At this point, everyone knows the situation between Netflix and the Cannes Film Festival. Long story short, Netflix wants their prestige films to show at Cannes. Cannes wants Netflix to show those films, as well. But there’s this rule saying that any film shown at Cannes must have a French theatrical run. So, now, we have the most prestigious film festival fighting the biggest streaming service in the court of public opinion.
This whole situation is compounded by the fact that last year, Netflix entered two films, “Okja” and “The Meyerowitz Stories,” into competition. However, those films never saw a French release in theaters. And in a new interview with Cannes director Thierry Fremaux, he talks about how that situation almost cost him his job.
“Up until now, I’ve only done good stuff for Netflix. Last year there were two films. But I was heavily criticized. I nearly lost my job. It was very violent. I like [Netflix executive] Ted Sarandos a lot. One day we’ll be on the red carpet together again. A lot of things are going to change. Netflix is going to change, Cannes is going to change,” said Fremaux.
The Cannes boss says he hoped that Netflix would follow the theatrical rules and allow two films, “Roma” by Alfonso Cuaron and “The Other Side of the Wind” by Orson Welles, to enter this year’s festival. But as we know, Netflix didn’t do that, considering if they released the films theatrically in France, the streaming service would have to wait three years before they could put it on their website. Which, obviously, goes against every business principle that Netflix was founded on.
“I am asking them to accept that rule. They show dozens and dozens of films each year on Netflix. Could they not release just one film a year theatrically in France in order for it to come to Cannes? … The consequence of the chronology means it comes out three years later. Sure, it’s absurd. On a personal level, I think it’s time to change it but for now, in 2018, we are where we are. If they accepted to bring out the film, to give it to a distributor and to say, ‘Look, you see we also financed Orson Welles’s ‘The Other Side Of The Wind.’’ They would be heroes and it would be fabulous for their image,” Fremaux continued.
Sorry, Fremaux but Netflix isn’t going to accept that rule in a million years.
Overall, the festival director has nothing but nice things to say about the two films he wanted at Cannes, saying, “Alfonso Cuaron’s film is a beautiful film and I also want to applaud Netflix for coming on board the amazing Orson Welles project.”
But ultimately, he wants Netflix to play by the rules, and there’s no way that’s going to happen. However, at least this year, it looks like Fremaux won’t risk his job. Instead, he just finds himself in the middle of a very public battle about the future of cinema.