The Cannes Film Festival will present Barbra Streisand with an Honorary Palme d’Or during its closing 79th Awards Ceremony on May 23, 2026. The Palme recognizes a career that spans film, music, and cultural influence across more than six decades.
The actor, director, producer, screenwriter, singer, and songwriter has built one of the most wide‑ranging careers in modern entertainment. Her film work includes 19 acting roles and three directorial features, earning two Academy Awards. She became the first woman to win the Oscar for Best Original Song in 1977 and later made history again as the first woman to receive the Golden Globe for Best Director in 1984. Her directorial debut, Yentl (1983), followed a two‑decade effort to bring Isaac Bashevis Singer’s story to the screen, with Streisand ultimately producing, directing, co‑writing, and starring in the film.
Directing career
Streisand’s directing career continued with The Prince of Tides (1991), which received seven Oscar nominations, and The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996). As a performer, she became one of Hollywood’s defining musical stars through films including Funny Girl (1968), Hello, Dolly! (1969), and A Star Is Born (1976), while also appearing in comedies such as The Owl and the Pussycat and dramas including The Way We Were and Nuts.
The Streisand touch extends equally to music. She has released 37 studio albums, won 10 Grammy Awards, and became the only artist to achieve No. 1 albums in six consecutive decades.
Festival President Iris Knobloch described Streisand as “an artist who made her mark through the power of her art and her uncompromising pursuit of freedom,” noting that her career continues to inspire generations of filmmakers and performers.
(Michael Leahy. Photo: NIH Image Gallery from Bethesda, Maryland, USA, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)