Phuong Mai Nguyen’s In Waves, an animated characteristic adaptation of L.A. illustrator AJ Dungo’s eponymous cult 2019 graphic novel set in California, will open the sixty fifth version of Cannes Critics’ Week.
It’s amongst 11 options, chosen from 1050 feature-length submissions, unveiled by Cannes Critics’ Week on Monday for its 2026 version. Scroll down for full listing.
Impressed by Dungo’s real-life love story, In Waves follows two younger lovers, a skateboarder and a surfer, who first meet in school and hook-up later, and are then examined by sickness, however refuse to be overwhelmed by grief in opposition to the backdrop of the sunshine and surf of California.
The voice solid of the English-language model is led by Will Sharpe and Stephanie Hsu, whereas the French model options Lyna Khoudri, Rio Vega, Paul Kirscher and Biran Ba. Cannes Critics’ Week is aiming to play each variations.
The characteristic is produced by Paris-based Silex Movies and Charades with Nameless Content material. French Vietnamese director Nguyen was Oscar-shortlisted for her quick My Dwelling.
In Waves is the primary ever animated characteristic to open Cannes Critics’ Week though the parallel part has a robust animation track-record.
It beforehand welcomed I Misplaced My Physique, which went on to be nominated for an Oscar within the Finest Animated Characteristic class of the 92nd Academy Awards, whereas newer animation picks embrace Japanese director Momoko Seto’s Dandelion’s Odyssey which closed the part final 12 months.
Seven movies have been chosen for the competitors.
They embrace Chinese language director Zou Jing’s A Lady Unknown exploring the implications of the abandonment of hundreds of new child child women in China from the Eighties to 2,000 because of the nation’s one-child coverage.
The China-shot drama follows the story of a younger lady who finally ends up with three totally different households throughout her infancy and adolescence.
Based mostly between L.A. and Shanghai, Zou Jing confirmed her quick movie Lili Alone in Critics’ Week in 2021. She then developed A Lady Unknown with the help of the part’s Subsequent Step program, supporting rising administrators within the transition from quick to feature-length movie, profitable the initiative’s Subsequent Step prize in 2024.
After years of growth and manufacturing, Scottish Yemeni director Sara Ishaq will unveil her long-gestated drama The Station.
The nice and cozy-hearted work revolves round Layal who runs a women-only petrol station in a gender-segregated, war-torn village in Yemen. The one male who’s tolerated on the station, which turns into a particular assembly place for the ladies of the villages, is Layal’s 12-year-old brother, who she is set to maintain out of the battle.
Kosovan director Blerta Basholli, who made waves together with her 2021 Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner Hive, will make her Cannes debut with second characteristic Dua. It explores the repercussions of the Nineties Kosovo Struggle by means of the titular Dua, a 13-year-old lady whose each day life and household are impacted by the battle.
Latin America will probably be represented by Mexican director Bruno Santamaria Razo’s 6 Meses En El Edificio Rosa Con Azul, which interprets as “six months in a pink and blue constructing”. Set within the Nineties and the HIV disaster, the household drama evokes the recollections of a younger boy confronted along with his father’s mysterious sickness.
The choice additionally consists of French director Marine Atlan’s first characteristic La Gradiva, a choral film starring Antonia Buresi as a Latin instructor who takes her highschool college students on a visit to Pompei, the place feelings and wishes spill out in opposition to the backdrop of the traditional web site and its magnificence.
Persevering with the part’s latest development of spotlighting documentaries, the lineup additionally options French Irish director Alexander Murphy’s Tin Fortress about an Irish traveller household and their life in cell residence. It’s Murphy’s second characteristic documentary after 2025 work Goodbye Sisters, about two Nepali sisters who go away Kathmandu for his or her native village to reap the dear caterpillar fungus, yarsagumba within the hope that the earnings will change their lives.
Latest Cannes Critics’ Week documentary picks The Brink Of Desires and Imago, went on to win Cannes’ Golden Eye, open to documentaries throughout the Official Choice and parallel sections, in 2024 and 2025 respectively.
The competitors additionally options Spanish actress Aina Clotet debut characteristic Viva. Described as a bittersweet comedy set in Catalonia, the work stars Clotet as a lady rethinking her private {and professional} life as she recovers from breast most cancers throughout an excessive warmth wave.
The seven movies will compete for the Louis Roederer Basis Rising Star Award (Le prix Fondation Louis Roederer de la Révélation) and the Le Grand Prix AMI Paris.
Taking part in Out Of Competitors, French administrators Julien Gaspar-Oliveri’s Stonewall (La Frappe) and Pierre Le Gall’s Flesh and Gasoline (Du Fioul Dans Les Artères) which can debut as Particular Screenings.
Stonewall, starring Bastien Bouillon and newcomers Diego Murgia and Romane Fringeli, is an immersive drama a few younger brother and sister whose lives take a darkish flip with the return of their violent father after a spell in jail.
Alexis Manenti and Julian Swiezewski co-star in romantic comedy Flesh and Gasoline as two truck drivers who fall in love after an opportunity assembly whereas on the street after which attempt to hold the romance alive regardless of the distances between them.
The part will shut with French director Félix de Givry’s Adieu Monde Merciless, starring Anatomy of a Fall discovery Milo Machado-Graner as an adolescent who fails in a suicide try, having introduced his intentions in a letter to his household and classmate.
Ashamed, he spends the evening wandering the streets of his small city till a woman from his highschool recognises him. Machado-Graner is joined within the solid by Jane Beever, whereas Françoise Lebrun supplies a voiceover.
The part’s quick movie lineup, chosen from 2,400 entries, and jury will probably be introduced within the coming days.
The sixty fifth Cannes Critics’ Week will run from Could 13 to 21.
The 2026 Cannes Critics’ Week Lineup:
Competitors
Dua
Kosovo, Switzerland, France
Blerta Basholli
A Lady Unknown (Wu ming nü hai)
China, France
Dir: Zou Jing
La Gradiva
France, Italy
Dir: Marine Atlan
Seis Meses en el edificio rosa con azul
Mexico, Denmark, Brazil
Bruno Santamaria Razo
The Station (Al Mahattah)
Yemen, Jordan, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway
Dir: Sara Ishaq
Tin Fortress
Eire, France
Dir: Alexander Murphy
Viva
Spain
Dir: Aina Clotet
Particular Screenings
In Waves (opening movie)
France, Belgium
Dir: Phuong Mai Nguyen
Stonewall (La Frappe)
France
Dir Julien Gaspar-Oliveri
Flesh and Gasoline (Du Fioul dans les artères)
France
Dir: Pierre Le Gall
Adieu monde merciless
France, Belgium
Dir: Félix de Givry
