Cannes 2026: Why American cinema is not taking center stage on the Croisette this year

Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.

Although the history of Cannes is inseparable from that of US filmmaking, the highly anticipated American feature films are few and far between in this year's lineup. The official reason is a series of events that slowed a number of projects. But there is also a growing lack of interest in auteur fi