"Black Dog," about a man released from prison who returns home to his remote town in China to rid it of stray dogs before the Olympics, only to befriend one of them, won the Cannes Film Festival's "Un Certain Regard" competition on Friday.

Eddie Peng, who stars as Lang in the film by director Guan Hu, attended the ceremony at Cannes along with greyhound Xin.

It was the second prize in one day for Xin, who donned the Palm Dog red collar after being picked for the Grand Jury Prize at a separate ceremony celebrating canine performances.

The "Un Certain Regard" jury prize went to the French film "The Story of Souleymane," director Boris Lojkine's feature about a Guinean immigrant's struggle to survive in Paris.

The best director prize was given to both Italy's Roberto Minervini for "The Damned" and Zambian-Welsh auteur Rungano Nyoni for "On Becoming a Guinea Fowl," while "Norah," by Saudi Arabian director Tawfik Alzaidi, received a special mention.

Canadian filmmaker and actor Xavier Dolan headed this year's five-strong jury for the competition focused on arthouse films that runs parallel to the main competition, the Palme d'Or.

There were 18 films in total competing for the prize. (Reuters)