Paweł Pawlikowski Wins Best Director at Cannes 2026!
Polish filmmaker Paweł Pawlikowski won the Best Director award at the 79th Cannes Film Festival for his latest film 'Fatherland'.
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Łukasz Żal, Hanns Zischler, Paweł Pawlikowski, Sandra Hüller & August Diehl attend the 'Fatherland' screening during the 79th Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on 14 May 2026, photo: Pascal Le Segretain / Getty Images
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Polish filmmaker Paweł Pawlikowski won the Best Director award at the 79th Cannes Film Festival for his latest film Fatherland. The prize was announced during Saturday’s closing ceremony in Cannes, where the acclaimed director returned to competition after an eight-year break.
Fatherland, staring Sandra Hüller, follows writer Thomas Mann and his daughter Erika on a journey through postwar Germany during the Cold War. The black-and-white drama premiered in the main competition and received a long standing ovation, strong reviews from critics and festival audiences alike.
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'Fatherland' directed by Paweł Pawlikowski, photo: Agata Grzybowska / Kino Świat
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The award marks another major Cannes success for Pawlikowski, who previously won Best Director in 2018 for Cold War and went on to earn an Oscar for Ida.
This year’s Palme d’Or went to Romanian director Cristian Mungiu for the film Fjord.
Congratulations!
Find out more about the award-winning film soon on Culture.pl!