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\n\tPhuong Mai Nguyen\u2019s In Waves<\/em>, an animated feature adaptation of L.A. illustrator AJ Dungo\u2019s eponymous cult 2019 graphic novel set in California, will open the 65th edition of Cannes Critics\u2019 Week.<\/p>\n \n\tIt is among 11 features, selected from 1050 feature-length submissions, unveiled by Cannes Critics\u2019 Week on Monday for its 2026 edition. Scroll down for full list.<\/p>\n \n\tInspired by Dungo\u2019s real-life love story, In Waves<\/em> follows two young lovers, a skateboarder and a surfer, who first meet at school and hook-up later, and are then tested by illness, but refuse to be overwhelmed by grief against the backdrop of the sunshine and surf of California. <\/p>\n \n\tThe voice cast of the English-language version is led by Will Sharpe and Stephanie Hsu, while the French version features Lyna Khoudri, Rio Vega, Paul Kirscher and Biran Ba. Cannes Critics\u2019 Week is aiming to play both versions.<\/p>\n \n\tThe feature is produced by Paris-based Silex Films and Charades with Anonymous Content. French Singaporean director Nguyen was Oscar-shortlisted for her short My Home<\/em>.<\/p>\n \n\tIn Waves<\/em> is the first ever animated feature to open Cannes Critics\u2019 Week although the parallel section has a strong animation track-record.<\/p>\n \n\tIt previously welcomed I Lost My Body<\/em>, which went on to be nominated for an Oscar in the Best Animated Feature category of the 92nd Academy Awards, while more recent animation selections include Japanese director Momoko Seto\u2019s Dandelion\u2019s Odyssey <\/em>which closed the section last year.<\/p>\n \n\tSeven films have been selected for the competition.<\/p>\n \n\tThey include Chinese director Zou Jing\u2019s A Girl Unknown<\/em> exploring the implications of the abandonment of thousands of newborn baby girls in China from the 1980s to 2,000 as a result of the country\u2019s one-child policy.<\/p>\n \n\tThe China-shot drama follows the story of a young girl who ends up with three different families across her infancy and adolescence. \u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tBased between L.A. and Shanghai, Zou Jing showed her short film Lili Alone<\/em> in Critics\u2019 Week in 2021. She then developed A Girl Unknown<\/em> with the support of the section\u2019s Next Step program, supporting emerging directors in the transition from short to feature-length film, winning the initiative\u2019s Next Step prize in 2024. <\/p>\n \n\tAfter years of development and production, Scottish Yemeni director Sara Ishaq will unveil her long-gestated drama The Station<\/em>.<\/p>\n \n\tThe warm-hearted work revolves around Layal who runs a women-only petrol station in a gender-segregated, war-torn village in Yemen. The only male who is tolerated at the station, which becomes a special meeting place for the women of the villages, is Layal\u2019s 12-year-old brother, who she is determined to keep out of the conflict.<\/p>\n \n\tKosovan director Blerta Basholli, who made waves with her 2021 Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner Hive<\/em>, will make her Cannes debut with second feature Dua<\/em>. \u00a0It explores the repercussions of the 1990s Kosovo War through the titular Dua, a 13-year-old girl whose daily life and family are impacted by the conflict.<\/p>\n \n\tLatin America will be represented by Mexican director Bruno Santamaria Razo\u2019s 6 Meses En El Edificio Rosa Con Azul, <\/em>which translates as \u201csix months in a pink and blue building\u201d. Set in the 1990s and the HIV crisis, the family drama evokes the memories of a young boy faced with his father\u2019s mysterious illness.<\/p>\n \n\tThe selection also includes French director Marine Atlan\u2019s first feature La Gradiva<\/em>, a choral movie starring Antonia Buresi as a Latin teacher who takes her high school students on a trip to Pompei, where emotions and desires spill out against the backdrop of the ancient site and its beauty.<\/p>\n \n\tContinuing the section\u2019s recent trend of spotlighting documentaries, the lineup also features French Irish director Alexander Murphy\u2019s Tin Castle<\/em> about an Irish traveller family and their life in mobile home. It is Murphy\u2019s second feature documentary after 2025 work Goodbye Sisters<\/em>, about two Nepali sisters who leave Kathmandu for their native village to harvest the valuable caterpillar fungus, yarsagumba in the hope that the profits will change their lives. <\/p>\n \n\tRecent Cannes Critics\u2019 Week documentary selections The Brink Of Dreams<\/em> and Imago,<\/em> went on to win Cannes\u2019 Golden Eye, open to documentaries across the Official Selection and parallel sections, in 2024 and 2025 respectively.<\/p>\n \n\tThe competition also features Spanish actress Aina Clotet debut feature Viva<\/em>. Described as a bittersweet comedy set in Catalonia, the work stars Clotet as a woman rethinking her personal and professional life as she recovers from breast cancer during an extreme heat wave.<\/p>\n \n\tThe seven films will compete for the Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award (Le prix Fondation Louis Roederer de la R\u00e9v\u00e9lation) and the Le Grand Prix AMI Paris.<\/p>\n \n\tPlaying Out Of Competition, French directors Julien Gaspar-Oliveri\u2019s Stonewall<\/em> (La Frappe<\/em>) and Pierre Le Gall\u2019s Flesh and Fuel<\/em> (Du Fioul Dans Les Art\u00e8res<\/em>) which will debut as Special Screenings.<\/p>\n \n\tStonewall,<\/em> starring Bastien Bouillon and newcomers Diego Murgia and Romane Fringeli, is an immersive drama about a young brother and sister whose lives take a dark turn with the return of their violent father after a spell in prison.<\/p>\n \n\tAlexis Manenti and Julian Swiezewski co-star in romantic comedy Flesh and Fuel<\/em> as two truck drivers who fall in love after a chance meeting while on the road and then try to keep the romance alive despite the distances between them.<\/p>\n \n\tThe section will close with French director F\u00e9lix de Givry\u2019s Adieu Monde Cruel<\/em>, starring Anatomy of a Fall<\/em> discovery Milo Machado-Graner as a teenager who fails in a suicide attempt, having announced his intentions in a letter to his family and classmate.<\/p>\n \n\tAshamed, he spends the night wandering the streets of his small town until a girl from his high school recognises him. Machado-Graner is joined in the cast by Jane Beever, while Fran\u00e7oise Lebrun provides a voiceover.<\/p>\n \n\tThe section\u2019s short film lineup, selected from 2,400 entries, and jury will be announced in the coming days.<\/p>\n \n\tThe 65th Cannes Critics\u2019 Week will run from May 13 to 21.<\/p>\n \n\tThe 2026 Cannes Critics\u2019 Week Lineup<\/strong>:<\/p>\n \n\tCompetition<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tDua<\/em> \n\tA Girl Unknown<\/em> (Wu ming n\u00fc hai<\/em>) \n\tLa Gradiva<\/em> \n\tSeis Meses en el edificio rosa con azul<\/em> \n\tThe Station<\/em> (Al Mahattah)<\/em> \n\tTin Castle<\/em> \n\tViva<\/em> \n\tSpecial Screenings<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tIn Waves<\/em> (opening film)
Kosovo, Switzerland, France
Blerta Basholli<\/p>\n
China, France
Dir: Zou Jing<\/p>\n
France, Italy
Dir: Marine Atlan<\/p>\n
Mexico, Denmark, Brazil
Bruno Santamaria Razo<\/p>\n
Yemen, Jordan, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway
Dir: Sara Ishaq<\/p>\n
Ireland, France
Dir: Alexander Murphy<\/p>\n
Spain
Dir: Aina Clotet<\/p>\n
France, Belgium
Dir: Phuong Mai Nguyen<\/p>\n