Cannes 2026 Competition Features Filmmakers From Morocco, Palestine, and Egypt-France

The 79th annual Cannes Film Festival will take place from 12 to 23 May 2026, with the festival’s Competition and Un Certain Regard line-up featuring filmmakers from Morocco, Palestine and Egypt-France.

“The festival will take place from May 12 to 23, 2026 The 2026 Cannes Film Festival is bringing a strong MENA presence to the Croisette, with filmmakers from Morocco, Palestine and Egypt-France landing coveted spots across the Competition and Un Certain Regard line-up”

Gulf News

Among the biggest names in Competition is Egyptian-French filmmaker Arthur Harari, whose latest film The Unknown marks his return to Cannes as a director, and Harari previously screened Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle in Un Certain Regard in 2021.

Gulf News

Moroccan director Laila Marrakchi heads to Un Certain Regard with La mas dulce, and the film follows two young Moroccan women who travel to southern Spain for strawberry-picking jobs before confronting exploitation and harassment.

Also selected for Un Certain Regard is Palestinian filmmaker Rakan Mayasi with Yesterday the Eye Didn’t Sleep, his debut feature, which unfolds in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley and centers on the disappearance of a young girl.

This year’s festival jury will be presided over by South Korean auteur Park Chan-wook, marking the first time a South Korean director has taken on the role at Cannes.

Beyond premieres and red-carpet stars, the Arab Cinema Center program at Cannes is described as a dialogue platform that “re-frames questions about the future” through a professional, multi-day program linked to the Film Market.

In interviews with Al-Arabiya.net and Al-Hadath.net, the two founding partners of the Center, Alaa Karkouti and Maher Diab, said the program arrives as the industry is undergoing “rapid changes,” requiring a rethink of development tools and mechanisms for the global presence of Arab cinema.

The Times of India

The program is designed to gather decision-makers, talent representatives, producers, and distributors, and it includes seminars addressing the rise of Arab commercial productions with MBC Studios as well as sessions on the role of women in leadership and decision-making.

The tenth edition of the Arab Film Critics Awards is scheduled to take place on May 16, and the ceremony will include an international jury of film critics.

The executive director of the Film Market, جيوم إسميول, said the collaboration with the Arab Cinema Center helps highlight the diversity of the Arab experience and its evolution within the market.

On Saturday, May 16, the Arab Cinema Center session at Cannes is launching a panel entitled 'Unconventional Works: Growth and Innovation in a Changing Landscape,' running from 2:00 to 3:00 PM on the Main Stage.

“The Arab Cinema Center program at Cannes: a dialogue platform that re-frames questions about the future”

Al-Hadath

The panel will be chaired by Michael Rosser, Asia and Middle East editor at Screen International, and it will include actor Hussein Fahmy, President of the Cairo International Film Festival, alongside Bafi Yasin, founder and chair of the Kurdistan Film Committee, and Hanaa Al-Omir, a director and chair of the Saudi Cinema Association and Creative Advisor at MBC Studios.

Separately, the Red Sea Film Foundation said it expressed pride and honor at the arrival of Moroccan film La Más Dulce (The Sweetest), directed by Leïla Marrakchi, being showcased in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2026 Cannes International Film Festival.

In a press release, the foundation said the film’s arrival at Cannes is the culmination of a journey built on collaboration, with the Red Sea Fund providing support for a project that highlights challenging humanitarian issues.

The story centers on two Moroccan women who leave their homeland to work for a season picking strawberries in Spain, and as their hopes are dashed by mistreatment and harassment, a Spanish lawyer intervenes to support them while they decide whether to join forces to challenge a powerful system.