The war between Netflix and Cannes is escalating. Tensions have been simmering between the two organizations for months now ever since the film festival directors hinted at rule changes that would penalize companies like Netflix. In short, if a film was to premiere in competition at Cannes, producers and studios behind it would be required to give the film a regular theatrical release in France, where the festival takes places. Netflix, being a streaming-only service that almost never releases their films theatrically outside of the U.S., would obviously be hurt by these new policies.
The threats to change these rules became a reality last week, and Netflix threatened a boycott which is sparking off some vindictive moves on both sides.
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In the skirmish, Vanity Fair reveals that Alfonso Cuarón’s much-anticipated “Roma” was not only scheduled to appear at Cannes but that it’s now a Netflix movie. As frictions hit a boiling point, Netflix is threatening to hold back five films that were scheduled to premiere at Cannes including “Roma,” Paul Greengrass’ “Norway,” Jeremy Saulnier’s “Hold the Dark,” Orson Welles’ “The Other Side of the Wind,” and Morgan Neville’s documentary “They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead.” The good news is, five films are confirmed to appear at Cannes! The bad news is, they might not screen at all!
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The hostilities are complicated but seen as a defensive move in order to curtail Netflix’s growing power and dominance in a film industry that already feels threatened. Caught in the crosshairs are audiences and filmmakers. “They are weaponizing Cannes,” an industry source told Vanity Fair. “What are these people to do? The studios aren’t funding these movies. It’s not like [filmmakers] are choosing Netflix over a 2,500-screen release.”
That’s the other complex reality. Filmmakers and purists don’t love the idea of Netflix, but they’re the only game in town these days for mid-budget films that aren’t micro-indies or gigantic blockbusters. Studios aren’t releasing $10 million dramas. Netflix is happy to fork over that kind of budget to a filmmaker they admire. The problems are further fueled by France’s purist cineaste culture which thumbs its nose at a streaming service like Netflix that refuses to screen movies in theaters.
Curiously enough, all seemed fine last year, Netflix sent both Bong Joon-Ho’s “Okja” and Noah Baumbach’s “The Meyerowitz Stories,” to Cannes, but Festival Director Thierry Frémaux has suggested that allowing streaming service films at the festival was an experiment he no longer wants to repeat.
Meanwhile, as this clash is only beginning, “Roma” is a big coup for Netflix. Cuarón’s stature, in recent years, has grown akin to something of a Paul Thomas Anderson, a Lynne Ramsay, and one of the top shelf directors on the entire planet. The news of “Roma” will be a swirl of emotion for cineastes. Many will be relieved to hear that the project is complete and ready to be screened. Cuarón’s last film, “Gravity”, was released five years ago and “Roma” seemingly took a long time to complete — but its ransom at Cannes isn’t great news either. Then there’s the fact that a film from a filmmaker of this stature may never be seen on the big screen other than in a few major cities in the U.S.
Known for his genre-y efforts like “Gravity,” “Children Of Men” and the third ‘Harry Potter’ movie, “Roma” sounds like a return to Cuarón’s dramatic indie roots and perhaps his most political film to date. “Roma” follows a middle-class family in 1970s Mexico City, but also depicts The Corpus Christi Massacre, in which student demonstrators were killed by elite Mexican soldiers.
Either way, Cannes had apparently already accepted these five films. So if they dig their heels in, it might be Netflix’s move to decide if they’ll abide by these new rules, which would be a huge change to their business model and require substantial planning, work, and infrastructure in France that they currently don’t have. Or, they could just pull the films, move on and perhaps wait for Venice, TIFF or Telluride.