Friday, May 22Friday, May 22The Cannes Film Festival 2026 featured several notable films and discussions related to cinema, though only a few directly pertain to the specified topic of "1_festival_cannes_arena_film". Below is the relevant summary:
**Valeska Grisebach’s *The Dreamed Adventure*** was a standout film in the Cannes competition, marking a departure from the festival’s historical themes. The German director’s drama follows an archaeologist in Bulgaria whose excavation is disrupted by an old friend with questionable motives. The film explores themes of uncovering the past and concealing secrets, set against the backdrop of Bulgaria’s mountainous regions, where memories of the Balkan wars and communist era linger. Grisebach’s approach is unconventional, favoring improvisational storytelling and non-professional actors, which creates an opaque yet atmospheric narrative. Critics noted its beauty but also its ambiguity, as the film resists traditional storytelling structures .
**Lukas Dhont’s *Coward*** also premiered at Cannes, offering a wartime romance set during World War I. The film centers on a group of Belgian soldiers who form a theatrical troupe, often performing in drag, to escape the brutality of battle. Dhont, known for exploring LGBTQ+ themes in films like *Girl* and *Close*, examines cowardice and hidden identities through the story of a shy soldier who injures himself to join the troupe. The film was praised for its heartfelt portrayal of escapism and romance amid war .
**Cristian Mungiu’s *Fjord***, inspired by a real-life case of a Romanian family in Norway, sparked controversy at Cannes. The film was accused of promoting "reactionary propaganda," dividing critics and audiences. Mungiu, a prominent Romanian director, has previously won the Palme d’Or (*4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days*), and *Fjord* continues his focus on socially charged narratives .
While other films and events were covered in the articles, they do not directly relate to the "1_festival_cannes_arena_film" topic.
Filmfest Cannes: Was war mit den Männern los? Historische Stoffe prägen den Wettbewerb von Cannes. Der Film der deutschen Regisseurin Valeska Grisebach bildet eine Ausnahme und dreht gleich ein ganzes Genre um.
faz · about 3 hours ago
Naïka in Cannes: A conversation around self-confidence and cinema 🎶✨ Following the success of her debut album « Eclesia », Franco-Haitian singer Naïka arrives at the Cannes Film Festival to share her cinematic dreams and open up about her personal journey toward self-confidence.
france24 · about 3 hours ago
The Dreamed Adventure review – beautiful but opaque Bulgarian tale of digging up the past Cannes film festival: Valeska Grisebachs complex drama tracks an archaeologist whose mountain dig is interrupted by an old friend with rather dirtier handsThe digging up of the past – and the hiding of secrets in the present – are the themes of Valeska Grisebachs complex, subtle, opaque new drama which seems to withhold some of its narrative meaning from the audience, moment-by-moment. It is set, like her previous film Western, in Bulgarias remote and beautiful mountainous country, where memories of the Balkan wars (and the communist era before that) are still fresh and where there is money to be made and resources to be exploited for those who are ruthless enough.As with Western, Grisebach uses nonprofessionals for many very likable supper-and-drinking-and-reminiscing scenes with people gathered round tables shooting the breeze, scenes that dont need a particular reason to exist, other than their easy, garrulous energy. And as before, Grisebach shows an interesting reluctance to conform to conventional narrative templates – though while this film actually does conform to Chekhovs ancient rule about what happens to the gun produced in act one (well, act two in this case), the denouement isnt the usual arthouse flourish of violence. I felt however that in the course of this film, Grisebach was feeling and improvising her way through all this ambient detail towards a meaning that she (and we) didnt really reach. Continue reading...
theguardian · about 3 hours ago
Cannes Film Festival 2026: FRANCE 24s journalists share their favourites 🎞️ 😍 FRANCE 24 has been bringing you the latest from the Cannes Film Festival, but which movies and performances stood out from the rest? The arts24 team shares their favourites from the 2026 edition.
france24 · about 5 hours ago
Coward review – soldiers find escapism and romance in wartime theatrical troupe Cannes film festival: Lukas Dhonts first world war-set gay romance is a heartfelt examination of cowardice and lives lived in secret amid the brutality of battleThe word of the title is not used at any time in this film, but the relevance is clear. On the western front in the first world war, Belgian soldiers get permission to form a theatrical troupe, often in drag, to entertain their comrades when they are behind the lines and raise their morale (not entirely unlike the now despised 70s BBC TV comedy It Aint Half Hot Mum). The director is Lukas Dhont who explored gay and transgender issues in movies such as Girl and Close, and this story of a gay affair in the army is heartfelt and well acted, if rather earnestly researched.The motley band of rejects, evidently excused frontline combat duty for various reasons, is led by Francis (Valentin Campagne), a tailor in civilian life who has now ecstatically flowered in the new role the war has given him. He is exuberant, mischievous, imaginative and genuinely committed to his theatrical art. The resulting entertainments look professionally accomplished. (Did these first world war gang shows really have people playing flute and clarinet?) One stolidly handsome, shy soldier called Pierre (Emmanuel Macchia) is fascinated by these theatrical types and by Francis himself; he deliberately stabs his own hand with a bayonet on the field of battle so he can join their group. Continue reading...
theguardian · about 5 hours ago
Bătaie în Centrul Vechi între motocicliști din București și ucraineni veniți la concertul lui Max Korzh. Cine este rapperul din Belarus care umple Arena Națională Max Korzh, un artist cu un stil unic, a cărui muzică adună zeci de mii de oameni din întreaga lume, va concerta sâmbătă, pe Arena Națională. Biletele pentru show s-au epuizat în doar cinci zile, stabilind un record pentru un artist solo pe un stadion în București, potrivit organizatorilor.
adevarul · about 7 hours ago
Cine este Max Korzh, rapperul din Belarus care umple Arena Națională. Fanii săi s-au luat la bătaie în Centrul Vechi Max Korzh, un artist cu un stil unic, a cărui muzică adună zeci de mii de oameni din întreaga lume, va concerta sâmbătă, pe Arena Națională. Biletele pentru show s-au epuizat în doar cinci zile, stabilind un record pentru un artist solo pe un stadion în București, potrivit organizatorilor.
adevarul · about 8 hours ago
Children and teens roundup – the best new picture books and novels A bunny who loves to bake, illustrated poems about amazing animals and a YA verse novel of dancefloor salvationBan Bans Bakery by Elena Hiroko Magee, Do Re Mi, £12.99 Ban Ban the bunny loves baking with Grandma – but will she be able to turn Dusty Cottage into a bakery of her very own? A cute, enticing picture book full of mouthwatering, pastel-hued treats.Daddy Is Cleaning by Angel Dike, illustrated by Ebony Glenn, Nosy Crow, £12.99 Baby is helping with laundry, cooking and planting – so Daddy is cleaning, a lot! This tender picture book perfectly evokes the love, humour and exhaustion of managing a days chores with an enthusiastic toddler. Continue reading...
theguardian · about 8 hours ago
Cristian Mungiu, acuzat de „propagandă reacționară la Cannes, după prezentarea filmului „Fjord, inspirat din cazul unei familii de români din Norvegia Noul film al regizorului român Cristian Mungiu, intitulat „Fjord, a devenit unul dintre cele mai discutate și controversate titluri prezentate la Festivalul de Film de la Cannes, unde a stârnit reacții împărțite din partea criticilor și a publicului.
adevarul · about 9 hours ago
We needed a Hitler who really vibed with the dog: meet Lexie, the worlds first cinemadographer A new film, Blondi, takes audiences inside the Führers bunker in the final days of the Third Reich, from the point of view of his beloved AlsatianWhen Pablo Álvarez-Hornia stood up to present Blondi – a new film about the dying days of the Third Reich – at its premiere at a cinema in Brixton earlier this month, he went in big. Picture the scene, he told the audience: its 1924 and FW Murnau has just strapped a movie camera to a bicycle and invented subjective cinematic perspective. The result was The Last Laugh which captured the precariousness of life in Germany after the first world war with such poignant precision it foreshadowed the following decade – and revolutionised cinema.For Blondi, shot 102 years later, the camera was strapped to a dog. Lexie, a seven-month-old German shepherd, is both the title character – Hitlers last dog, possibly the most famous hound in geopolitics – but is also the director of photography, or cinemadographer if you prefer, as both Álvarez-Hornia (the films producer) and Jack Salvadori (its director) certainly do. It makes for a novel cinematic experience. Sometimes you feel a bit sick at the sudden changes of pace and freaky angles. Some things need to be made uncomfortable, says Álvarez-Hornia, and, in a way, it needed to be dirtier and grittier and uglier for it to work. Continue reading...
theguardian · about 9 hours ago
Ladies First review – Sacha Baron Cohen and Rosamund Pike come last in one-joke Netflix comedy A misogynist is made to learn the error of his ways in this painfully dated and embarrassingly star-packed sexism comedyIn its attempt to become a one-stop shop for just about every form of nostalgia possible, Netflix has now decided to revive the dreadful British comedy of the 2000s. Films such as Sex Lives of the Potato Men, Three and Out, Fat Slags and Lesbian Vampire Killers saw creatives boldly stand up to Hollywood and declare that whatever they could do, the UK film industry could do it 10 times worse.The all-deciding algorithm has somehow deemed it necessary for a return to that cursed era with the release of Ladies First, a broad and chintzy new comedy that would have felt old hat even back then. Its an excruciatingly unfunny high-concept thought experiment, imagining a world with flipped gender politics, thats far too happy with itself and what its allegedly achieving to be passed off as just some charming throwback. Like the other misfires it recalls, its also a criminal waste of talent, a murderers row of actors who hopefully got paid handsomely for the embarrassment of this whiffing up their IMDb pages. Continue reading...
theguardian · about 12 hours ago
Euronews Cultures Film of the Week: Star Wars: The Mandalorian And Grogu - Mando or Mandont? The first big screen live-action Star Wars film in seven years is finally here...
euronews · about 12 hours ago