24
24
Which director will be honoured at the Cinéma Paradiso Louvre Festival?
The Cinéma Paradiso film festival will take place at the Louvre in Paris from July 1st to 4th, 2026. The lineup includes concerts, gastronomy, and open-air screenings. After Sofia Coppola last year, filmmaker Joachim Trier will be the guest of honour of this new edition.
Published on 2 July 2025. Updated on 24 April 2026.
Over fifteen years ago, Elisha and Nathanaël Karmitz, both directors at Mk2, set out to make the big screen experience even more powerful and unique. How to bring such a large vision to life? By dismantling the monolithic image that often looms over cinema. With the Karmitz brothers’ initiative, the seventh art found itself intertwined with other creative forms, such as music, gastronomy, contemporary art, and video games.
Cinéma Paradiso, an open-air film festival at the Louvre
Together, they called this concept “Paradiso”, turning Paris into the testing ground for all their experiments. In 2013 and 2015, they turned the Grand Palais into a drive-in theater. The first edition also featured the concept store Colette. Other standout moments? Events were hosted by Le Baron and Wanderlust, two iconic Parisian nightlife venues. These marked the launch of the first two editions of the Cinéma Paradiso Louvre Festival.
Since then, they have opened Europe’s very first virtual reality cinema, “MK2 VR”, inside the MK2 Bibliothèque multiplex. Although it closed in 2020, a similar venue opened shortly after. This time it was at the Parc des Princes, inside PSG Football Club’s facilities!
After the opening of Hotel Paradiso, Europe’s first cinema-hotel located inside MK2 Nation in Paris in March 2021, the two directors of the French production and distribution decided to extend the journey of the Cinéma Paradiso Festival.
A 2025 edition with Sofia Coppola and Wong Kar-wai
From July 2nd to 5th, 2025, the film festival was held in the Cour Carrée of the Louvre. The 5th edition included open-air film screenings, concerts, DJ sets… Everything was orchestrated to celebrate summer and the seventh art. Among various bars, food trucks and appearances from important figures from the art and entertainment industry, festival-goers were able to enjoy preview screenings and cult gems. All of that on a giant 24-metre-long screen.
As for the lineup, the Cinéma Paradiso Louvre partnered with Chanel. Behind the decks were DJ Piu Piu and the collective Fip Squad. From the Afro-Caribbean cuisine of New Soul Food to Amorino ice creams and the Italian food trucks Pizza del Popolo and Il Camioncino… The culinary offering of last year’s edition had a clear taste of summer.
As for feature films, viewers could enjoy the must-watch In the Mood for Love (2000) by Wong Kar-wai and The Virgin Suicides (1999) by Sofia Coppola. The latter was also present at the festival to introduce her cult movie.
The Cinéma Paradiso Festival also paid tribute to the great David Lynch with a screening of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me. Finally, the three-time Cannes award-winning feature The Secret Agent (2025) by Kleber Mendonça Filho brought the open-air screenings to a close. The Brazilian director was also there to present his work…
Joachim Trier, guest of honour at the 2026 edition
The 6th edition of Cinéma Paradiso has just been announced. While the lineup remains under wraps, it is already known that the Cour Carrée of the Louvre will screen one of Joachim Trier’s masterpieces on its giant screen… The Oscar winner for Best International Feature Film this year Sentimental Value (2025). He will be the guest of honour at the event, with the feature film The Worst Person in the World (2021). A promising sign.
The 6th edition of the Cinéma Paradiso Festival will take place from July 1st to 4th, 2026, in the Cour Carrée of the Louvre in Paris. Tickets will be available by a drawing of lots on mk2-festivalparadiso.com.
