The 2026 Cannes Film Festival opened on the Riviera with cinematic brilliance, political controversy, and something no previous Cannes has had to navigate: genuine artificial intelligence in official competition.
The competition lineup features 22 films, led by a new Pedro Almodóvar picture critics describe as "his most emotionally devastating work in two decades." Korean director Park Chan-wook returns with a psychological thriller already generating Oscar buzz. David Fincher brings a three-hour biographical epic about the founding of the internet.
A French director submitted a film partly generated using AI visual synthesis tools — the first such film to compete at Cannes' official selection. Forty-seven directors including Wim Wenders and Jane Campion signed an open letter calling for a ban on AI-generated content in competition.
Cinema is a human art form made by human beings. The moment we accept machine-generated content on an equal footing, we have surrendered something irreplaceable.
