L'édition 2024

Cannes Film Festival gets underway on May 14th and heading to La Croisette will be Palm Dog winner Messi to front a canine TV show. Thanks to superstar Messi the profile of Palm Dog looks set to jump. This year the world’s biggest film festival is set to be its doggiest ever, not least because Palm Dog winner Messi is heading to Cannes. After getting named checked at the BAFTAs Messi was honoured with a seat at this year’s Oscars - Oscar’s first for a dog. Messi is taking dog visibility in the film industry up a notch. Thanks to superstar Messi the profile of Palm Dog looks set to jump. Hollywood Reporter put Palm Dog front and centre of the festival action. “For Cannes festival regulars, and animal lovers everywhere, the true highlight of any Croisette visit is the Palm Dog, the unofficial awards show celebrating canine performances across the festival’s official selection and various sidebars.” stated Hollywood Reporter.

This new prominence for the four legged is in no small measure down to Palm Dog which started life as a quirky fun sidebar to honour big screen dogs at the British film centre - significantly the Guardian’s Chief Film Critic Derek Malcolm was on the first jury.

Over the years the event has carved out a corner at the world’s biggest film festival - stars picking up on behalf of their dog actors include Tilda Swinton and Quentin Tarantino. No mean feat where making a splash is a high stakes game of fistfuls of dollars and Hollywood power meetings. Remarkably Palm Dog has claimed a corner of innocent four legged fun in the notoriously dog eat dog world of film. Doggie David has held its own against big bucks Goliaths.

2024 looks set to be more barking than ever. Aside from Messi at the mic doing festival coverage there are dog performances a plenty on the big screen. Cosmo, the canine star of Un Certain Regard selection Dog On Trial, will attend to spearhead promotion. Dog contenders abound this year in all sections. Notable dogs in the running for Palm Dog are to be found in official selections Julie Keeps Quiet and Black Dog.

As Palm Dog enters its 25th year there has been a spike in visibility. David Tennant name checked Messi’s Palm Dog win at the BAFTAs in February and the Oscar’s invite for Messi was a historic first. In a singular honour, Palm Dog found itself as an answer in the New York Times crossword. Already there are an unusually high number of contenders for Palm Dog 2024. As dogs stars head to Cannes English eccentric Palm Dog is set to make a bigger splash than ever at this proudly Gallic showcase of world cinema.

Not so much who let the dogs out but who let the dogs in? Might Palm Dog plead guilty?