Cannes Film Festival 2026: Peter Jackson to get honorary Palme d’Or — here's why Hollywood director was picked

Filmmaker Peter Jackson of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ fame will be honoured with the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Jackson will be honoured at the opening ceremony of the 79th Cannes Film Festival on May 12.

The director said it is one of the greatest privileges of his career to be presented with the award. “To be honoured with an Honorary Palme d'Or at Cannes is one of the greatest privileges of my career.”

“Cannes has been a meaningful part of my filmmaking journey. In 1988, I attended the Festival Marketplace with my first movie, Bad Taste, then in 2001 we screened a preview sequence from The Fellowship of the Ring, both of which were important milestones in my career,” Jackson said in a statement.

“This festival has always celebrated bold, visionary cinema, and I'm incredibly grateful to the Festival de Cannes for being recognised among the filmmakers and the artists whose work continues to inspire me,” he added.

The festival will start on May 12 and conclude on May 23.

Why is Peter Jackson getting honorary Palme d’Or?

The legendary filmmaker Peter Jackson will be awarded the honorary Palme d’Or for his "body of work that blends Hollywood blockbusters and films d'auteur with extraordinary artistic vision and technological audacity", according to the festival's official website.

26 minutes decided on 13 May 2001 decided Jackson's fate — The first images, still in editing, of The Lord of the Rings were presented as a world premiere to the press at the 54th edition of the Festival.

With this now-legendary trilogy, Peter Jackson initiated one of the most decisive turning points in contemporary cinema: a new way of creating images, building universes and telling stories

Celebrating 25 years of it, Cannes' President Iris Knobloch said he was delighted that “for its 79th year, the Festival welcomes and thanks a filmmaker of boundless creativity who has brought prestige to the heroic fantasy genre.”

There is “clearly a before and an after Peter Jackson,” said Cannes' Director Thierry Frémaux. He noted Jackson's trademark – “Larger-than-life cinema,” and said, the filmmaker's “all-encompassing art of entertainment is particularly ambitious. He has permanently transformed Hollywood cinema and its conception of the spectacle.”

“But Peter Jackson is not only a great technician; he is above all a tremendous storyteller. And an unpredictable artist: what will his next universe be?” Frémaux added.

About Peter Jackson

Peter Jackson, New Zealand filmmaker, producer, and screenwriter, is best known for making the epic Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Before Jackson, the thought of adapting JRR Tolkien’s fantasy literature into a film was deemed impossible. The filmmaker, however, proved everyone wrong and changed how movies are made forever.

With the Lord of the Rings trilogy, beginning in 2001, Jackson revolutionised the way images are made, worlds are created, and stories are told on the big screen.

Jackson took a massive risk by filming all three movies at the same time in his home country, New Zealand. The project was a giant logistical puzzle that included two years of planning and 274 days of filming, three years of post-production, 20,602 extras, 2,400 technicians, and a budget of $1 million per day.

The trilogy was released between 2001 and 2003, becoming a global phenomenon. Following this success, Jackson directed a remake of King Kong in 2005 and later returned to Middle-earth to direct The Hobbit trilogy (2012–2014).

In recent years, Jackson has used his skills to tell real-life stories. With cutting-edge technology to restore old footage, Jackson made history feel brand new with ‘They Shall Not Grow Old’ (2018) — the archives of World War I, featuring 100 hours of restored colourised footage and 600 hours of interviews.

His miniseries, The Beatles: Get Back (2001), offers a montage of 60 hours of previously unseen footage from the recording of the album Let It Be in early 1969.

Interestingly, The Beatles actually tried to make their own Lord of the Rings movie in 1969. They wanted Stanley Kubrick to direct, with John Lennon playing Gollum and Paul McCartney playing Frodo. Tolkien himself said no to the idea.

Decades later, Jackson—a huge fan of both Tolkien and the band—finally brought the story to life and eventually directed the definitive documentary on the "Fab Four."