Cannes Director & Netflix Meet To Discuss Future After Alfonso Cuaron’s ‘Roma’ Becomes Major Awards Contender

Even though nothing has been decided or changed, as of yet, it appears that Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma,” already one of the most critically-acclaimed films of the year, could be the driving force behind a truce between the Cannes Film Festival and Netflix.

According to an interview in the French outlet Le Point, Cannes director Thierry Fremaux discusses the impasse between the festival and the streaming service and how “Roma” could be the reason for a recent meeting that could lead to a friendlier 2019.

READ MORE: Netflix May Have Lost The Cannes Battle But Got Sweet Revenge In Venice

For those not aware of the feud between Netflix and Cannes, the story version is as follows: the streaming service had a group of films that it hoped to premiere at this year’s prestigious event, including “22 July,” “The Other Side of the Wind,” and the aforementioned “Roma.” In 2017, Cannes played nice with Netflix and ignored its own rule that says films that premiere at Cannes, in competition, must have a French theatrical run. However, in 2018, the festival enforced that rule. This is compounded by the fact that French law says if a film plays in local theaters, it can’t be streamed for 36 months. Obviously, Netflix doesn’t like that rule. Thus, the streaming service pulled all of its films from the festival.

The result was the streaming services prestige films played other festivals in the fall, highlighted by “Roma” winning the coveted Golden Lion in Venice. Now, it appears that the success of Cuaron’s film has led to the execs at Netflix and Cannes to get in the room together to avoid this happening next year.

READ MORE: Alfonso Cuarón’s ‘Roma’ Is An Immensely Moving And Stunningly Personal Glimpse Into The Past [Venice Review]

In the interview, Fremaux confirms that Netflix’s #2 and #3 executives Ted Sarandos and Scott Stuber both came to the Lumiere Festival recently (which is co-run by Fremaux) to discuss the future relationship with Cannes. Apparently, sparked by the rousing success of “Roma,” Cannes, the streaming service and Richard Patry, president of the National Federation of French Cinemas, are all in discussions to figure out how Netflix can bring some of those high-profile films to next year’s festival.

READ MORE: Guillermo Del Toro Names Alfonso Cuaron’s ‘Roma’ One Of His Top 5 Favorite Films Of All Time

Also, when asked if this is driven by the chance that Martin Scorsese’s upcoming “The Irishman” could premiere at Cannes next spring, Fremaux says there are no specific discussions about that. He also mentioned how the film isn’t close to being completed, as it’s still in post-production, and might not make it by next May.

Either way, it’s clear that Cannes felt the absence of Netflix this year, as the fall festivals reaped the rewards of the streaming service’s incredible fall slate of prestige films, and the French festival is hoping to not have a repeat of that in 2019. All thanks to an amazing film by Alfonso Cuaron.