Austrian director Sandra Wollner won the Un Certain Regard award at the 77th Cannes Film Festival with her third feature film, Everytime, a family drama dealing with grief [1, 2]. She received the prize on May 23, 2026, and used her acceptance speech to stress the need to protect unique, personal storytelling amid the rise of AI-generated content that tends to homogenize creativity [1, 2]. Wollner said, "I honestly would like to hold on to those quirky, weird thoughts that maybe don’t make sense in the beginning, but hopefully stay with you maybe a little longer" [2].
The Nepali film Elephants in The Fog, directed by Abinash Bikram Shah, made history as Nepal’s first selection at Cannes and won the Jury Prize in the same Un Certain Regard section [1, 2]. The film’s team included members of Nepal’s transgender community, who celebrated their achievement on stage with the support of festival director Thierry Fremaux managing the ceremony [1, 2].
Additional awards in the Un Certain Regard section included the French animated film Iron Boy receiving the Special Jury Prize [1, 2]. The Best Actress award was shared among Marina De Tavira, Daniela Marin Navarro, and Mariangel Villegas for their roles in Forever Your Maternal Animal [1, 2]. Bradley Fiomona Dembeasset won Best Actor for Congo Boy, portraying a teenager pursuing music amid civil conflict [1, 2].
The festival’s Un Certain Regard section opened with the film Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, starring Gillian Anderson [1, 2].
