REPORT: Palme d’Or Race Has Been Narrowed to These Eight Films

The streets of Cannes, once buzzing with energy and chaos, have quieted. Press screenings now have empty rows. Coffee lines are shorter. People who’ve spent the week darting from one screening to the next are finally relenting. Some of them are gone. All Competition films have been shown. The end is in sight.

Still, not everything has changed. Some traditions persist. At the Debussy theater, for instance, there’s always someone who calls out “Raoul!” just before the lights dim. It’s a ritual met with soft laughter — something about a man long ago searching for his friend in the dark. The friend was never found, but the call has lived on.

There’s a general consensus that Park Chan-wook and his Cannes jury will do what they can with a lineup short on great films. That’s been the main takeaway for many: a weak year — but was it? There were at least a dozen films, from all sections, that thoroughly impressed me.

As the festival reaches its endpoint, there have certainly been films that found favor, some even stirring admiration, but so far, not many have ignited the kind of fervor Cannes is known for.

The conversation around the Palme d’Or has begun — it will be announced this evening. I had hoped Park and his peers would find something entirely unexpected to rattle the press still in attendance. That said, it doesn’t seem to be the case … what was expected to be in contention appears to be in contention.

The New York Times’ Kyle Buchanan has some intel on the films that will be rewarded this evening. He’s hinting that prizes will go to eight films: “Coward,” “All of a Sudden,” “Minotaur,” “The Black Ball,” “The Dreamed Adventure,” “Fjord,” “A Man of His Time,” and “Fatherland.”

These are the films whose creatives were called back for tonight’s awards ceremony. One of them is the Palme d’Or winner — but which one will it be?

Furthermore, Buchanan confirms that the Caméra d’Or, awarded to the best first feature of the festival across all sections, will be handed to Marie Atlan’s “La Gradiva.” Well merited. I couldn’t have chosen a better winner.