It's Hannah Einbinder's moment Between Hacks and Cannes 2026
Born in 1995, actress and stand-up comedian Hannah Einbinder is one of the rising faces of American entertainment. She stars in the opening film of the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma by Jane Schoenbrun (who previously gained recognition with I Saw the TV Glow), where she appears alongside Gillian Anderson. Another major co-star following her artistic partnership with Jean Smart in the series Hacks, now in its fourth and final season.
“It’s crazy how much time has passed since we started,” Einbinder says during one of the Women in Motion talks organized by Kering at the Cannes Film Festival. “I learned everything from Jean. She’s the best human being I know. I always thought it was strange when actors said it was impossible for them to let go of a character, but now that I’ve had to say goodbye to Ava, I understand what they meant. Together with Deborah, they created a model of constructive dialogue for me, one that bridges the generational gap and shows that discussing things with others can lead people to discover new perspectives, which is amazing.”
The success of Hacks and Jane Schoenbrun’s cinema
Hacks managed to establish itself within the industry while simultaneously reflecting it, becoming one of the most relevant projects of recent years, capable of mirroring the reality around it, something Schoenbrun’s comic and gore horror also achieves in its own way. “I’m so grateful to have been part of a show like Hacks and now Jane’s film. Statistics show that when women, BIPOC people and members of the LGBTQ+ community hold positions of power, our stories become richer and crews become more diverse. Right now we’re starting to get a glimpse of that change, and I hope I can continue moving in that direction.”
Hannah Einbinder’s activism
Einbinder’s positions are very clear and, especially when it comes to her career, she is not afraid to make her voice heard, as she demonstrated during her speech at the 2025 Emmy Awards. “Silence comes at a greater cost,” explains the actress, who has openly spoken in support of the Palestinian cause. “You need to be very clear about your priorities. I don’t delude myself into thinking my small career could ever compare to the value of a single human life. That’s why speaking up is an obligation, and I always will.” This activism connects her with some of her colleagues in Hollywood: “We could work together, I’d love to make a film with Susan Sarandon, Mark Ruffalo, Javier Bardem and Melissa Barrera.” All personalities who have publicly supported Palestine, with some of them, like Sarandon and Barrera, even being ostracized by the industry itself.
Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma and Gillian Anderson
For Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, Einbinder starred alongside the X-Files and Sex Education star Gillian Anderson, who plays an actress haunted by her first and only leading role and living in isolation on the set of the horror franchise installment. Unlike the environment portrayed in Camp Miasma, the actual set made the actresses feel safe, both thanks to the trust established by director and screenwriter Schoenbrun and to the attention and care reserved for the cast, including the involvement of an intimacy coordinator for the sex scenes.
“Gillian wrote a book, Want, a collection of anonymously shared sexual fantasies,” says Hannah Einbinder. “She’s very immersed in the subject, which contributed to this specific experience, as did the help of an intimacy coordinator who allowed us to keep everything balanced. We also both knew how important this film was for Jane, who with We're All Going to the World's Fair and I Saw the TV Glow completes a sort of trilogy about what it means to discover yourself, free yourself from shame and embrace your queer identity.” “After Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma and Hacks, I realized the myth that people need to be harsh to complete a project in this industry is false. You can be kind, warm, supportive and create a loving environment that will ultimately pay off.”
The Cannes premiere and the memory of Un Certain Regard
And the results of Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma were visible during the film’s premiere on the opening night of Un Certain Regard, an experience the cast will remember forever, as Einbinder recalls: “There was a moment when Jane and I were about to walk into the theater and everything already felt like a memory, something nostalgic, something already lived. It was a difficult feeling to decode, but only later was I able to understand the present, realizing that what we were experiencing was an important moment, and that one day we would remember it fondly.”
