Indiewire’s Big Predictions about Cannes, and What about Oscar 2014?

This year's Cannes poster

Yesterday at Indiewire, Eric Kohn explained why this year's Cannes festival could be one of the most important in recent memory. They're all compelling, but the one that really grabbed my attention was the first one, about this year's jury. Leading it this year is none other than Steven Spielberg, with heavyweights like Ang Lee and Christoph Waltz also participating.

Kohn writes:

Whichever movie receives the main award will carry the force of a major endorsement, one with possibly more value than even an Oscar can provide.

So that begs the question: Could this year's big winner at Cannes also go on to become an Oscar winner? Since the festival hasn't even started yet, there's no way to tell (unless any of you have a time machine you're not telling me about), but it's fun to imagine. Typically, I think of Cannes and the Academy as existing in two totally different spheres, but with major Oscar-winners serving on the jury, could we see some overlap this year?

According to this Andrew O'Hehir piece from 2011, it's only happened two other times: first with The Lost Weekend (1945) and then with Marty (1955). Still, he lists plenty of other Cannes-winners that went on to become Oscar nominees and make a significant mark on film and pop culture history (ahem, Pulp Fiction anyone?).

So anyway, it's too soon to be asking a question like this, but interesting to consider nonetheless. I know I'll be paying attention.