The festival organizers, presenting the program at a press conference in Paris on Thursday, highlighted a lineup featuring numerous renowned international auteurs for the event running from May 12 to 23.

The most sought-after programs in Cannes are found in the competition section. This year, 21 films will vie for the Palme d'Or. These include "Fatherland," a Cold War drama starring Sandra Hüller, written by Pawlikowski ("Ida," "Cold War"); "Sudden," a French-language debut by Hamaguchi ("Drive My Car"); and Almodóvar's "Bitter Christmas."

Cannes currently features few Hollywood productions and American filmmakers. One exception in competition is Ira Sachs' "The Man I Love," a New York story starring Rami Malek, set during the 1980s AIDS crisis.

In the Un Certain Regard section, Jane Schoenbrun will present the sequel to her 2014 film "I Saw the TV Glow": "Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma," about the making of a slasher film, starring Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson.

The competition also includes several former Palme winners. Among them is Romanian director Cristian Mungiu's "Fjord," set in Norway, starring recent Oscar nominees Renate Reinsve and Sebastian Stan. Mungiu's film "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days" won the Palme in 2007.

Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda also returns, whose 2018 drama "Shoplifters" won the Palme. He will debut with the sci-fi film "Sheep in the Box," about a grieving couple in the near future who bring home a humanoid boy as their son.

Specialized distributor Neon has already acquired "Fjord," "Sheep in the Box," and "Sudden," giving it a chance to extend its historic record of six consecutive Palme winners. Last year, Neon's release of Iranian director Jafar Panahi's "It Was Just an Accident" won the Palme.

Neon has also been selected out of competition for Nicolas Winding Refn's "Her Private Hell," the director of "Drive." A thriller starring Sophie Thatcher and Charles Melton, this is Refn's first feature since 2016's "The Neon Demon."

Russian filmmaker Andrey Zvyagintsev also returns to the Cannes competition with "Minotaur." Zvyagintsev's last two films, "Loveless" and "Leviathan," debuted at Cannes and earned Oscar nominations.

Other competition entries include films by Asghar Farhadi ("Parallel Stories"), Lukas Dhont ("Coward"), and László Nemes ("Moulin").

Thierry Frémaux, Cannes' artistic director, announced the lineup at the press conference alongside festival president Iris Knobloch. Frémaux noted that 2,541 feature films were submitted for consideration.

Cannes follows the 2025 festival, which produced numerous Oscar contenders, including two Best Picture nominees: Joachim Trier's "Sentimental Value" and Kleber Mendonça Filho's "The Secret Agent."

This year's Cannes appears well-positioned to maintain its status as a global launchpad for many of the year's top international films, some of which are sure to appear at next year's Oscars.

However, Hollywood studios seem unlikely to be represented. Frémaux stated he does not expect red-carpet premieres like "Top Gun: Maverick" or "Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning," both of which had major premieres in recent years.

This year, ahead of the Paris press conference, Cannes announced that John Travolta's directorial debut "Propeller One-Way Night Coach" will premiere in the Cannes Premières section.

Two prominent American directors will premiere documentaries in special screenings: Steven Soderbergh with "John Lennon: The Last Interview" and Ron Howard with "Avedon," about photographer Richard Avedon.

The festival opens out of competition with the French film "The Electric Kiss" from the 1920s. Cannes requires that the opening film be released in French cinemas the same week, and entry into the prestigious competition requires theatrical distribution—a condition that, due to French laws protecting cinema screenings, has excluded Netflix films and other streaming titles since 2017.

This year, Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook will preside over the nine-member jury deciding the Palme winner. Two honorary Palmes will be awarded to Barbra Streisand and Peter Jackson.