Peter Jackson to Receive Honorary Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival

New Zealand filmmaker Peter Jackson, known for directing the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit trilogies, will receive an honorary Palme d’Or at the 79th Cannes Film Festival.

“To be honoured with an Honorary Palme d’Or at Cannes is one of the greatest privileges of my career,” Peter Jackson said. “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. 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.”

Twenty-five years after debuting the first shots of The Fellowship of the Ring, the festival will celebrate Peter Jackson at its opening ceremony on Tuesday, May 12, 2026.

Festival President Iris Knobloch is 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.”

Festival Director Thierry Frémaux confirms that there is “clearly a before and an after Peter Jackson. Larger-than-life cinema is his trademark, and his 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?”

After directing Bad Taste in 1987, Braindead in 1992, and Heavenly Creatures in 1994), the film director, producer, and screenwriter set out to create three installments to be released one year apart: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002), and The Return of the King (2003). Filmed entirely and simultaneously in New Zealand, which also hosted the post-production of special effects, editing, and mixing, the trilogy presented a colossal logistical challenge: two years of pre-production, 274 days of filming, three years of post-production, 20,602 extras, 2,400 technicians, and a budget of $1 million per day!

After the global success, Peter Jackson signed on in 2005 to remake the legendary King Kong. A few years later, he returned to Tolkien’s Middle-earth to direct The Hobbit trilogy between 2012 and 2014.