Fur-st prize for Icelandic sheepdog at Cannes canine competition
Icelandic director Hlynur Palmason cast his own pet, Panda, in "The Love That Remains", his poignant story about a couple navigating a separation and the impact on their family.
"This film that has won is about a family and it's so beautiful and so authentic to the vibe of a family," Palm Dog jury member Wendy Mitchell, author of the book "Citizen Canine", told reporters.
Mitchell praised "a wonderful naturalistic performance from this dog", addressing a crowd of influencers, pet lovers and journalists at a beach-front venue in Cannes.
The decision was greeted with cheers and barking, while Palmason sent a video of Panda looking bemused on the front seat of his car as the win was announced.
The second Grand Jury prize went jointly to two pooches who appear in rave-themed road trip movie "Sirat", including one that eats an LSD-laced poo.
Past Palm Dog winners have included Brandy from "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood". That award was picked up by director Quentin Tarantino.
Tilda Swinton accepted the prize in 2021 on behalf of her real-life dogs for their roles in "The Souvenir".
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Euronews
19-06-2025
- Euronews
Iranian Palme d'Or winner Jafar Panahi calls for fall of Tehran regime
After winning Palme d'Or at Cannes for his stunning thriller It Was Just An Accident, one of Iran's most celebrated filmmakers Jafar Panahi has called for the fall of the Tehran regime, against the backdrop of escalating conflict between Israel and Iran. Panahi posted a powerful message on Instagram that appears to push for the toppling of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In his impassioned appeal, Panahi urges the United Nations and the international community to "immediately and decisively compel both regimes to cease their military attacks and end the killing of civilians.' The filmmaker, whose current whereabouts remain unknown, goes further: 'The only possible way to escape is the immediate dissolution of this system and the establishment of a people's responsive and democratic government.' Une publication partagée par official jafar panahi (@ While strongly condemning the Israeli aggression, Jafar Panahi takes aim at the Islamic Republic: 'An attack against my homeland, Iran, is unacceptable. Israel has violated the integrity of the country and should be tried as a wartime aggressors before an international tribunal. This position in no way means that we should ignore four decades of mismanagement, corruption, oppression, tyranny and incompetence on the part of the Islamic Republic." He concludes by saying: 'This government has neither the power, will, nor legitimacy required to run the country or manage crises. Staying in this regime means the continued fall and the continuation of the repression.' The 64-year-old dissident director has been imprisoned twice in Iran and banned from filmmaking for his anti-regime stance and 'propaganda against the state'. He spent seven months behind bars in 2022 and 2023 for demonstrating against the imprisonment of his friend and fellow filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof. Panahi has continued to make films in defiance of the repressive authorities and is best known for films like This Is Not a Film, No Bears and Taxi Tehran, which won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 2015. After winning the Palme d'Or on 24 May, Panahi returned to Iran, despite the threats against him. As he left the airport, he was greeted by supporters. One person was heard shouting "woman, life, freedom" as Panahi passed through the airport - a phrase that became the slogan for protests that broke out across Iran following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody in 2022. Panahi recently travelled to Australia where he won the Sydney Film Festival's top prize on Sunday for It Was Just An Accident. The Palme d'Or winning film, which was inspired by his time in Iranian prison, focuses on a group of former political prisoners who kidnap the man they believe to be their former torturer. In our review of It Was Just An Accident, we said: 'Panahi signs a taut, gripping and utterly engrossing thriller that doubles as an indictment of the Islamist Republic and calls out the sins of state despotism. (...) Not only is it a richly deserved Palme d'Or, the last scene will make your jaw drop to the floor.' Check out our full Culture Catch-Up on Jafar Panahi and the politics of Iranian film. It Was Just An Accident will be released in France on 1 October. Mubi has acquired distribution rights to the film in the UK, Ireland, Germany and Austria, and Neon has bought the rights for North America. Release dates in these territories are TBD. Over the past two decades, the Caspian Sea level has dropped by more than two metres, putting local communities and ecosystems at risk. Scientists predict an even sharper decline in the years ahead. Ecologists point to climate change as a major reason, particularly its impact on the Volga River — which flows through Russia and provides around 85% of the Caspian's inflow. Experts stress the urgent need for regional cooperation, including the long-standing but largely inactive Tehran Convention, created to protect the Caspian environment and promote sustainable use of its resources. In response to the environmental crisis, the Kazakh government is launching the Caspian Sea Research Institute - a key step toward understanding the problem, protecting the endangered Caspian Sea, and preserving the region's fragile ecosystem.
Euronews
29-05-2025
- Euronews
First Arab and African director to win Cannes Palme d'Or dies aged 91
Algerian director Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina, whose 1975 drama Chronique des Années de Braise (Chronicles of the Years of Fire) won Cannes' Palme d'Or in 1975, has died aged 91. He was the oldest living recipient of the Palme d'Or and Chronicles of the Years of Fire remains Africa's only Palme d'Or to this day. Lakhdar-Hamina's family said the producer and director died at his home in the Algerian capital of Algers on 23 May. Coincidently, the Cannes Film Festival screened Chronicles of the Years of Fire in its Cannes Classics program that day, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the film's Palme d'Or. Set between 1939 and 1954, the movie retells the Algerian War of Independence through the eyes of a peasant farmer, depicting the harshness of French colonial rule. Lakhdar-Hamina competed for the Palme d'Or four times, with The Winds of the Aures, which won the best first film prize in 1967, as well as Sandstorm (1982) and Last Image (1986). After a 30-year break, Lakhdar-Hamina directed Twilight of Shadows, which was Algeria's submission to the Best Foreign Language Film category of the 88th Academy Awards in 2016. Born on 26 February 1934 in M'Sila in the Aurès region of north-east Algeria, Hamina studied in the southern French town of Antibes. During the Algerian war, his father was tortured and killed by the French army. He was called up to the French army in 1958 but deserted to join the Algerian resistance in Tunis, where he did an internship with Tunisian news. He ran Algeria's news service, the l'Office des Actualités Algériennes (OAA) from shortly after the revolution to 1974. He was also head of the Algerian National Office for Commerce and the Film Industry between 1981 and 1984. French distributor Les Acacias Distribution will theatrically re-release Chronicles of the Years of Fire in cinemas in France on 6 August.
LeMonde
28-05-2025
- LeMonde
Palme d'Or winner Jafar Panahi expresses support for Iranian trucker strike
Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi backed week-long nationwide strikes by truckers on Wednesday, March 28, as a "loud call" to the authorities, after arriving home from his triumph at the Cannes film festival. Truck drivers across Iran were striking for a seventh day on Wednesday in a stoppage rare in its length and magnitude, seeking better conditions in a sector crucial for the economy in the Islamic republic. After starting last week in the southwestern port city of Bandar Abbas, the strike action has spread across the country, according to reports by monitoring groups on social media and Persian-language media based outside Iran. The truck drivers are protesting a rise in insurance premiums, poor road security, high fuel prices and low freight rates, according to union statements cited by these media. "They are fed up. They have no choice but to go strike," Panahi wrote on Instagram, having returned to Iran on Monday after winning the Palme d'or for his latest film "It Was Just an Accident". "When thieves and illiterate people are put in charge, the result is this terrible situation: corruption and mismanagement in everything, from the economy and culture to the environment and politics," added Panahi. The acclaimed director was long banned from filmmaking and unable to leave Iran, having also spent time in prison due to his political stances. "This strike is a loud call to the government saying: 'Enough! Stop all this oppression and plunder'," he said. Persian-language television channels based outside Iran, including Iran International and Manoto, which are critical of the government, said the strike was continuing Wednesday, broadcasting images of deserted roads sent from inside Iran. Tankers carrying fuel from the major refinery in Abadan in western Iran have now joined the strike, Manoto said. It was not immediately possible to independently verify the images. The same outlets also indicated that there have been strikes in other sectors in Iran, notably by bakers who are angered by early morning power cuts when they are baking bread.
