Benelux nominations at Cannes Film Festival

Films from the Benelux region have been given every opportunity to shine in Cannes. For our summer edition, we’re highlighting the most noteworthy nominations.

The most prestigious film festival in Europe, Cannes Film Festival, has selected films from all corners of the Benelux region in the 2026 edition of the iconic festival, which takes place between 12 and 23 May.

Coward, by director Lukas Dhont. Photo: ©Aline Boyen

The Belgian, French, Japanese and German co-production, All of a Sudden (Soudain), is filmed in Paris and Tokyo. The cast is headed up by Belgian/French actress Virginie Efira and the Japanese model turned actress, Tao Okamoto. It’s directed by Japanese filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi, marking what is his first French language feature. The plot plays out in a nursing home in the Parisian suburbs, where the director attempts to introduce a humane care technique known as Humanitude, despite resistance. Her life is changed when she meets a terminally ill Japanese playwright.

World War I drama Coward is directed by Belgian filmmaker Lukas Dhont, and is a Belgian, Dutch and French co-production. Set in 1916 during World War I at the Belgian front. Behind the trenches, two soldiers strike up a friendship. In their efforts to keep their spirits up, they counter the rhetoric of war and the omnipresent misery and decide, with their comrades, to put on a theatrical revue.

From Full Phil. Photo: © 2026 – CHI-FOU-MI PRODUCTIONS – ARTEMIS PRODUCTIONS – SAMSA FILM

Full Phil is something as unusual as an English-language French, Belgian and Luxembourg co-production, featuring an international a-list cast including Woody Harrelson, Kristen Steward and Charlotte de Bon, plus others. The storyline is centred around a rich American industrialist’s Paris trip with his estranged daughter Madeleine. However, it goes terrible off track when French food, a vintage horror movie, and a meddling hotel worker interfere with their plans.

From the Amsterdam-based Scottish-Yemen filmmaker Sara Ishaq, we have The Station, which is set in a war-torn Yemen. It is a Dutch, Yemen and US co-production.

Anders Lorenzen is a Danish blogger and film and TV enthusiast living in London.

SHARE

• Share
• Share
• Share
• Share
• Share

Requests to commercially license our content for republishing are now being processed through PLSclear. Please visit www.plsclear.com to complete your permission request. You can search PLSclear by title, ISBN/ISSN, author, or keyword.