Friday, September 11: Patrick Schwarzenegger, Deauville’s New Rising Star

On the eighth day of the 52^nd Deauville Amer­i­can Film Fes­ti­val, 17 screen­ings filled the Festival’s var­i­ous venues. A day com­bin­ing com­pe­ti­tion films, pre­mieres and major names in Amer­i­can cin­e­ma was crowned by Patrick Schwarzenegger’s arrival in Deauville and the pre­sen­ta­tion of his Deauville Ris­ing-Star Award.

Patrick Schwarzenegger has arrived at #Deauville2026

On Fri­day, Sep­tem­ber 11, Patrick Schwarzeneg­ger arrived in Deauville for one of the major events of the 52^nd Deauville Amer­i­can Film Festival.

The Amer­i­can actor was the evening’s guest of hon­or at the C.I.D., where the Fes­ti­val pre­sent­ed him with a Deauville Ris­ing-Star Award, a dis­tinc­tion cel­e­brat­ing a new gen­er­a­tion of tal­ents whose careers are mak­ing an increas­ing­ly strong impres­sion on screen.

At 32, Schwarzeneg­ger con­tin­ues a remark­able rise across film and tele­vi­sion. Fol­low­ing roles in Mid­night Sun, Daniel Isn’t Real, Mox­ie, The Stair­case, The Ter­mi­nal List and Gen V, his per­for­mance as Sax­on Ratliff in the third sea­son of The White Lotus brought him inter­na­tion­al recog­ni­tion in 2025.

In Deauville, this dis­tinc­tion cel­e­brates an actor who, through an increas­ing­ly diverse range of roles, has firm­ly estab­lished his own artis­tic identity.

A Deauville Rising-Star Award followed by Bunker

At 7:30 p.m. at the C.I.D., the Deauville Ris­ing-Star Award cer­e­mo­ny was fol­lowed by a pre­miere screen­ing of Bunker, the new fea­ture film by Flo­ri­an Zeller, who was also in attendance.

Patrick Schwarzeneg­ger stars along­side Pené­lope Cruz, Javier Bar­dem, Stephen Gra­ham and Paul Dano.

The film fol­lows a renowned archi­tect who receives a secret and moral­ly trou­bling propo­si­tion: to design a sur­vival bunker for a tech bil­lion­aire con­vinced that the end of the world is approach­ing. As he becomes increas­ing­ly drawn into the project, his wife begins to ques­tion their mar­riage and the val­ues they have shared over sev­en­teen years together.

The award cer­e­mo­ny and the screen­ing of Bunker there­fore brought togeth­er, in a sin­gle Star Screen­ing, the cel­e­bra­tion of an actor on the rise and the dis­cov­ery of one of his lat­est projects.

17 screenings on Friday’s program

The day began at the C.I.D. at 10:30 a.m. with Club Kid by Jor­dan First­man, pre­sent­ed in com­pe­ti­tion and screened in Dol­by Atmos. At 2 p.m., the pro­gram con­tin­ued with Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Mias­ma by Jane Schoen­brun, fol­lowed by Where to Land by Hal Hart­ley at 5 p.m. The C.I.D. pro­gram con­clud­ed with the Star Screen­ing hon­or­ing Patrick Schwarzeneg­ger and the pre­miere of Bunker at 7:30 p.m.

At the Casi­no, five screen­ings fol­lowed through­out the day: I’ll Be Gone in June by Katha­ri­na Riv­ilis at 11 a.m., A Prayer for the Dying by Dara Van Dusen at 3 p.m., The Lib­er­a­tion by Guy Nat­tiv at 5 p.m., fol­lowed by anoth­er screen­ing of Bunker at 8 p.m. and Vic­to­ri­an Psy­cho by Zachary Wigon at 10:30 p.m.

At Morny 2, the com­pe­ti­tion took cen­ter stage through­out the day, with If I Go Will They Miss Me by Wal­ter Thomp­son-Hernán­dez at 11 a.m., Tan­gles by Leah Nel­son at 2:30 p.m., Mouse by Kel­ly O’Sullivan and Alex Thomp­son at 5 p.m., Queen at Sea by Lance Ham­mer at 7:30 p.m., and Every­body Digs Bill Evans by Grant Gee at 10 p.m.

Final­ly, the pro­gram asso­ci­at­ed with Morny 3 fea­tured three screen­ings: The Accom­pa­nist by Zach Woods at 11 a.m., Killers of the Flower Moon by Mar­tin Scors­ese at 3 p.m., as part of “Once Upon a Time (in) Amer­i­ca – DTA | Bren­dan Fras­er,” fol­lowed by Where to Land by Hal Hart­ley at 8:30 p.m.

In total, 17 screen­ings were list­ed on the pro­gram for Fri­day, Sep­tem­ber 11, across the Festival’s var­i­ous screen­ing venues.

A day of discoveries and a new generation of talent

With just two days remain­ing before the Festival’s clos­ing cer­e­mo­ny, Fri­day, Sep­tem­ber 11 once again reflect­ed the spir­it of Deauville: bring­ing togeth­er Amer­i­can inde­pen­dent cin­e­ma, major film­mak­ers and the emerg­ing tal­ents already shap­ing the cin­e­ma of tomorrow.

From com­pe­ti­tion films and pre­mieres to Mar­tin Scors­ese and Hal Hart­ley, and cul­mi­nat­ing in the evening ded­i­cat­ed to Patrick Schwarzeneg­ger, the eighth day of the Fes­ti­val brought sev­er­al gen­er­a­tions of Amer­i­can cin­e­ma togeth­er under the Deauville spotlight.

For Patrick Schwarzeneg­ger, his arrival at #Deauville2026 will be asso­ci­at­ed with anoth­er mile­stone in his career: receiv­ing the Deauville Ris­ing-Star Award, hon­or­ing a jour­ney that con­tin­ues to move firm­ly into the spotlight.