Leïla Bekhti will be President of the Un Certain Regard Jury at Cannes 2026

“I will be there in the most precious place: that of the public.”

Leïla Bekhti is a big regular at the Cannes Film Festival, where she climbed the steps for the first time in 2009 to A Prophet. This year, she will be present in a new role for her, that of President of the Un Certain Regard Jury. To support him in his task: the Senegalese producer Angèle Diabang, the Lebanese composer Khaled Mouzanar, the Italian director Laura Samani (Italy) and the French director Thomas Cailley.

The actress said:

“For the first time as Jury President, I will be in this unique place: watching, listening, sharing, celebrating. Making cinema taught me that films are places of encounter – with others, with oneself, with the world. Discovering them alongside a jury, living this timeless experience, is both a responsibility and a joy. I rejoice in these shared views, these dialogues, these doubts too, which make up the richness of this living art. And, ultimately, I will be there in the most precious place: that of the public.“

In 2025, Chilean director Diego Céspedes won the Un Certain Regard Prize with The Mysterious Look of the Pink Flamingo. This section dedicated to young auteur and discovery cinema will open this year with Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasmathe new film by Jane Schoenbrun (I Saw The TV Glow).

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