What to stream: Prepare for Cannes with prior Palme d'Or winners

The Cannes Film Festival kicks off this week, with jury president Park Chan-wook presiding over arguably the most prestigious international film festival of the year. It's also an early kickoff to the fall awards season, as many of the films premiering at Cannes will be a part of the conversation in the fall. A couple of years ago, the Palme d'Or winner "Anora" took home the best picture Oscar, as did the 2019 Palme d'Or winner, "Parasite."

Favored international filmmakers like Pedro Almodovar, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Pawel Pawlikowski, Cristian Mungiu, Asghar Farhadi and more have films premiering in competition, as well as American auteurs Ira Sachs and James Gray, and these titles will surely be a a large part of the fall film season.

So in preparation for Cannes, check out some of our favorite former Palme D'Or winners on streaming, whether it's a rewatch of a classic or a film you've never seen before.

Perhaps its recency bias, but you may want to check out the aforementioned Palme and best picture winners "Anora" (2024) and "Parasite" (2019). Though likely everyone has seen them already, they are truly excellent films and always deserve a rewatch. Sean Baker's cracked Cinderella story about a Brooklyn sex worker and her misbegotten Vegas elopement to a Russian oligarch's son is a funny, madcap, poignant film with an incredible leading performance from Mikey Madison, who won the best actress Oscar. Bong Joon Ho's class warfare dark comedy "Parasite" is a masterpiece of tone and suspense, starring Song Kang-ho (currently co-starring on Netflix's "Beef"). Stream both on Kanopy.

Neon has had tremendous success with Palme d'Or winners in recent years, including Ruben Ostlund's class-conscious cruise ship satire "Triangle of Sadness," which won in 2022, and is streaming on Netflix and Kanopy (Ostlund also won the Palme for his 2017 art world send-up "The Square," streaming on Kanopy and Hulu). They also distributed the 2023 winner "Anatomy of a Fall," Justine Triet's marriage drama (streaming on Netflix and Kanopy), and Julia Ducornau's surreal and erotic automotive love story/horror film "Titane" (streaming on Kanopy) and Jafar Panahi's searing political drama "It Was Just An Accident" (streaming on Hulu).

Previous Palme winner Kore-eda is back at Cannes this year with his new film "Sheep in a Box" in competition, but he previously won the top prize in 2018 for his heartwarming unconventional family tale "Shoplifters" - stream it on Kanopy.

And take a streaming spin for some older classics that you may not have known were Palme d'Or winners, like Francis Ford Coppola's "The Conversation" (1974), starring Gene Hackman as a surveillance expert (streaming on Prime Video and Kanopy), and his "Apocalypse Now," which he won for only five years later, in 1979, a Joseph Conrad-inspired epic into a Vietnam heart of darkness (rent it on digital platforms).

Sundance darling Steven Soderbergh was the youngest Palme d'Or winner with his 1989 film "Sex, Lies & Videotape" starring Andie MacDowell and James Spader, a musing on complex sex and relationships that paved the way for the indie film revolution of the ‘90s. That one is only available for purchase online. Five years later, Quentin Tarantino won the Palme for his crime opus, "Pulp Fiction," streaming on Paramount+, Peacock, AMC+ and Kanopy.

David Lynch won the Palme for his gonzo "Wizard of Oz" inspired Southern noir "Wild At Heart," starring Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern, in 1990 (available to rent), while Martin Scorsese won in 1976 for his Robert De Niro vehicle "Taxi Driver" (available to rent). In 1996, English master filmmaker Mike Leigh won for his splendid "Secrets & Lies" starring Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Brenda Blethyn, a truly spectacular story of a mother and daughter. Stream it on HBO Max or the Criterion Channel.

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This story was originally published May 12, 2026 at 1:31 PM.