Cristian Mungiu's Fjord opens in North American theaters today, the same October slot NEON used for Parasite and Anora. The timing is not coincidental. Both films won Best Picture. NEON is aiming for a third.
Fjord won the Palme d'Or at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, where it received a standing ovation lasting ten minutes. It is the seventh consecutive Palme d'Or for NEON, following Parasite, Titane, Triangle of Sadness, Anatomy of a Fall, Anora, and It Was Just an Accident. No distributor has sustained a streak like it.
The film stars Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve as a Romanian couple with strict religious beliefs who relocate their family to a remote Norwegian village. When bruises are noticed on their daughter at school, authorities remove all five children from the home, beginning a legal battle that sits at the center of the film. Mungiu previously won the Palme d'Or for 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days.
Ahead of this release, Variety confirmed that Fjord is eligible for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. Under new Academy rules, the Cannes win means the film does not require a country submission. That removes one significant hurdle from a film that, according to Awards Radar, is already an early frontrunner for the category.
Whether Fjord can follow Anora into the Best Picture conversation remains the larger question for the season.