Cristian Mungiu’s “Fjord” emerges as the Palme d’Or winner among this year’s biggest festival triumphs
After nearly two weeks of premieres, standing ovations and competition on the Croisette, the 2026 Cannes Film Festival has officially announced its winners on May 23. Led by jury president Park Chan-wook, this year’s jury awarded the festival’s highest honour, the Palme d’Or, to Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu’s Fjord, one of the most acclaimed films of this year’s lineup
The win marks Mungiu’s second Palme d’Or following 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days in 2007. Starring Renate Reinsve and Sebastian Stan, Fjord follows a family whose lives are disrupted when a remote Norwegian community begins to suspect them of child abuse. The film received strong reviews throughout the festival and was widely viewed as a frontrunner heading into the closing ceremony.
Elsewhere, Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Minotaur received the Grand Prix, while Valeska Grisebach’s The Dreamed Adventure took home the Jury Prize. The Best Director award was shared between Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi for The Black Ball and Paweł Pawlikowski for Fatherland.
In the acting categories, Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto jointly won Best Actress for Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s All of a Sudden, while Emmanuel Macchia and Valentin Campagne shared the Best Actor prize for Lukas Dhont’s Coward. Rounding out the major awards, Emmanuel Marre won Best Screenplay for A Man of His Time, while Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo’s Ben’Imana received the Caméra d’Or for Best First Feature.
The full list of Cannes 2026 winners can be found below.
In Competition
Palme d’Or: Fjord, Cristian Mungiu
Grand Prix: Minotaur, Andrey Zvyagintsev
Jury Prize: The Dreamed Adventure, Valeska Grisebach
Best Director: Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, The Black Ball; Paweł Pawlikowski, Fatherland
Best Actress: Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto, All of a Sudden
Best Actor: Emmanuel Macchia and Valentin Campagne, Coward
Best Screenplay: A Man of His Time, Emmanuel Marre
Short Film Palme d’Or: Para Los Contrincantes, Federico Luis
Un Certain Regard
Un Certain Regard Prize: Everytime, Sandra Wollner
Jury Prize: Elephants in the Fog, Abinash Bikram Shah
Special Jury Prize: Iron Boy, Louis Clichy
Best Actor: Bradley Fiomona Dembeasset, Congo Boy
Best Actress: Marina de Tavira, Daniela Marín Navarro and Mariangel Villegas, Forever Your Maternal Animal
Caméra d’Or
Caméra d’Or Prize: Ben’Imana, Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo
La Cinef
First Prize: Laser-Gato, Lucas Acher
Second Prize: Silent Voices, Nadine Misong Jin
Joint Third Prize: Aldrig Nok, Julius Lagoutte Larsen
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