Cannes 2026 – Indian stars head to South of France; Simone Ashley; Payal Kapadia…
It starts on Tuesday (May 12-23) join us…
GLAMOUR, GLITZ, STARS and this year some of the world’s greatest auteur filmmakers head to the South of France – there is nothing quite like the Cannes Film Festival.
It’s edition 79 and we will be back on the Croisette, the main throughfare close to the Mediterranean Sea.
What have you got your eyes in this edition…?
🎥 Bollywood stars Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Alia Bhatt, Aditi Hydari Rao confirmed attendance on behalf of L’Oreal Paris, as well UK icon Simone Ashley who is another ambassador
🎥 Indian film John Abraham 1986 film ‘Amma Ariyan‘ to feature in Cannes Classic (restorations). New 4K print managed by Film Heritage Foundation – Director Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, lead actor Joy Matthew and cinematographer and editor Bina Paul confirmed to attend
🎥 La Cinef – the section for upcoming filmmakers at registered film schools from around the world, features Mehar Malhotra whose film, ‘Shadow of the Moonless Nights’ is selected from nearly 3.000 entries. She’s at the Film and Television Institute (FTII) in Pune – incidentally where Payal Kapadia who wowed Cannes in 2024 with ‘All We Imagine as Light’ will return this year…
🎥 Payal Kapadia to preside over Cannes Critics’ Week jury in 2026
🎥 India Oscar winning producer Guneet Monga to address several panels
🎥 British directors Ray Panthaki and Shalini Adnani present ‘In Starland‘ and ‘Share of Sand‘ respectively, as part of British Film Institute’s (BFI) Great 8 initiative which launches these directors alongside six other emerging and new directors at the market section of Cannes. Panthaki is an actor and his film Is set in America, about an encounter between a 50-year-old recluse and some younger influencers with whom he develops a bond. In ‘Our Share of Sand‘ – a 12-year-old girl returns wih her mother to India to be reunited with her father who runs a sandmining business and the relationships began to fracture and fray with Maya having to choose where her loyalties lie and the call of justice after an incident involving a friend. These features will be screened online to buyers and festival programmers during the festival.
🎥 Nepali film ‘Elephants in the Fog‘ to screen in Un Certain Regard section (one down from Competition) – debut feature film for Abinash Bikram Shah (see link below)
Back to Cannes…
FILMMAKER Payal Kapadia has been named President of the Jury for the 65th edition of Critics’ Week (La Semaine de la Critique) at Cannes 2026.
Kapadia, whose feature ‘All We Imagine As Light’ won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival in 2024, will lead the jury for the parallel section dedicated to first and second features.
It was the first Indian film to feature in Competition in 30 years and established Kapadia as one of the leading Indian cinematic voices of her generation.
She spoke to www.asianculturevulture.com in London about the whole experience – see our interview below.
We have been following her ascent since her first feature – a hybrid documentary-fictional, ‘A Night of Knowing Nothing’ won the L’Oeil d’Or for Best Documentary in 2021.
Prior to this, Kapadia’s ‘Afternoon Clouds’ and ‘And What is the Summer Saying’ were selected by the Cinefondation and the Berlinale in 2016 and 2018, respectively.
Critics’ Week will run from 13 to 21 May 2026 during the Cannes Film Festival. The section spotlights emerging filmmakers, and its jury awards a set of prizes across the feature and short-film selections.
Kapadia will be joined on the jury by actor Théodore Pellerin, singer-songwriter Oklou, producer Ama Ampadu, and Thai journalist and Bangkok World Film Festival director Donsaron Kovitvanitcha.
The jury will award the Ami Paris Grand Prize for best feature, the Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award (actor/actress), and the Sony Discovery Prize for best short. The 2026 Critics’ Week programme includes 11 first and second features (seven in competition) and 13 short films, selected from 1,050 feature submissions and 2,400 short-film submissions.
In comments accompanying the announcement, Kapadia said that supporting first films remains vital at a time when independent cinema is “being eroded in every country,” describing the work of backing new filmmakers as “almost a resistance to the market forces.”
India Pavilion chief will leave huge and sad gap…
MANY tributes have been paid to Leena Jaisani (pictured above in Cannes) who used to run the India pavilion at the Cannes Film Festival and passed away on in late April, following a heart attack and hospitalisation for a few days.
Jaisani served for more than three decades at the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci), rising to the role of Deputy Secretary General and heading its Media & Entertainment division. The organisation manages the India pavilion at the festival.
She was widely regarded as a driving force behind India’s international industry outreach, including her long-standing involvement with Ficci Frames and her leadership in managing the India Pavilion at the Cannes Film Festival, where she played a key role in promoting Indian cinema on the global stage.
Mandeep Yadav, a senior executive at Ficci, lamented in a LinkedIn comment to the post from Ficci about her demise: “The industry has lost a champion. And we have lost someone truly irreplaceable…thank you for showing us what true leadership looks like.”
On a personal note, acv knew her and always found her a calm and gentle presence at Cannes, amidst the customary chaos and high pressure requests.
She also enabled us to do many interviews from the India pavilion with quiet efficiency and once saved acv’s digital recorder from being lost/taken. Hard to believe she won’t be in Cannes this year. Deepest condolences to her nearest and dearest and hoping there will be some form of tribute in Cannes itself. She will be much missed and is mourned by many who dealt with her in Cannes.
We’ve been covering the festival for over 10 years with video and if you want to know how it all started and a couple of our videos to get you in the mood…
From last year…over the years…
How it all began our chat …in the year it got cancelled…
Finally…
