter’s desire to meet her absent father becomes a full-blown obsession, it leads the family on an unpredictable journey that steers them toward a new chapter.

Everytime is an upcoming psychological drama film written and directed Leoben, Austria, Sandra Wollner.The film is a psychological drama that explores grief and loss and blurs time and reality.A tragedy brings a mother, daughter, and teenage boy together. Struggling with blame and forgiveness, the unlikely trio take a trip to Tenerife for a family holiday that never happened. Under the glow of the sun, past and present quietly start to overlap.One year after Jessie’s death, her mother and sister take in her ex-boyfriend, the boy the whole world secretly blames for her death. When the unlikely trio leave for Tenerife, a family trip that never happened, past and present start to overlap.Jessie is about to leave on vacation with her mom and little sister – but sneaks out to party with her boyfriend Lux. When the pills finally kick in and they climb a high-rise to watch the sunrise, Lux falls asleep – and doesn’t notice Jessie walking to the edge, falling hundreds of meters. She dies instantly.
A year later, her mother Ella and sister Melli cling to a fragile routine of everyday life – and seem to get by. But when Lux returns into their lives, Ella can’t admit that deep down she blames him for her daughter’s death – and he can’t admit how badly he needs her to forgive him. We watch everyone trying very hard to do “the right thing” – until one night, Ella finds Lux drunk by the train tracks. He breaks down in Jessie’s old room, begging for forgiveness. But Ella drags him into the forest, asking him to give her some of the stuff he gave Jessie that night. They walk the same path, and Ella sees the same things Jessie must have seen. Driven by a strange impulse, Ella takes Lux and Melli to Tenerife – the holiday that never happened – not realizing that nothing awaits them there.
As they prepare to leave, Melli finds Lux’s strange candies in her mother’s backpack. What follows could be dismissed as a drug trip: Jessie seems to be back, as a 3-year-old child. It’s as if Melli had stepped straight into an old MiniDV video of her sister. But this “trip” soon affects everyone: her mother, the entire hotel complex, and even the sun that seems to be frozen in sunset…

All the Lovers in the Night is a 2026 Japanese film directed by Yukiko Sode, adapted from Mieko Kawakami’s acclaimed novel.it follows a lonely freelance editor, Fuyuko, whose life changes after meeting a quiet physics teacher. Based on Mieko Kawakami’s book, the story focuses on a lonely, drab, and isolated copy editor in her mid-thirties in Tokyo. Her life begins to transform after meeting Mitsutsuka, a quiet high school physics teacher, while dealing with past traumas.Freelance proofreader Fuyuko’s carefully ordered life in solitude begins to transform after meeting Mitsutsuka, a quiet high school physics teacher.