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The Cannes Film Festival and Cannes Market have announced official attendance figures for the 2026 event, reporting that some 40,000 industry professionals will be taking market this year, with 16,000 film executives from more than 140 countries registered for the Marché du Film, which kicks off today, Tuesday May 12, and runs through May 20.
The United States, France and the United Kingdom remain the top three countries in terms of
attendance at the Cannes Market, with Europe as a region dominating in terms of total attendees. But the Asian contingent is gaining strength. Japan, the country of honor at the 2026 Marché saw a nearly 50 percent increase in attendence this year, and now represents the fifth-largest contingent at the market.
The market broke down the 2026 attendance figures, saying there were a total of 600 exhibiting companies at the Marché this year, and 1,500 festival and market screenings. Some 1,700 buyers will be walking the halls of the Palais looking for deals.
Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa also boosted their presence at the world’s most important film industry meet. Benin is exhibiting for the first time at Cannes’ International Village, and Latam attendance has been growing steadily for years, helped by the Marché collaborations with Latim American audiovisual market Ventana Sur. The two groups co-organize film markets in Argentina and Uruguay.
Alongside the market, the Marché du Film is also organizing an astounding 250 industry events across the next 8 days, including 100 conference sessions discussing such issues as film financing, diversity and inclusion in the industry, the impact and use of AI technology and potential collaborations and cross-over with the online Creator economy. A small sampling of the speakers and participants at the sessions this year include Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group President Sanford Panitch, Focus Features President Niels Swinkels, META executive Louise Holmes, OpenAI executive Chad Nelson, and directors Darren Aronofsky and Xavier Gens, and Tarik Saleh.
