Cannes to wrap with presentation of Palme d'Or on Saturday

CANNES, France (AP) -

The 75th Cannes Film Festival wraps Saturday with the presentation of the Palme d'Or and other awards selected by the nine-member jury headed by French actor Vincent Lindon.

The closing ceremony brings to a close a Cannes that has attempted to fully resuscitate the annual France extravaganza which was canceled in 2020 by the pandemic and saw modest crowds last year. This year's festival also unspooled against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, which sparked red-carpet protests and a dialogue about the purpose of cinema in wartime.

The closing ceremony begins at 2:30 p.m. EDT and concludes roughly an hour later. Outside of France, it will be streamed live by Brut.

But what's going to win? The Palme, one of film's most prestigious awards, is famously impossible to handicap - though bookies still try their best. It hinges entirely on the deliberations of the jury which take place in private. Last year, the French body horror thriller 'œTitane'ť took the prize, making director Julia Decournau only the second female filmmaker ever to win the Palme. In 2019, Bong Joon Ho's 'œParasite'ť triumphed in Cannes before doing the same at the Academy Awards.

This year, the biggest Hollywood films at Cannes - 'œElvis,'ť'œTop Gun: Maverick,'ť'œThree Thousand Years of Longing'ť - played outside Cannes' competition lineup of 21 films.

Arguably - and there is always arguing at Cannes - among the best received films that could win the Palme are Lukas Dhont's Belgian coming-of-age drama 'œClose,'ť Park Chan-wook's twisty Korean neo-noir 'œDecision to Leave,'ť Cristian Mungiu's Romanian drama 'œR.M.N.," Ruben Ostlund's social satire 'œTriangle of Sadness'ť and James Gray's semi-autobiographical '80s New York tale 'œArmageddon Time.'ť

___

Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP

___

For more Cannes Film Festival coverage, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/cannes-film-festival.