Barbra Streisand to receive honorary Palme d’Or at Cannes

Barbra Streisand will be honoured with an honorary Palme d’Or at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, marking a rare recognition of her decades-long influence across music, cinema and popular culture.

The award will be presented on May 23 during the closing ceremony of the festival’s 79th edition. According to the organisers, the moment will also mark Streisand’s first appearance at Cannes.

In a statement, festival authorities praised the singer and actor’s enduring impact on global entertainment.

Image

“Barbra Streisand has reached the pinnacle of the entertainment industry like no one before her,” the statement read. “Yet even this extraordinary record pales in comparison to her influence on pop culture in the second half of the 20th century.”

The organisers also noted Streisand’s philanthropic work. Through initiatives such as the Barbra Streisand Women’s Heart Centre at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute and the Streisand Foundation, she has supported gender equality, minority rights, LGBTQ+ advocacy, environmental causes, medical research and arts education for disadvantaged children.

Responding to the announcement, Streisand expressed gratitude for the recognition.

Image

“It is with a sense of pride and deep humility that I’m honoured to join the company of past Honorary Palme d’Or recipients whose work has long inspired me,” she said in a statement.

“In these challenging times, movies have the ability to open our hearts and minds to stories that reflect our shared humanity, and to perspectives that remind us of both our fragility and our resilience. Cinema transcends borders and politics, and affirms the power of imagination to shape a more compassionate world,” she added.

Image

Previous recipients of the honorary Palme d’Or include Peter Jackson, Agnès Varda, Marco Bellocchio, Jodie Foster, Meryl Streep, Robert De Niro and Tom Cruise.

The 79th Cannes Film Festival will take place from May 12 to May 23.

Streisand’s career spans more than six decades. She made her studio debut with “The Barbra Streisand Album” in 1963, which won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year.

In 1976, she won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for composing the love theme from “A Star Is Born”, becoming the first woman to receive the honour as a composer. With “Yentl” (1983), she also became the first woman to write, produce, direct and star in a major studio film. The film later won an Oscar for Best Original Score and a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Musical.

The 83-year-old performer is also widely recognised for her roles in films such as “The Way We Were” (1973), “The Mirror Has Two Faces” (1996), “Meet the Fockers” (2004) and “Little Fockers” (2010).