The biggest winners from this year’s Cannes Film Festival are headed straight to the Sydney Film Festival, with the local event securing Australian premieres for a slate of newly crowned titles just days after they took home top honours.
Leading the lineup is Palme d’Or winner “Fjord,” alongside “Minotaur,” which claimed the Grand Prix, and “The Dreamed Adventure,” recipient of the Jury Prize. Other Cannes award winners set to screen at the festival include “Fatherland” (Best Director), “Everytime” (Un Certain Regard), “Ben’Imana” (Camera d’Or), “I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning” (Directors’ Fortnight Audience Award), and “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” (Queer Palm).
The screenings continue Sydney Film Festival’s recent run as an early destination for major Cannes titles outside of France, following last year’s presentations of “It Was Just an Accident,” “Sentimental Value,” and “The Secret Agent” shortly after their Cannes debuts.
Two of this year’s Cannes-winning filmmakers will also attend the festival in person, with “Minotaur” director Andrey Zvyagintsev and “Ben’Imana” director Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo set to introduce the Australian premieres of their films in Sydney.
Sydney Film Festival Director Nashen Moodley said the response to this year’s Cannes lineup reaffirmed the strength of contemporary international cinema.
“I’m feeling excited and energised about the state of world cinema, following an invigorating time at the Cannes Film Festival,” Moodley said. “I’d seen many of these films while selecting them but watching them come alive with an audience has renewed my excitement to share them with you next in Sydney.”
Running from June 3rd-14th, the 2026 festival will present a total of 248 films from 81 countries including 19 world premieres, 3 international premieres and 140 Australian premieres, with screenings at the State Theatre, Sydney Opera House and cinemas across the city.
Love Film & TV?
Get your daily dose of everything happening in music, film and TV in Australia and abroad.
Other films set for the festival include Olivia Wilde’s “The Invite,” starring Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton, Australian horror sensation “Leviticus” from Adrian Chiarella, and Hugh Jackman and Jodie Comer in “The Death of Robin Hood,” among others.
These join the previously announced “Dead Man’s Wire,” directed by Gus Van Sant (“Milk”), featuring Bill Skarsgård, Australia’s own Dacre Montgomery and Al Pacino, and “Erupcja,” in which Pete Ohs follows a couple’s getaway to Warsaw that begins to unravel, starring musician Charli XCX in a lead role.
“Silenced” by Selina Miles, which follows Australian lawyer Jennifer Robinson and survivors including Brittany Higgins and Amber Heard, examining defamation law in the wake of the #MeToo movement, will open the festival. Miles and Robinson will attend opening night to present the film.
Check out the full lineup here. Tickets and FlexiPasses are on sale now here.