The 16th edition of the Queer Palm arrives at the Festival de Cannes with an unprecedented slate: organizers have shortlisted 21 feature films drawn across the festival’s official selection and parallel strands. Announced less than two weeks before the festival opens on 12 May, this lineup reflects a notable moment for queer representation on the Croisette. Founding voices of the prize recall much smaller beginnings—only five or six films in the earliest year—which underlines a long-term expansion. Observers see this growth as part of a wider trend of mainstreaming, where queer topics move from niche margins into broader cinematic conversation.
The Queer Palm annually awards two titles, traditionally recognizing one short and one feature that foreground LGBTQIA+ or feminist perspectives. The winner(s) will be chosen after the festival’s twelve-day run, when the jury convenes to deliberate across competing entries. This year the prize is co-chaired by actress Anna Mouglalis and director Thomas Jolly, figures whose careers straddle theatre and film; Jolly has recently directed major live events and will take on high-profile projects beyond Cannes. Their leadership signals both mainstream credibility and a willingness to spotlight work that challenges norms.
Jury makeup and creative leadership
The Queer Palm jury for 2026 assembles a mix of artists and festival professionals. Alongside co-presidents Anna Mouglalis and Thomas Jolly, the panel includes André Fischer, founder and director of Festival MixBrasil; musician and actor Jehnny Beth; and multidisciplinary artist Raya Martigny. Martigny, who photographed the festival poster featuring Ericka, an emblematic figure in Reunion Island’s queer history, brings an autobiographical and visual sensitivity to the jury. At the end of 2026 she was awarded a prize for reinvention by a prominent queer media outlet, a recognition that underlines the jury’s connection to contemporary queer cultural production.
Full roster of films in competition
Below is the exhaustive list of the 21 feature-length films in contention for the Queer Palm 2026, drawn from across Festival de Cannes’ various sections. This sequence demonstrates the breadth of stories and geographies represented this year:
- The Man I Love by Ira Sachs
- Quelques jours à Nagi by Kōji Fukada
- Garance by Jeanne Herry
- Coward by Lukas Dhont
- Autofiction by Pedro Almodóvar
- La Bola Negra by Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo
- La Vie d’une femme by Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet
- Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma by Jane Schoenbrun
- Club Kid by Jordan Firstman
- Les Éléphants dans la brume by Abinash Bikram Shah
- Les Matins merveilleux by Avril Besson
- Tangles by Leah Nelson
- Jim Queen by Nicolas Athané and Margo Nguyen
- Roma Elastica by Bertrand Mandico
- Marie Madeleine by Gessica Généus
- Du fioul dans les artères by Pierre Le Gall
- La Gradiva by Marine Atlan
- Seis Meses en el Edificio Rosa con Azul by Bruno Santamaría Razo
- Cœur secret by Tom Fontenille
- Virages by Céline Carridroit and Aline Suter
- Clarissa by Chuko Esiri and Arie Esiri
Official selection overlap and notable names
Within the festival’s main competition and related official strands, seven of twenty-two titles flagged by the festival carry explicit LGBTQI+ themes or central queer characters. This overlap includes work from recognized auteurs such as Lukas Dhont, Pedro Almodóvar, and Ira Sachs, as well as the duo Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo. The presence of these filmmakers underscores how established voices are contributing to queer storytelling while younger or less mainstream directors broaden the narrative palette. The diversity of sections ensures that queer perspectives are visible in premieres, parallel showcases and smaller showcases alike.
Why this edition matters
The enlarged roster for the Queer Palm signals more than quantity; it points to a shifting cultural landscape in which queer themes are less hidden and more integrated into cinema’s major platforms. Observers and organizers interpret the trend as a form of normalization, where LGBTQIA+ stories are consistently present across genres and countries rather than confined to specialty festivals. Historically the Queer Palm began as a niche sidebar; its current scale speaks to both creative output and the changing priorities of programmers who now place representation at the center of festival curation.
Alongside the Queer Palm announcement, the festival also revealed juries for other prizes, including the Œil d’or, presided over by Ukrainian filmmaker Mstyslav Chernov, whose reporting work fed into the documentary 20 Days in Mariupol and earned him both a Pulitzer and an Oscar in 2026. As the Festival de Cannes begins on 12 May, attention will quickly shift to which of these 21 films captures the Queer Palm and how those choices reflect the festival’s evolving relationship with queer cinema.