Sidebar awards hint at Palms at Cannes 2019

Critics have been highly satisfied with a number of films nominated for this year's Golden Palm, with the hot favourites Pedro Almodovar's Pain and Glory, Bong Joon-ho's Parasite, Céline Sciamma's Portrait of a Lady on Fire. And several awards already attributed may herald the results of the Palms.

A new prize was awarded at Cannes this year by the independent French art-house cinema network, with the blessing of Cannes director Thierry Frémaux.

Out of 39 films, the cinema hall owners, chose Gisaengchung - Parasite by Bong Joon-ho which comes out in France on 5 June.

"It has precisely what we expect from a film, entertaining with a necessary topic," they said.

They also rewarded a first feature, Les Misérables by Ladj Ly: "From the first magnificent images right up the credits at the end, when it releases us, exhausted, we are on the edge of our seats, attentive throughout. This debut feature is already perfectly mastered."

Soundtracks top scoring film
Pedro Almodovar's Pain and Glory won the 9th 'Soundtracks Award' for best original music score. A jury of about 30 film critics and foreign press correspondents chose the work of composer Alberto Iglesias out of the 21 films in the Golden Palm competition.

Ecumenical Prize
A Hidden Life by US director by Terrence Malick was an almost certain bet for the Ecumenical jury's choice. The majestic cinematic work set in Austria during World War Two, tells the story of a conscientious objector Franz Jägerstätter and his family, of his faith in a higher being. The film also touches on the impotence of the church at the time.

10th Queer Prize
Portrait of a Lady on Fire by French director Céline Sciamma won the Queer Palm.It is a very polished work which tells the love story between two women in 18th century France.

Sciamma marries filmmakers' inspiration from art history and literature in her third directorial feature.

Golden Eye
This award is not a James Bond film. It's quite a leap from the fictional adventure films, it's a prize for best documentary.

In its fifth year, the jury led by documentary maker, Yolande Zuberman, chose two films in the official selection, out-of-competition, For Sama, a film about the life of director Waad al-Khateab when she was a student in Aleppo in Syria during the war in 2012.

Four years later, she was one of the survivors before the town's fall to government troops in 2016. Khateab worked with Edward Watts on "this sincere and disturbing film", as described by MCD's Micha Khalil.

Veteran Chilean documentary maker Patricio Guzman's La Cordillera de los sueños, The Cordillera of Dreams was jointly awarded the Golden Eye. RFI's Latin American service's Maria-Carolina Pina describes Guzman's film as "a metaphor of exile" and also of the way history is ignored in Chile, in the same way that nobody notices the huge Andes mountains.

The president of the Scam, the French author's rights society, Julie Bertuccelli, announced that henceforth, the winners of the Oeil d'Or award will automatically be eligible for nomination for the Oscar for Best Documentary.

Official selection Un certain regard
On Friday, Karim Ainouz's La Vida Invisiel de Euridice Gusmao won the top award in the Cannes Film Festival's Un certain regard section.

Ainouz adapted the novel of the same name by Martha Batalha. The story of two close sisters is set in Rio de Janeiro in 1950. Their aspirations lead them along separate paths but the desire to be reunited remains strong.

The 53 year-old Brazilian's Madame Sata premiered in Un Certain Regard in 2002, and he has co-written two other films in the early 2000s featured in this section.

• Jury award, O Que Arde - Fire Will Come - director Oliver Laxe

A man convicted of arson returns to his village and his elderly mother. The villagers are wary of him. A tense and volatile situation reigns. Laxe is able to create doubt about the sincerity of the character, and of the villagers, some of whom are eager to develop tourism in their haven in Galicia, Spain.

• Best actress - Chiara Mastroianni, Chambre 212 - directed by Christophe Honoré
• Best director - Kantemir Balagov for Beanpole
• Special jury prize - Liberté - Albert Serra
• Jury's favourites - joint award - My Brother's Love - directed by Monia Chokri and The Climb - directed by Michael Angelo Covino