No scenery was chewed: Icelandic sheepdog wins 'Palm Dog' in Cannes

It was a paws-itively magnificent performance.

Less Brad Pitt, much Brad Pit Bull, the 25th yearly Palm Dog awards successful Cannes rolled retired the reddish carpet Friday for the four-legged stars to get their flowers alongside their quality colleagues, who were successful municipality for this year’s iteration of the movie festival held successful the French formation town.

Under the Plage du Festival tent, humans sipped their vino portion their furry co-stars soaked up the attraction astatine the grant ceremony, a pun connected Cannes’ famous Palme d’Or, awarded to the manager of the year’s champion diagnostic film.

This year’s apical canine was Panda, an Icelandic sheepdog who stole the amusement successful “The Love That Remains,” by manager Hlynur Palmason. Panda is Palmason’s canine successful existent life, but the victorious hound could hardly beryllium accused of nepaw-tism aft her cardinal show successful the play that explores a twelvemonth successful the beingness of a household pursuing parental separation.

With Panda incapable to be successful person, she was granted possibly the eventual privilege of stardom — a treble named Lola, who received the grant connected the winner’s behalf and was pictured alongside children.

Palm Dog assemblage subordinate Wendy Mitchell said Panda was chosen for the expansive prize due to the fact that of however cardinal she is to the family’s beingness successful the film, joining them connected hikes, connected car rides and astatine the mother’s creation studio.

“There are truthful galore large competitors this year, but this canine is astatine the bosom of the film,” Mitchell told Reuters.

While the vagaries of being a film-famous canine meant that Panda couldn’t beryllium determination to judge her grant successful person, she had her radical nonstop successful a recorded video of her “accepting” the prize — a shiny reddish bandana stitched with the words “Palm Dog 2025” successful aureate thread.

Panda, whose lookalike is pictured here, won for “The Love That Remains.”Natacha Pisarenko / Natacha Pisarenko/Invision/AP

“The Love That Remains” shaper Anton Mani Svansson explained Panda “doesn’t truly know” astir the prize, saying of the dog’s bandana that “I conjecture she volition consciousness bully erstwhile she has gotten this astir her neck.”

Past winners of the prestigious prize see Messi, the borderline collie from Justine Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall,” which successful 2023 became the lone movie to assertion a Palm d’Or and Palm Dog double. In 2019, a pit bull named Brandy owned by Brad Pitt’s quality successful “Once Upon a Time successful Hollywood” secured the gong.

But the Palm Dog wasn’t the lone prize connected connection to furry thespians.

Pipa, a Jack Russell, and the Podenco premix Lupita earned the Grand Jury Prize for their sandy adventures successful “Sirat,” a movie that follows a father’s hunt for his missing girl in the Moroccan desert. Director Oliver Laxe picked up the prize successful idiosyncratic connected behalf of the dogs.

Meanwhile, dachshund Hippo received a peculiar “Mutt Moment” prize for his memorable country successful the movie “Pillion,” starring Alexander Skarsgard.

Palm Dog laminitis Toby Rose told Reuters that the dogs genuinely deserved the designation alongside the regular stars.

“When the camera’s connected them and they bash immoderate their relation is, they basal out,” helium said.