The war between the Cannes Film Festival and Netflix seems to be reaching a climax. Over the last year, spokespeople from Cannes, including director Thierry Fremaux, have specifically said that films distributed by the streaming giant would not be included in competition at the prestigious event unless they had an adequate French theatrical presence. Since then, both Netflix and Cannes haven’t wavered in their stances, and the war has raged on.
Now, it seems like Netflix is willing to take the most drastic step.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, sources are telling them that Netflix is threatening to withhold all their films from this year’s festival if they’re not allowed in competition. It’s widely known that films that show at Cannes but are not included in the actual competition are viewed as “less-than.” Plus, Fremaux hasn’t even said he’d be willing to consider Netflix for out-of-competition selection either. This puts Netflix in the position we find them in today. Willing to forego the entire festival just based on principle.
However, we don’t really know what this means, in terms of the film selection. Cannes hasn’t announced their line-up yet, and really no one knows which films Netflix had wanted in competition. But looking at their upcoming slate, titles like “Norway” from Paul Greengrass, “Hold the Dark” from Jeremy Saulnier, and “The Other Side of the Wind” by Orson Welles, which is a new project which was comprised from film produced in the 1970s, are specifically named in the report.
The debate over this issue began last year, when Netflix entered two films, “Okja” and “The Meyerowitz Stories,” in competition for the first time. After which, the debate raged on whether or not these films should compete with the other films because Netflix releases them via their streaming service with no real theatrical strategy.
This stalemate has finally come to a head, and it’ll be interesting to see how this plays out. If Cannes follows through with their rule, which effectively bans Netflix from the festival, this could set a precedent that could open the doors for other festivals to follow suit.
We’ll be waiting for official word from Cannes and Netflix, but the line-up for this year’s film festival is set to be announced April 12.
