With the Cannes Film Festival less than a month away, it is time to look at the competition slate and see which films have the most potential of winning the Palme d'Or, breaking out and even getting Oscar nominations.

Palme D'Or

This year there are 20 films in the competition slate with many familiar faces including four Palme D'Or winners, the Dardenne brothers, Ken Loach and Cristian Mungiu.

The Dardenne brother have won awards at Cannes for every single film with which they competed except "Two Days One Night" and won two Palme D'Ors for "Rosetta" and "L'Efant." Meanwhile, Mungiu has competed twice and won for "4 Months 3 weeks 2 Days." Ken Loach, who won the Palme D'Or back in 2006 for "The Wind that Shakes the Barley" will compete again with "I, Daniel Blake." Unlike Mungiu and the Dardennes, Loach has had a rocky past few years with his latest films getting mixed reviews.

Pedro Almodovar's "Julieta" could be a good shot for acting prizes but unlikely to score the big prize particularly since reviews have been mixed and is the only competition film to have already screened.

Andrea Arnold is back in the race after winning the Jury Prize in 2009 for "Fish Tank." This time she competes with "American Honey." This is a film that most are looking out for especially since her last works have been acclaimed and this one is being released by A24.

Olivier Assayas has competed numerous times and this time he is reteaming with Kristen Stewart for "Personal Shopper" while Xavier Dolan is back with "It's Only the End of the World" starring festival darling Marion Cotillard. Both these filmmakers are looking to win their first Palme D'Or but they could find their actresses winning awards instead.

Jim Jarmusch and Jeff Nichols have also never won the Palme D'Or and there new films are promising. Jarmusch's "Paterson" is one to look out for especially after his last competition film "Only Lovers Left Alive" was such a sleeper while Nichol's "Loving" will likely get a boost before Focus Features releases it in November in time for Oscars.

Nicolas Winding Refn is back with "The Neon Demon," a film that could either be a hit like "Drive" or a disaster like "Only God Forgives." If its a hit, perhaps Refn could be looking at his first Palme D'Or.

There are a number of new faces in the competition including Alain Guirade, who is likely to make an impression with "Rester Vertical" and Cristi Puiu with his latest "Sieranevada." Both filmmakers competed before in the Un Certain Regard sidebar impressing with their films.

Then there is Paul Verhoeven's comeback with "Elle" and Park Chan-Wook" who is likely to surprise with "Agassi."

And there is Nicole Garcia's "Mal de Pierres" with Cotillard," Bruno Dumont with "Ma Loute," Brillante Mendoza with "Ma' Rosa" and Sean Penn with "The Last Face."

Finally the last entry this year is Kleber Mendonca Filho with "Aquarius." All these filmmakers have an equal shot as there is no clear front-runner and no clear standout at the moment. From the look of it, Cannes will likely have a new Palme D'Or winner this year.

Oscars

Cannes may sometimes be seen as too early to predict Oscar contenders but several Oscar nominees end up going to the festival including last year's "Carol," Oscar winner "Son of Saul," "Sicario" and "Youth." "Inside Out," "Mad Max: Fury Road" and "Amy" also screened at the festival before going home with Oscars. Then there were multiple films such as "Rams," and "The Assassin" that represented their countries at the Oscars.

This year's lineup has two surefire Oscar contenders including Nichol's "Loving" and Sean Penn's "The Last Face." Andrea Arnold will surely get an Oscar campaign from A24 but it will be interesting to see if her style is too indie for the Academy. Romania will likely have its Oscar candidate from either Puiu or Mungiu while Almodovar could represent Spain again with "Julieta." France also has a number of films that could be up for representation while Dolan will likely represent Canada again.

Woody Allen could also see "Cafe Society" as an Oscar contender while Steven Spielberg will likely prompt "The BFG" as an early Oscar favorite.

It may be too early but expect some of these titles for end of the year awards.

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