The Fido Awards Pop Up in Coal Drops Yard

The 2021 Fidos Award returned in live and kicking, woofing and barking format this year – centre stage moment at the Fidos Pop Up shop for all things pooch in dog friendly Coal Drops Yard. The Fidos – For Incredible Dogs On Screen – is a beloved attraction and this year saw visits from a peer of the realm, a king of the jungle and Kiwi acting royalty.

The cavalcade of canine fans passing through to sample dog wear and snap-up snappy Fidos t-shirts in the Fidos Pop Up shop included Lord Patten and his wife Lavender, National Treasure Christopher Biggins, winner of I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, plus Kiwi acting royalty Kerry Fox. To add to the Mutt magic, the Fidos Pop Up shop welcomed a life-size version of Chief from the uber doggie film, Isle of Dogs.

2021 saw Fido Awards return in live action format for the first time since 2019 – real dogs with real people. Since the last ‘in person, in pooch’ event, the pandemic has meant sadness for many and inflicted lockdown and a swathe of regulations on people across the world. But, throughout man’s best friend has remained steadfast – to prove the point there has been a surge in households getting a dog.

At the same time dogs have been no slouch in front of the camera and continue to make their mark in the movies. A sumptuous selection of dogs’ roles in the 2021 set of Fidos nominations is pooch proof positive. So bountiful were bowsers on the big screen that a brand new Dog Dox section was needed, which shows dogs in varied and vital roles.

Trophy collar presenters at the Fidos awards ceremony this year included Kiwi actress Kerry Fox, Christopher Biggins, and Russell Norman, Award-winning restaurateur, author, and star of BBC 2’s The Restaurant Man. For the return of Fidos it was a special pleasure to welcome back our fine array of judging talent. Kaleem Aftab ; film correspondent for The i. and broadcaster, Wendy Mitchell; film journalist and author of Citizen Canine, Rita di Santo; Morning Star’s film critic, Anna Smith ; film critic, broadcaster and host of Girls On Film podcast, Tim Robey; Daily Telegraph’s film critic and Joe Utichi from Deadline.

In this extra special ‘back to business’ year, Fidos took place inside a charity Pop Up Shop in the dog friendly uptown shopping precinct of Coal Drops Yard. All proceeds from the sale of Fidos t shirt – generously produced by the Coal Drops Yard authorities – went to Medical Detection Dogs which sniff out cancer and, more recently, Covid. Those championing the sales drive for this good cause included Dior Hatter Stephen Jones, Christopher Biggins and – on a chance visit to King’s Cross – Lord Patton former cabinet minister, Governor of Hong Kong and Chancellor of Oxford University plus a fan of the four legged.

Medical Detection Dogs were also in the frame for cash from the Fidos Foto booth. All those snapped had a chance of winning a Movie Star dog bed kindly donated by Creature Clothes. Donations also flowed from contributions from those snapping up the offer of free dog trick training classes by the highly wonderful Dog’s Dogs from East London. Buzzing Lower Stable Street in Coal Drops Yard was the location for the 4 days of the bustling bowser Pop Up Shop. The event created such a buzz that branded beer shop House of Cans produced a fun run of Fidos beers emblazoned with the Fidos logo. Also getting into the four legged swing was Caravan restaurant who donated a delightful Fidos lunch.

Over the four 4 legged Pop-Up shop days a wonderful array of bespoke bowser items from Creature Clothes drew the crowds and this Shoreditch doggie emporium still had time to produce the spiffing embossed trophy collars for an unforgettable return of the fun Fidos award ceremony. Another standout moment were trick classes held by Doug Thackway. High Fives and High Paws to Doug. All in all a fun-packed, four-legged celebration of dogs marking the comeback of the Fido Awards which took place for the first time in the highly dog friendly Coal Drops Yard. And for the first time Best in World was a joint and very-deserved win for Stray and The Truffle Hunters.

Celebrating all manner of bowhuahuas as dogs strut their stuff on the silver screen displaying magical dogrisma and leaving unforgettable paw prints on the big screen. Otherwise known as The Fido Awards.

Nominations and winners : Fidos 2021

Dog Dox

Stray (dir. Elizabeth Lo) Joint Winner

Truffle Hunters (dir. Michael Dweck & Gregory Kershaw) Joint winner

I Am Greta (dir Nathan Grossman)

Mutt Moment

Nomadland (dir. Chloé Zhao) Winner

Sound of Metal (dir. Darius Marder)

The Human Voice (dir. Pedro Almodovar)

Blockbuster Bowser

Love and Monsters (dir. Michael Matthews)

Honest Thief (dir. Mark Williams)

Spenser Confidential (dir. Peter Berg) Winner

Comedy Canine

Think Like a Dog (dir. Gil Junger)

Soul (dir. Pete Docter & Kemp Powers)

One Way to Denmark (dir. Adrian Shergold) Winner

Rom Com Rover

23 Walks (dir. Paul Morrison) Winner

Freshman Year (AKA Shithouse) dir Cooper Raiff

The Lady and Tramp (dir. Charlie Bean)

Historical Hound

Rebecca (dir. Ben Wheatley)

Space Dogs (dir. Levin Peter and Elsa Kremser)

United States Vs Billie Holiday (dir. Lee Daniels) Winner

Palm Dog USA

Palm Dog USA Award for best dog in an Oscar-winning short film Two Distant Strangers went to American Pit Bull Jeter played by Marley.

FiDogManitarian

FiDogManitarian celebrates the connection between humans and canines, went to the rabbit star Ralph of Save Ralph. This animated short had a worldly wise wise cracking rabbit as frontman in an anti animal testing – including dogs – short …viewed over 650m times.