The Cannes Film Festival is the first major event of every film season. It is the time when several films that will be vying for the Oscar next year are first shown, when the film studios are busy looking at projects to distribute both in America and internationally and a time for the brightest and most up-and-coming stars to get a lot of international attention. This year didn’t see as many high-profile American releases in competition as the past few years have shown us (only two this year), but there is still a lot of buzz around certain pictures, and we can start getting answers on films from previous Oscar nominees and winners (Terrence Malick, Tilda Swinton, Pedro Almodovar) and some Oscar novices. So, what can the reactions of critics, press and a Robert DeNiro-led jury tell us about how this year’s Oscar race is going to shape up?

The most anticipated movie of the festival, at least by Oscar watchers, ended up being the most honored film of the festival: Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life. Malick has only made five films in his almost 40-year career, and only one of those (The Thin Red Line) got major Oscar attention. His long-awaited epic took the Palme d’Or, becoming the first American film in 7 years to do so and putting it in place to be a major contender this year at awards season. Still, despite the accolades, like most of Malick’s work it proved to be very polarizing, getting a negative review to counterbalance nearly every rave review. The film comes out in the States in the next few weeks, so look for more reviews and audience attention to continue to cement its status soon.

Oscar winner Tilda Swinton looked for most of the festival to have the Best Actress prize sewn up for We Need to Talk About kevin, but ended up going home empty-handed. Still, the attention she received could provide the basis of an Oscar run this fall. Swinton lost out the Best Actress award to Hollywood star Kirsten Dunst, who starred in Lars von Trier’s Melancholia. Dunst’s performance did get a lot of good buzz, although a lot of it was overshadowed by the controversy surrounding von Trier and his statements that got him kicked out of the festival. Dunst could be positioned for a dark horse Best Actress run, but von Trier’s dark films don’t always go over well with the Academy and it could be an uphill battle (like Bjork in his earlier Dancer in the Dark, who also won here).

The Best Director prize went to the other American film in competition: Nicholas Winding Refn for Drive. The film, which stars previous nominees Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan, got really strong praise and became the most talked about film of the last half of the festival. However, it is also a pretty straight-forward genre pick, which can be a major deterrent when it comes to attention from the Academy.

Pedro Almodovar has gotten a lot of Oscar attention, including two wins, in the last decade or so. The Skin I Live In premiered at the festival, and also got attention as being the long awaited reunion between Almodovar and former muse Antonio Banderas. The film, which apparently mixes some science fiction and horror elements into Almodovar’s usual melodramatic style, got strong accolades from the press. You can never rule Almodovar out of the race, especially when he has a Hollywood star working with him.

Oscar nominee Gus van Sant showed his newest film, Restless, but the response was not too positive. The same was true of van Sant’s Milk star Sean Penn, who starred in This Must Be the Place. Described by critics as rock ‘n roll holocaust road movie, Penn plays an aging rock star in a film that got negative press and seems too quirky and out there to get much attention from critics or audiences.

Among some of the other films to be picked up at the festival, the Weinstein Company made a splash when it picked up The Iron Lady, with Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher. Look for the Weinstein’s to put a lot of money in another campaign to get Streep her third Oscar, as well as attention on the film and co-star Jim Broadbent. Miramax picked up the French silent film The Artist, another audience favorite that they could try to turn into an under-the-radar critic’s darling. Some other American films that screened were already released here, including opening night film Midnight in Paris, Jodie Foster’s The Beaver and the new Pirates of the Caribbean film. From their success over here so far, none of them should be a major contender come the fall.