Jordan Firstman’s Club Kid found the beat during the film’s world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday afternoon, dancing its way to an electric seven-minute standing ovation.
Firstman, in a first as writer-director-executive producer and star, soaked in the attention while hugging his stars, including Diego Calva and Cara Delevingne. The 126-minute film premiered in the festival’s Un Certain Regard selection. Club Kid casts Firstman as a washed-up party promoter who is forced to turn his life around when an unexpected visitor arrives — his 10-year-old son. Eldar Isgandarov and Reggie Absolom also star.
“Any gay people in the house? Okay, the door is that way. You’re not welcome here. We’re gonna have to ask you how to leave the straight-only audience, please,” Firstman joked before the screening. “I’m so fucking happy right now. This is such a dream come true. I mean, for everyone, there’s a kind of semi-niche gay viral meme that was going around in New York a lot last year, and it was a picture of a can of soup, and it said, ‘Some of you bitches would go to the opening of a can, and if the can sent you free clothes, you would post,’ thank you, the can!’ And so I put that in the movie, always hoping that one day I would get to say, ‘Thank you, the Cannes.’”
Jordan Firstman poses during the ‘Club Kid’ photocall at the 79th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 15, 2026.
Courtesy of Andreas Rentz/Getty Images
He added: “This movie was such an incredible experience, such a labor of love, a lot of crying, a lot of laughter, a lot of joy, and yeah, I think it’s a film about cultivating kindness within your community and kindness for yourself, and yeah, I just hope you all feel it and like it. I just want to thank my beautiful cast here for giving me their time and their spirit and their stories and their souls and their looks. Let’s just say it: they’re hot.”
The jokes continued. “What an honor to play in the ‘Da-Bussy,’” Firstman later joked, intentionally mispronouncing the name of the Cannes Debussy theater. “I love ‘Da-Bussy.’ I can’t get enough of ‘Da-Bussy.’ I can live in ‘Da-Bussy,’ and I can’t wait for my film to screen in ‘Da-Bussy.’”
After the premiere ovation, the filmmaker shared some more thoughts. “I don’t really have much more to say, and I’m just so humbled,” he said. “This is a very personal story for me. And just the amount it took to get this done. We shot in real parties in New York, and to be let into the community, to be let into those spaces. Most of y’all couldn’t even get in without a camera, and we got in with a camera. No, no, you guys can get in. Everyone’s on the list! Thank you!”
Jordan Firstman poses during the ‘Club Kid’ photocall at the 79th Cannes Film Festival
Courtesy of Andreas Rentz/Getty Images
Firstman indeed shot the film in real clubs around New York City over the course of 26 days. “We were granted access to spaces that no one can even get to in life, let alone be filmed,” Firstman told The Hollywood Reporter’s Mia Galuppo. “We were let in because I was already there partying, and these are my friends. The invitation was not taken for granted.”
The subject matter was also personal for the creative, who cut his teeth as a writer on such shows as Search Party and The Other Two and as a consulting producer on Big Mouth. He’s also been busy acting for years with credits that include Hacks, I Love LA, Dave, Rotting in the Sun, You People and more.
“These people in it are my friends. I’m critiquing certain aspects, but I’m not taking shots,” he said. “There’s a scene at the end of the movie where I tell one of the party girls, ‘Take care of yourself.’ And she’s like, ‘I always do.’ To me, what I’m saying about the party scene is that there is a moment for it, and you can outgrow it. Or, you can be right for it at the right time. It’s not a condemnation of people who do drugs or like to have fun. This is more about this man who has overstayed his welcome, or never known a different option.”
A scene in Club Kid with Miss Benny and Firstman. Lensed by Adam Newport-Berra, the film shot on Kodak’s 35mm.
Cannes Film Festival
Club Kid has some pedigree among its producers. Alex Coco, who won an Oscar for best picture for producing Sean Baker’s Anora, produced the film alongside Lurker’s Galen Core, Topic Studios’ Ryan Heller and Michael Bloom. Executive producers include Firstman alongside Ian Stratford, Charles Croft, Jasmine Daghighian, Olmo Schnabel and Daniela Taplin.
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