Though the Cannes Film Festival did not happen in person on its scheduled dates, a lineup for the festival was officially announced just a couple of weeks ago. Despite Spike Lee being president of the jury this year, his latest film “Da 5 Bloods” was not part of that lineup. Well, it turns out that the Netflix film could have been part of the lineup, and that changes may be coming to the film festival.
Speaking on IndieWire’s Screen Talk interview series, Cannes director Thierry Fremaux addressed Spike Lee’s role as a jury president (a role he may take on next year instead), and his film “Da 5 Bloods” which was just released on Netflix. “Spike was supposed to be president of the jury, and we had his film,” Fremaux confirmed. “I saw the movie very early and with Ted Sarandos and Scott Stuber we decided to show the film in Cannes. It would have been the big Netflix comeback, with a screening out of competition, a special screening, of course. But it was a way to show that we are not against each other, we are always talking.”
Of course, the lineup that was previously announced was only the official competition, which Spike Lee’s film wasn’t going to be a part of.
Netflix premiered films in the Cannes competition only in 2017, where the streaming giant premiered Bong Joon-ho‘s “Okja” and Noah Baumbach‘s “The Meyerowitz Stories,” but then jury president Pedro Almodóvar said that he would not consider the two Netflix releases for any festival awards, prompting Netflix to skip the next two years of the festival.
Including “Da 5 Bloods” in the lineup seems like a no-brainer given Spike Lee’s role as a member of the jury, but it remains to be seen whether Cannes will consider reaching out for another special screening next year.
You can listen to the rest of the interview with Fremaux below:
