Train to Busan director's new zombie movie leads Cannes 2026 movies

The 2026 Cannes Film Festival lineup features a strong lineup of international auteurs

Any fans of Train to Busan in the house? Yeon Sang-ho, who previously directed the propulsive zombie movie and its sequel Peninsula, is going back to familiar (but welcome) stomping grounds with his new movie The Colony, announcd as part of the Cannes Film Festival's 2026 lineup. The movie sounds very Resident Evil-y: “A biotech conference descends into chaos when a rapidly mutating virus transforms the infected, forcing authorities to seal off the facility with survivors trapped inside.” Colony isn't in competition at Cannes, instead playing in the midnight section. But it's in competition... in our hearts.

Running May 12-23, this year's festival is opening with the previously announced The Electric Kiss from filmmaker Pierre Salvadori and promising tons of new premieres from international auteurs. Other high-profile selections include John Travolta's directorial debut, Propeller One-Way Night Coach, Pedro Almodóvar's Bitter Christmas, Ira Sachs musical The Man I Love, and Asghar Farhadi’s Parallel Tales. Filmmaker Peter Jackson and renaissance woman Barbra Streisand will be receiving honorary Palme d’Ors. Here's the full lineup.

Competition

Minotaur - Andrey Zvyagintsev

The Beloved - Rodrigo Sorogoyen

The Man I Love - Ira Sachs

Fatherland - Paweł Pawlikowski

Moulin - László Nemes

Histoires de la Nuit - Léa Mysius

Fjord - Cristian Mungiu

Notre Salut - Emmanuel Marre

Gentle Monster - Marie Kreutzer

Nagi Notes - Koji Fukada

Hope - Na Hong-Jin

Sheep in the Box - Hirokazu Kore-eda

Garance - Jeanne Herry

The Unknown - Arthur Harari

All of a Sudden - Ryusuke Hamaguchi

The Dreamed Adventure - Valeska Grisebach

Coward - Lukas Dhont

La Bola Negra (The Black Ball) - Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo

A Woman’s Life - Charline Bourgeois-Taquet

Parallel Tales - Asghar Farhadi

Bitter Christmas - Pedro Almodóvar

Un Certain Regard

La Más Dulce - Laïla Marrakchi

Club Kid - Jordan Firstman

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma - Jane Schoenbrun

Everytime - Sandra Wollner

I’ll Be Gone in June - Katharina Rivilis

Yesterday the Eye Didn’t Sleep - Rakan Mayasi

The Meltdown - Manuela Martelli

Elephants in the Fog - Abinash Bikram Shah

Iron Boy - Louis Clichy

Ben’imana - Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo

Congo Boy - Rafiki Fariala

Ula - Viesturs Kairišs

Forever Your Eternal Animal - Valentina Maurel

Words of Love - Rudi Rosenberg

All the Lovers in the Night - Sode Yukiko

Out of Competition

Her Private Hell - Nicolas Winding Refn

Diamond - Andy Garcia

Objet du Deli - Agnes Jaoui

De Gaulle: L’Age de Fer - Antonin Baudry

L’abandon - Vincent Garenq

Karma - Guillame Canet

Cannes Premiere

Kokurojo: The Samurai and the Prisoner - Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Propeller One-Way Night Coach - John Travolta

The Third Night - Daniel Auteil

The Match - Juan Cabral and Santiago Franco

Visitation - Volker Schlondorff

Special Screenings

John Lennon: The Last Interview - Steven Soderbergh

Avedon - Ron Howard

Les Survivants du Che - Christophe Réveille

Les Matins Merveilleux - Avril Besson

Cantona - David Tryhorn and Ben Nicholas

Rehearsals for a Revolution - Pegah Ahangarani

L’affaire Marie-Claire - Lauriane Escaffre and Yvo Muller

Midnight Screenings

Roma Elastica - Betrand Mandico

Full Phil - Quentin Dupieux

Colony - Yeon Sang-ho

Jim Queen - Nicolas Athane and Marco Nguyen

Sanguine - Marion Le Coroller

Opening Film

The Electric Kiss - Pierre Salvadori (previously announced, out of competition)