Top dogs from The Love That Remains, Sleepless City and Sirat are among the early frontrunners being considered for the Palm Dog 2025, as the cinematic canine competition celebrates its 25th anniversary this year.
Toby Rose, London-based founder of the Palm Dog as well as the year-round honours The Fidos, said it has been remarkable to witness the growth of the Palm Dog over the past decades. “It’s been embraced widely across the Cannes festival and beyond. We’re a Cannes fixture now.”
Cannes head Thierry Fremaux has an open invitation to attend but has not made it yet – although he did mention the Palm Dog in his memoir. “He has recognised the existence of the Palm Dog and that is a great accolade,” Rose remarked.
Rose added some other canine stars being scouted this year include Bocuse from opener Leave One Day, and Indy, who truly is the lead actor in market thriller Good Boy.
Rose and his jury of film critics decide annually on three winners: The Palm Dog; the Jury award; and the PalmDogManitarian prize which recognizes important canine service, such as in 2022 when a Ukrainian bomb-sniffing dog Patron nabbed that honour and a collar was sent back to him in Kiev.
Some major highlights over the years have included Quentin Tarantino accepting the branded collar for Brandy in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood; Tilda Swinton donning the collar around her neck when her family hounds were recognised for The Souvenir Part II, and both canine actors attending in 2024, Kodi from Dog On Trial and Little Xin from Black Dog.
Messi from Anatomy Of A Fall won the Palm Dog in 2023, one day before going on to win the Palme d’Or and later attending the Oscars.
More than 200 human guests are expected to attend the invitation-only prizegiving at The Members’ Club on May 23. To mark the special anniversary year, Rose hopes to also convene a group photo of 25 dogs on stage. He expects a packed house, even if it’s “a wild rodeo” to organise – “People really get into the idea of celebrating dogs on screen.”
Lookalike
Rose spends his time in Cannes scouting the canine actors on screen and has also made iit his mission to find ‘lookalike’ local dogs to come to the ceremony when the actual starring dogs haven’t been able to make the trip to the French Riviera.
“We have local dogs who look like the Palm Dog winners, and we feel it adds to the ambiance,” he explained. “Plus some of the owners have showbiz mom tendencies when I scout their dogs. The Palm Dog ceremony is the ultimate dog-friendly event in Cannes. People love the notion of celebrating dogs on the big screen.”
Rose knows the Palm Dog is fun but he also takes these four-legged friends seriously. “We all know that when you edit a film, every scene has to count, so those dog scenes are considered moments of extreme importance – they are in the movie because they make the movie. Once you establish that the dog scenes are integral, you accept that we have to apply critical facilities on those moments.”
There can be several ways for a dog to stand – Rose said some dogs might do impressive tricks and scene-stealing moments (such as with 2011 winner Uggie from The Artist) or some dogs might have a less-showy consistent presence, like Panda in The Love That Remains.
“Panda is such a big part of this family. The dog is always there when the family is there. That’s true to real life,” Rose said.
Similarly, in Sirat, Pipa accompanies his owners on a long road trip through Southern Morocco.
Some dogs literally lead the cast – like with 2014 winner White God or this year’s Marche thriller Good Boy, as Rose says of the latter, “Indy is sensational – the dog leads the whole film.”
The Palm Dog’s partners include WooPets and Creature Clothes. This year also has a fashion connection – Hermes has recently issued a scarf that immortalises Rose’s dearly departed wire-haired fox terrier, Mutley, who was the inspiration for the Palm Dog all those years ago. The scarf will make an appearance at this year’s ceremony.
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