Cannes Day 9: Netflix buys ‘In Waves,’ Bruce Dern doc delights

The 2026 Cannes Film Festival turned nine days old on Wednesday. Netflix scored the early headlines, outbidding rivals to lock down perhaps the festival’s most buzzed-about animated title, In Waves. Meanwhile, Bruce Dern made some waves of his own on the Croisette, thanks to a celebratory new documentary. And Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev made a triumphant return with his latest film, Minotaur, which received a rousing ovation.

Bruce Almighty

Bruce Dern was back in the spotlight on Wednesday, where the documentary Dernsie: The Amazing Life of Bruce Dern received a six-minute standing ovation at its Cannes premiere. He was accompanied by daughter Laura Dern, who made the short commute from Saint-Tropez, where she is currently filming Season 4 of The White Lotus.

Directed by Mike Mendez, the doc looks back over Dern’s six-and-a-half decades in Hollywood, where he has worked with everyone from Alfred Hitchcock to John Wayne. It features interviews with Billy Bob Thornton, Quentin Tarantino, and Walton Goggins, but critics agree the best part of the film is hearing from Dern himself.

Caryn James at The Hollywood Reporter writes, “the camera is close on his face as we listen to an old man with wiry grey hair and a distinctive gravelly voice — Dern is now 89 — tell stories. Fortunately, he is a terrific storyteller, as blunt as you might expect but wittier and warmer. In the way of such documentaries, the film’s tone is adoring, but Dern’s no-nonsense attitude cuts through most of the treacle.” The Wrap‘s Steve Pond echoed the sentiment: “Director Mike Mendez offers a straightforward but entertaining guided tour of a career that has lasted about 70 years.”

Minotaur makes a splash

Director Andrey Zvyagintsev made a triumphant return with Minotaur, which received a lenghthy standing ovation (various reports clocked it between eight and 10 minutes) inside the Grand Théâtre Lumière.

The film offers a critical look at societal decay and political corruption in Putin-era Russia through the prism of a deeply intimate drama, with Dmitriy Mazurov and Iris Lebedeva as a married couple grappling with the fallout of infidelity.

Zvyagintsev was clearly moved by the enthusiastic response. “I’m grateful to all of you, the audience here at the Lumière theater, for welcoming us so warmly and for giving us the opportunity to make this film and share it with you,” Zvyagintsev told the crowd.

Netflix catches Waves

Netflix has secured its first major deal out of the 2026 festival, picking up global rights (excluding France) for In Waves. According to Variety, the deal is in the mid-seven-figure range.

Directed by Phuong Mai Nguyen and written by Fanny Burdino and Samuel Doux, In Waves is based on AJ Dungo’s 2019 graphic novel. It follows two teens in love: AJ, a shy teenager who loves skateboarding, and Kristen, a passionate surfer. Together, they dream of a future until Kristen is struck by a sudden illness. In Waves was the first animated film to open the Cannes festival’s Critics’ Week.

Before Netflix’s acquisition, the film received rave reviews. Sheri Linden at The Hollywood Reporter wrote that the film “is an understated marvel, its elegant hand-drawn simplicity bolstered by a strong emotional throughline,” adding, “They’re vivid characters brought to warm life by unfussy animation and the superb performances of Will Sharpe and Stephanie Hsu.”

Meanwhile, Tomris Laffly at Variety praised the film as an emotional rollercoaster you will want to get on, writing that In Waves “offers viewers a good old-fashioned cry, in the form of a traditional emotional rollercoaster that wants to win over our cynical hearts in hordes.”

Updated Standing-O Scoreboard

*averaged from published reports