News 
As an official partner of the Cannes Film Festival since 1998, every year Chopard produces all the awards presented at this global event, including the most prestigious of them all, the Palme d’or. This absolute distinction honouring the cinematic gem selected by the jury vividl reflects the masterpieces it rewards: crafted with patience and precision by artisans’ expert hands.
Caroline Scheufele, Co-President and Artistic Director of Chopard, wanted the film industry’s most coveted award to be fully worthy of what it represents. The Palme d’or is entirely made of Fairmined-certified ethical gold, a unique feature that sets it apart from all other film trophies.
Just as the beauty of a screenplay is built from a mosaic of windows offering different lighting and potential perspectives, the making of the Palme d’or is a splendid ballet of multiple, patiently executed operations, unfurling in an unstoppable procession of stages and movements.
No less than 70 hours of work are required to create the Palme d’or in the Maison’s workshops. It is entrusted to a single jeweller who, like an orchestra conductor, ensures consistency throughout this process involving six artisans. This collective endeavour begins with 118 grams of Fairmined-certified ethical gold, a label guaranteeing that it has been mined in compliance with the highest standards of social and environmental ethics.
From the crucial preparation of the mould using the “lost-wax casting” technique, to the metal’s fusion in a 900-degree furnace at the heart of the Manufacture’s foundry and on through the various stages of trimming, cleaning, polishing and assembly: a succession of techniques and operations involving unequalled dexterity give birth to the Palme d’or. The result is a perfect symbiosis of form and substance: an objet d’art that is in itself the most precious of existing distinctions in the world of cinema.
This year’s Palme d’or was awarded to Sean Baker, the American director and screenwriter, for his feature film Anora, a New York thriller that moves from the underworld to the luxury villas of Russian oligarchs.
June 13, 2024