The nine buzzy Cannes films that could become Oscar contenders

As Cannes Film Festival closes, which are the acclaimed films from this year's crop that could be heading for Academy Award nominations?

If you want to know which films are going to be nominated for Oscars, it's worth looking at what premiered at the Cannes Film Festival the previous May. Last year's Cannes batch included Sentimental Value and The Secret Agent. The year before, there was The Substance, Emilia Pérez and Anora. Now that another Cannes has drawn to a close, it could be said that awards season has already begun. Here are the films most likely to become Oscar contenders.

Fjord was the winner of Cannes' top prize, the Palme d'Or, despite receiving what can be politely described as mixed reviews. But even though it wasn't a critics' darling, Cristian Mungiu's enthralling drama revolves around the hottest of hot topics. Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve star as an evangelical couple who move from Romania to Norway, and are accused of child abuse because they slap their children to discipline them. The film becomes a debate between Christianity and secularism, conservative tradition and progressive liberalism. It's certain to get Academy members talking – and voting.

There were hardly any American films at Cannes this year, but one of them was a clear festival highlight. Written and directed by its star, Jordan Firstman (I Love LA), Club Kid tells the riotous story of a party animal whose life is upended when he is presented with the 10-year-old son (Reggie Absolom) he never knew he'd fathered. The film has been called this year's answer to Anora, and with good reason. Not only does it have the same producer, Alex Coco, it's a rollicking, New York-set indie comedy that bursts with raunchiness and caustic wit, but which is big-hearted, too. It won't win the best picture Oscar, as Anora did, but it might be in the running.

3. La Bola Negra / The Black Ball

With its sweeping scale and lavish period detail, wrenching emotion and literary cleverness, this Spanish saga ticks numerous Oscar boxes. Directed by Javier Calvi and Javier Ambrossi (aka Los Javis), La Bola Negra cuts between three different narratives, two in the 1930s and one in 2017, as it examines how gay relationships have been erased from history in Spain. The wartime scenes are reminiscent of The English Patient and Captain Corelli's Mandolin, and the memorable cameos by Penélope Cruz (as a music-hall bombshell) and Glenn Close (as a pioneering academic) will ensure that Hollywood takes notice.

4. Soudain / All of a Sudden

Ryusuke Hamaguchi's Drive My Car (2021) won the best international feature film Oscar in 2022, and it was nominated for best picture. Hamaguchi's deeply humane and tender new drama could do almost as........

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