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The 79th Cannes Film Festival<\/a> draws to a close Saturday with the presentation of one of cinema\u2019s highest honors, the Palme d\u2019Or. This year, the race may be wide open.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n By wide consensus, it hasn\u2019t been a banner festival. Hollywood largely sat out this year\u2019s edition. Many of the selections struggled to bowl over critics. The global buzz that Cannes typically generates was fitful at best.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n But the lack of a clear front-runner should give the nine-member jury, headed by Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook<\/a>, a range of possibilities for the Palme. Winning Cannes’ top honor almost immediately raises the international profile of a film, and likely sets it up as an Oscar contender, too.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Some of the festival\u2019s best received films include Polish filmmaker Pawel Pawlikowski\u2019s \u201cFatherland,\u201d<\/a> a black-and-white postwar rumination on art and politics; Japanese auteur Ryusuke Hamaguchi\u2019s \u201cAll of a Sudden,\u201d<\/a> a tender three-hour elder care opus; Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev\u2019s \u201cMinotaur,\u201d<\/a> a drama of crime and punishment in contemporary Russia; and Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu\u2019s Norway-set child services nightmare \u201cFjord.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n But on the second-to-last day of the festival, a possible dark horse emerged. Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi’s \u201cThe Black Ball\u201d found one of Cannes’ most passionate receptions. The sprawling Spanish film tells a story of three gay men across generations. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n But few awards are harder to predict than the Palme d\u2019Or. The jury\u2019s deliberations are entirely private. Any of the 22 films in competition in Cannes can win. This year’s jury also includes Demi Moore, Chlo\u00e9 Zhao and Stellan Skarsg\u00e5rd. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Those who are chosen for a prize \u2014 others to be handed out Saturday include best actress, best actor and the grand prix \u2014 are asked by the festival to return to Cannes for the closing ceremony. They know they’ve won something, but they don’t know what. Typically, juries award only one prize per movie. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Saturday\u2019s ceremony will be missing its tribute honoree. Barbra Streisand was to receive an honorary Palme d\u2019Or, but a knee injury will prevent her from attending<\/a>. The festival still plans to honor Streisand.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n