Cristian Mungiu's Fjord won the Palme d'Or of the 2026 Cannes Film Festival.
He won his first Palme d'Or in 2007 for 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days.
The film stars Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve in the lead roles.
The 2026 Cannes Film Festival concluded on Saturday, May 23, with a ceremony to award the best of its 22 films. The winners of the 79th edition of the Cannes Film Festival were selected by a jury presided over by South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook. The jury members included Demi Moore, Chloé Zhao, Stellan Skarsgård, Ruth Negga, Laura Wandel, Isaach De Bankolé, Paul Laverty and Diego Céspedes.
The ceremony was hosted by French actress Eye Haidara, who also hosted the opening ceremony on May 12.
The Palme d’Or, the fest’s top honour, went to Romanian writer-director Cristian Mungiu for his complex moral drama Fjord. The award was presented to him by Scottish actress Tilda Swinton.
Based on a real-life Romanian family, Fjord featured Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve in the lead roles.
Cristian Mungiu wins his second Palme d'Or at Cannes
Fjord marked Mungiu’s second Palme d’Or win after 2007’s 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. At a press conference, he called the top prize “humbling,” adding, “Awards are often a result of context or circumstance.” He also said that it's “important to focus on the film and not the prize.”
Mungiu also becomes the 11th filmmaker to win the Palme d'Or for a second time. Reinsve and Stan joined him on stage.
Neon won its seventh Palme d'Or in a row.
In his acceptance speech, the filmmaker said, “All awards are contextual. The fact that you gave me this award, it’s wonderful for us and we feel very happy, but we need to wait 10, 20 years to watch these films again, and maybe then we’ll understand which of them were really good, and managed to survive the test of time.”
Earlier, after the screening, Fjord earned a 10-minute standing ovation.
