The same day Vanessa Kirby wins the award for Best Actress at the 2020 Venice Film Festival for her portrayal in Kornél Mundruczó‘s drama “Pieces of a Woman,” Netflix closes a worldwide distribution deal for the lauded film.
The news comes from Variety, stating that Netflix has closed the deal to distribute the film just a day after it was reported that the streaming giant was in negotiations to acquire Halle Berry‘s directorial debut, “Bruised” for distribution before the film’s TIFF premiere. It would certainly seem like Netflix is slowly but surely buying its way into a powerful position for this year’s awards race.
Though Netflix had strong contenders in the awards race the past couple of years, with “Roma” in 2018 and “The Irishman,” and “Marriage Story” last year. This year though, it seems the streaming giant decided to bow out of the fall film festival race, with no Netflix movies premiering at either TIFF or Venice. Sure, Charlie Kaufman‘s “I’m Thinking Of Ending Things” is a critical darling lauded for its wildly inventive writing, but their next big-name film, Antonio Campos‘ “The Devil All The Time” has received lukewarm reviews, so it only makes sense to buy movies that already have a lot of buzz built-in, like “Pieces of a Woman.”
Of course, Netflix still have some possible contenders coming out in the near future, like Aaron Sorkin‘s “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” and the highly anticipated “Mank,” by David Fincher, so it’s still early to count the streaming service out. Another big point to consider is the simple fact that releasing a film theatrically is still a big uncertainty due to the ongoing pandemic, and releasing much-talked-about festival films like “Bruised” or “Pieces of a Woman” worldwide simultaneously means more people will see what all the buzz was about.
It remains to be seen what the Oscar race has in store for us, but for the time being, we can at least be happy that we probably won’t have to wait that long to see Vanessa Kirby’s award-winning performance in “Pieces of a Woman.”