By Miranda Murray

Cannes, France, May 24 (Reuters) - After nearly two weeks of premieres, star press conferences, and beach parties that lasted into the early hours, the Cannes Film Festival is gearing up for one final task: announcing this year's Palme d'Or winner.

A nine-member jury, chaired by French actress Juliette Binoche, will select one film from among 22 submissions to receive the top prize on Saturday evening. The films in competition are by directors including Wes Anderson, Ari Aster, Richard Linklater, and Joachim Trier.

Other awards are given in the categories of Best Feature Film, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Screenplay, in addition to the Jury Prize.

Actress Renauti Reinserf, star of Trier's "Sentimental Value," said these awards can make or break a career. She added that winning Best Actress in 2021 for "The Worst Person in the World" completely changed her life.

Viewers are eagerly awaiting the jury's decisions after the film "Anora," which won Best Feature Film in 2014, went on to win five Oscars, including one for Best Picture. "The Substance," which won Best Screenplay at the Cannes Film Festival that same year, also won an Oscar.

One indicator of a film that could win the Palme d'Or is the selection of films bought by independent distributor Neon, which has successfully picked the winning film at Cannes in the previous five years.

The American distributor has so far purchased three films: Sentimental Value, which received a standing ovation that lasted about 15 minutes after its screening; It Was Just an Accident by Iranian director Jafar Panahi; and The Secret Agent by Brazilian director Kleber Mendonça Filho.

Among the other films strongly in contention, based on the annual jury network compiled by the industry publication Screen Daily, are the Stalinist-era film Two Prosecutors and the intergenerational drama Sound of Falling by German director Masha Schielenske.

The 78th edition of the festival officially kicked off on May 13 with a screening of the French comedy film "Leave One Day".

(Prepared by Mohamed Ali Farag for the Arabic Bulletin - Edited by Rehab Alaa)