Drama movies centring on societal conflicts dominate Cannes 2026 prize list

The Cannes Film Festival 2026 has come to an end with the awarding of the event's biggest cinema prizes. This year's Palme d’Or for Best Film went to  "Fjord", directed by Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu, which triumphed over 21 other films in competition.

It marks Mungiu’s second Palme d’Or victory. He previously won the festival’s top prize in 2007 for 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, his acclaimed drama about an illegal abortion in communist Romania, as international media reports.

Like his earlier work, “Fjord” is a morally layered drama exploring family, parenting, and cultural tensions, with themes of bureaucratic rigidity and religious extremism at its core. Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve star as a deeply religious Romanian-Norwegian couple who relocate with their five children to a remote village in Norway.

After injuries are discovered on their daughter, the parents fall under suspicion of child abuse. Legal proceedings are launched against them, and authorities remove all five children from their custody.

In his acceptance speech, Mungiu reflected on how fragmented and radicalized modern societies have become. He described the film as a plea for greater empathy, greater tolerance, and less fundamentalism.

The Grand Prix — often regarded as the festival’s “silver Palme” — went to Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev for his socially critical thriller Minotaur.

The Paris-based filmmaker, who lives in exile, portrays a Russian society that has, under the rule of Vladimir Putin, lost its humanity. The film follows a Russian businessman who discovers his wife’s affair, weaving the story together with the ever-present reality of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

The Jury Prize — the festival’s third most prestigious award — was given to the German film Das geträumte Abenteuer by Valeska Grisebach.

In the three-hour drama, the Berlin-based director tells the story of a Bulgarian woman living near the border with Türkiye who helps a friend after he becomes entangled with the mafia.

In her speech, Grisebach paid particular tribute to the women living in border regions. She said she had met people there “die sich voller Empathie und Zärtlichkeit begegnen” and that this reminded her “dass das unsere eigentliche Superkraft ist”.

This year’s honorary Palme d’Or for lifetime achievement was awarded to American acting and music icon Barbra Streisand. Due to a knee injury, she was unable to attend the ceremony in person and instead thanked the audience via video message.

By Nazrin Sadigova