The 79th Cannes Film Festival opens Tuesday evening with the world premiere of French director Pierre Salvadori’s “La Venus electrique,” kicking off 11 days of screenings along the French Riviera. The Grand Théâtre Lumière, the festival’s storied main venue, will host all official competition screenings, with 22 films vying for the Palme d’Or and the festival’s other top prizes. This year’s jury is led by South Korean auteur Park Chan-wook, whose “Oldboy” and “Decision to Leave” made him one of world cinema’s most celebrated voices. Joining him are Chinese filmmaker Chloé Zhao, the Oscar winner behind “Nomadland,” and Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård, known internationally for “Breaking the Waves” and “Emotional Value.”
For Greek cinema, the 2026 edition is shaping up to be a particularly significant one. Konstantina Kotzamani’s first feature, “Titanic Ocean,” will have its world premiere in Un Certain Regard, Cannes’ prestigious sidebar section dedicated to distinctive and daring filmmaking. Alexandra Matheou, meanwhile, will present her new short, “Free Eliza (notes on an anatomical imperfection),” in the Directors’ Fortnight, the festival’s historically independent parallel program.
Greek cinema’s presence extends well beyond the red carpet. The Thessaloniki International Film Festival — Greece’s foremost film festival, funded by the Ministry of Culture — announced Monday a coordinated series of activities at this year’s Cannes Marché du Film, the world’s largest film market, which runs alongside the festival. In partnership with EKKOMED (the Greek Center for Film, Audiovisual Media and Communication), Thessaloniki is bringing five Greek producers to the Producers Network, one of the Marché’s flagship professional programs. The five producers and their projects are:
- Konstantinos Koukoulis (Plankton Films) with “A Girl Named Zeus,” directed by Nikos Dayandas
- Leonidas Konstantarakos (Alaska Films) with “Pirateland,” directed by Stavros Petropoulos
- Spyros Skandalos (Assumed Position Films) with “Who Killed the Pigeons,” directed by Stratis Chatzielenoudas
- Konstantina Stavrianou (Graal Films) with “Black Money for White Nights,” directed by Kristina Grozeva
- Petar Valchanov and Christina Stavropoulou (Filmiki Productions) with “The Tide Hears Them But They No Longer Have a Voice,” directed by Yiannis Veslemes
All five producers previously presented new projects at the 66th Thessaloniki International Film Festival, and will showcase their work at a dedicated event on May 16.
Also active at the Marché is director Argyris Papadimitropoulos, whose 2016 film “Suntan” earned him an international following, arriving with his new project “Oh, How Fun!” — a production featuring Charlotte Gainsbourg, Edgar Ramirez, Angeliki Papoulia
and Makis Papadimitriou. Director Stavros Markoulakis and producer Ioanna Bolomyti are also participating in the festival’s Focus WiP 2026 program with the short “Tropic of the Mourning Gecko.”
The week rounds out with two flagship events at the Greek pavilion: a reception on May 17 aimed at promoting Greek cinema to international industry professionals, followed on May 18 by a panel discussion co-organized by the Thessaloniki festival, EKKOMED and Variety, titled “Producing and Filming With/In Greece.”
Source: TA NEA
