Cannes: “Anatomy of a Fall” Border Collie Messi wins Palm Dog in the most competitive canine competition ever

On Saturday, the Cannes Film Festival jury will unveil this year’s festival winners, including the 2023 Palme d’Or, but for Cannes film festival regulars and animal lovers everywhere, the real highlight of every visit to the Croisette is the Palm Dog, the unofficial dog awards show that celebrates dog shows in the festival’s official selection and various sidebars.

This year’s grand prize went to Messi, the border collie who plays Snoop in Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a fall, with the judging panel praising a doggie performance “covering the move… one of the best we’ve ever seen”. Talking with The Hollywood Reporter (whose coverage had mentioned Messi as the frontrunner for Palm Dog), Triet said the character of Snoop “wasn’t just another character or an animal running around (but) was as much a part of the film’s ensemble as any other actors”.

What was an inside joke has, in its 22nd year, become a Cannes institution, and this year’s Palm Dog “gala,” held at the Long Beach restaurant on Friday afternoon, was a full, complete affair. of corporate sponsor (cryptocurrency firm Dogami) with multiple camera crews in attendance and several celebrity canines, including a stunning Samoyed, a beauty of a Border Collie, and a slightly petulant Pit Bull (who obviously disapproved of that Samoyed bitch trying to steal the show ).

The Palm Dog is “the Met Gala” of cinematic dog shows, he noted The Guardian film critic Peter Bradshaw, although he suggested: “The Met Gala is not as exciting, not as interesting, not as glamorous and frankly, not as important (as the Palm Dog.).”

In terms of canine performance, this year’s Cannes lineup was the most competitive yet, said Palm Dog founder Toby Rose. Forced to choose between a “true tsunami of canine performances” onscreen, Rose said the Palm Dog judging panel created three new categories: The Mutt Moment, for best canine cameo, which went to a four-way paws in Alice Rohrwacher’s film The Chimeraa “highly commended canine” award for hound Susie in Stéphan Castang’s Vincent must die, and a Lifetime Achievement Award for British director Ken Loach for celebrating “the bond between humans and animals and dogs in particular”. Loach, a former Palm Dogmanitarian Award winner for making three-legged fidos a fixture in his films, landed a prime spot in his latest film at Cannes, The Old Oak to a delightful half-breed named Lola, who plays Marra, TJ’s beloved pet, who owns The Old Oak, a pub and central setting of the story. The film’s star, actor Dave Turner, and Lola accepted their award live via Zoom.

“He is a socialist dog. Leftist dog,” Bradshaw said, commenting on Lola’s performance. “As a member of the KeeperI instinctively approved of this dog.

Alma, the mutt who plays Chaplin in Aki Kaurismäki‘S Fallen leaves was awarded the Grand Jury Prize, with the film’s human stars, Alma Pöysti and Jussi Vatanen, picking up the honorary collar. “In the spirit of Aki Kaurismäki, there isn’t much to say,” Pöysti noted, opting to go with an honorary “Bau” or, as they say in Finland, “Come!” Fallen leaves it is Kaurismäki’s second will to score a Palm Dog, after Laiki’s Le Havre he won the jury prize of the competition in 2011. “Aki said it was the best award he won,” recalled Palm Dog founder Toby Rose.

Animal lover and activist Isabella Rossellini, co-star of The Chimerareceived this year’s Palm Dogmanitarian Award for her work as an activist on behalf of dogs.