Three African Titles Selected for 2026 Cannes Un Certain Regard

The anticipated Cannes Film Festival has announced its 2026 official selection. Three African films will screen in Un Certain Regard at the 79th Cannes edition, scheduled to run from 12th to 23rd May, 2026. 

Un Certain Regard is a section of the Cannes Film Festival that showcases unique and innovative films with non-traditional storytelling styles. Introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob, this section runs parallel to the Palme d’Or competition. 

The selected African titles include Rwandan Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo’s Ben’Imana, Central African Republic and DR Congo Rafiki Fariala’s Congo Boy, and Moroccan Laila Marrakchi’s La Más Dulce Dulce (Strawberries).

Dusabejambo’s Ben’Imana is the first film by a Rwandan director to premiere in the Cannes Official Selection, following American director Lee Isaac Chung’s Munyurangabo in 2007. 

Ben’Imana is a Rwanda-Gabon-Côted’lvoire-France-Norway co-production. The film follows Veneranda, a survivor of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. She has built a life around healing and reconciliation. But when her teenage daughter gets pregnant, Veneranda’s past trauma resurfaces, forcing her to confront unresolved emotions and test the limits of forgiveness within her family. The film stars Clémentine U. Nyirinkindi, Isabelle Kabano, Kesia Kelly Nishimwe, Leocadie Uwabeza, Antoinette Uwamahoro, and Aime Valens Tuyisenge.

Fariala’s Congo Boy is a co-production between the Central African Republic-Democratic Republic of the Congo and France. The film follows Robert, a 17-year-old Congolese refugee in Bangui, who cares for his four younger siblings while trying to become a musician after his parents are imprisoned.

In 2022, Fariala debut directorial feature documentary film Nous, étudiants ! (We, Students!). The film  won an award at the Cinéma du réel (Prix des Bibliothèques 2022) and was screened at numerous festivals, including the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale). There the film made history as the first Central African film to be screened there. The film is also awarded with the Silver Stallion for Documentary at the 2023 FESPACO, the Pan-African Film and Television Festival in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The cast includes Nisrin Erradi, Hajar Graigaa, Hind Braik, Fatima Attif, Larbi Mohammed Ajbar, and others.

Marrakchi’s La Más Dulce (Strawberries) is a Morocco-France-Spain-Belgium co-production that follows Hasna, a Moroccan woman who travels to Huelva, Spain, for seasonal strawberry-picking work and faces abuse, harassment, and degrading living conditions. 

In 2005, Marrakchi made her Cannes debut with Marock, her first feature as a director, which also screened at the Un Certain Regard. The project was selected for the 2025 Atlas Workshops linked to the Marrakech International Film Festival, where its synopsis and production details were publicly presented. 

In 2004, pioneering African filmmaker Ousmane Sembène won the 1998-launched Prix Un Certain Regard award for Moolaadé, making him the sole African who have won. The Prix Un Certain Regard was introduced to recognize young talent and to encourage innovative and daring works by presenting one of the films with a grant to aid its distribution in France. From 2005 to date, the prize has consisted of €30,000, financed by the Groupama GAN Foundation. These three African titles, alongside twelve others, will screen at the Cannes Un Certain Regard section.