Yuri wins Palm Dog 2026 at Cannes

Yuri, a Chilean rescue dog appearing in Dominga Sotomayor’s film “La Perra,” won the Palm Dog at the 79th Cannes Film Festival on May 22. The prize is an independent Cannes-side award for canine performances and was presented during the festival’s 26th Palm Dog edition, according to the organizers. (palmdog.com) Trade and festival coverage identified Yuri as a former street dog whose performance in “La Perra” helped lift the film’s profile during Cannes. ### What exactly did Yuri win at Cannes? The Palm Dog is an unofficial but established Cannes prize created in 2001 to honor the best canine performance on screen during the festival. (palmdog.com) The Palm Dog website says the award covers films in the official selection and sidebars, and lists Yuri as the 2026 winner. Reuters photographs from Cannes show Sotomayor holding the award for Yuri after the ceremony on May 22. Friday, May 22, was the award date cited by multiple reports, one day before Cannes’ main closing ceremony. ABC News, citing the wire report from Cannes, said the Chilean movie took the top canine prize that Friday at a beachfront event attended by journalists, dog owners and festival guests. (palmdog.com) ### Which film was Yuri in? “La Perra,” directed by Chile’s Dominga Sotomayor, was the film tied to Yuri’s win. Palm Dog organizers list Yuri as the winner for “La Perra,” and Variety described the dog as the star of the film. (palmdog.com) El País reported that the film was presented in the Directors’ Fortnight, one of Cannes’ parallel sections. Dominga Sotomayor appeared at the Palm Dog event to receive the prize on Yuri’s behalf. Reuters and local photo coverage showed Sotomayor onstage with another dog, Apocalypse, during the presentation because Yuri did not attend the ceremony. (abcnews.com) ### Why did Yuri’s backstory get so much attention? El Espectador and El País both described Yuri as a rescued street dog, a detail that drove much of the post-award coverage in Spanish-language media. (palmdog.com) Variety also referred to Yuri as a Chilean rescue dog in its Cannes report. Those accounts framed the win as unusual partly because Yuri had gone from life on the street to an award at one of cinema’s highest-profile festivals. Chilean outlets and international entertainment coverage also treated the award as a national culture story because “La Perra” is a Chilean production and Sotomayor is one of the country’s best-known filmmakers on the festival circuit. (reutersconnect.com) That connection appears across reporting, though the award itself is for the dog’s screen performance rather than for a film competition category. ### How formal is the Palm Dog prize? The Palm Dog is not part of Cannes’ official Palme d’Or competition, but it has become a recurring festival institution. (elespectador.com) The Palm Dog site says the ceremony has run since 2001, while ABC’s Cannes report described it as a quirky tradition on the Cannes beachfront. The Hollywood Reporter called it a longstanding unofficial awards show for canine performances across the festival and sidebars. The 2026 Palm Dog page also lists other winners from this year’s edition, including Lola for the Grand Jury Prize in “I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning.” That page is the clearest forward reference for readers tracking the full 2026 canine honors from Cannes. (elmostrador.cl) (palmdog.com 1) (palmdog.com 2)