Every year, on the sidelines of the Cannes Film Festival, the Palm Dog award takes place. A crazy price? Not that much ! It is more and more coveted. This year, it’s Kodi, a Griffon mix, star in “The Trial of the Dog” who wins the prize. A 9 year old dog with an already busy career.
Friday the 24th but it’s almost two in the morning. On the red carpet of the Palais du Festival, a star hangs out and is photographed.
A shooting that was not the result of chance. This crossed Griffon, star in The dog’s trialreceived the Palm Dog on Friday, a kitsch prize that has become an event, dedicated to the dog with the most bite in the films of the Cannes Film Festival.
“In fact, he is a mix of Malinois, Husky, Brittany Spaniel and Poodle Toî!” explains Juliette Roux-Merveille, life coach of Dog Trainer,
I fell in love with Kodi, the Palm Dog, for me, it’s great, it allows you to consider dogs as actors
The film’s Franco-Swiss director, Laetitia DoschFrance 3
Laetitia Dosch the director (in green) and Juliette Roux-Merveille, life coach of Dog Trainer.
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© Anne Le Hars FTV
In real life, the animal is a former street dog from Narbonne who passed through a shelter. Kodi is not his first experience in front of a camera. “He has already done live shows, artists’ sets with Juliette, and a show “dogs make their cinema”. He was also a shepherd dog in the France 2 series “Et la montagne fleurira” and some appearances, notably with Ridley Scott. specifies “his agent” Emmanuel Thomas.
These are dogs who are happy to work. If we stop them completely, they can become depressed. We stop anything that is too physical. Which can tire him too much. He will keep roles in certain shows that are not physical or small adapted cinema roles.
Emmanuel Thomas, from the Dog Trainer troop.
For him, Kodi “Above all, he dreams of having fun with us and being taken care of as best as possible.”
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Juliette Roux-Merveille, Dog Trainer life coach
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©Anne Le Hars FTV
“Laetitia Dosch told us ‘Kodi won’t have much to do’, but when I received the script I still listed 80 to 100 actions”, remembers Juliette Roux-Merveille, her coach.
Pierre Deladonchamps played alongside him in this film by Laetitia Dosch programmed in the Un certain regard section.
Kodi didn’t know how to howl, we recorded a hungry kitten’s meow and it made him howl, it worked.
The grand prize of the Palm Dog jury, the 2nd most important trophy, was awarded to the other contender, Xin, a female Jack Russell cross greyhound Black Dogby the Chinese Guan Hu, also in the Un certain regard section.
The jury’s grand prize, the 2nd most important trophy, was awarded to the other contender, Xin, a female Jack Russell cross greyhound from “Black Dog”.
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© Anne Le Hars FTV
There is truly a Messi effect, because there have never been so many accredited journalists covering the Palm Dog. “In our criteria for awarding the Palm Dog, we are committed to animal welfare,
we are very attentive to the filming conditions, we find out each time”explains to AFP Anthony Pruvost, founder of Woopets.
This French media dedicated to pets has managed the Palm Dog since 2023.
The 2023 winner, Messi, had an extraordinary post-Cannes career. After the Palme d’Or, the film won the Oscar for screenplay. The opportunity for the eight-year-old Border Collie to explode on social networks.
This year, Messi returned to the red carpet, equipped with a microphone and 360° camera to collect the words of personalities, with the help of French comedian Raphaël Mezrahi.
His furry friends talk about it a lot:
This TV pellet, “Woof! Messi at the Cannes Film Festival”was broadcast during the Festival on France 2, France 3, Culturebox and TV5 Monde.
A best-of was also relayed on TikTok.
