[3] French actress Doria Tillier hosted the opening and closing ceremonies.

[4] French filmmaker Julia Ducournau won the Palme d'Or for the horror-drama film Titane, becoming the second female director to ever win the award and the first to not win jointly with another filmmaker (at the 1993 edition Jane Campion had won jointly with Chen Kaige).

[6][7] At the awards closing ceremony, on 17 July 2021, jury president Spike Lee made a gaffe by accidentally announcing the festival's top prize winner at the start of the night instead of the end.

[8][9] The festival opened with Annette by Leos Carax,[10] and closed with OSS 117: From Africa with Love.

[16] The following films have been selected to be screened out of competition, in the "Cinéma de la plage" section.