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posted by mrpg on Saturday May 13 2017, @06:03AM   Printer-friendly
from the first-the-talkies-now-the-onlinies dept.

Official press release

The Cannes Film Festival is taking a stand against Netflix. Responding to a rumor that the streaming service's Okja, directed by Bong Joon Ho, and The Meyerowitz Stories, directed by Noah Baumbach, would be excluded from awards consideration after being included in the Competition lineup, the festival released a statement clarifying and adjusting its positioning going forward. The short version: From now on, if you want to compete at Cannes, your movie had better be released in French movie theaters—not just online.

There has long been a point of tension between Cannes and Netflix, to the extent where the inclusion of Okja and The Meyerowitz Stories came as a bit of a surprise. Netflix films had previously been snubbed and festival officials had advocated for "discouraging" the streaming service's online-first approach to release. The two movies included in Cannes' lineup this year are slated for theatrical bows stateside, but according to the festival's official statement, "no agreement has been reached" to get the moves into French cinemas and the effort to reach one was made "in vain." However, the statement does clarify that this rule goes into effect next year, so Okja and The Meyerowitz Stories will remain in competition and eligible for the Palme d'Or.

Seems the Cannes Film Festival is less about film and more about an outdated business model.


Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 5, Informative) by AthanasiusKircher on Saturday May 13 2017, @08:51PM (3 children)

    by AthanasiusKircher (5291) on Saturday May 13 2017, @08:51PM (#509254) Journal

    Here's the thing that's left out of a lot of reporting on this. French law prohibits films from being screened on television for 3 years after theatrical release.

    That's really the issue here. If it were a matter of Netflix even just PAYING a few theatres to show its films in France, I'm sure they'd be happy to do that for consideration. But basically if they want to be considered at Cannes, they would not only need to screen their film in theatres -- but ALSO commit to not streaming the film in France for 3 years.

    Which effectively screws everything up in Netflix's production system. Their whole model and reason for assisting in the production of "art house" type flicks (which otherwise may not get funding to be made) is that they get to put them on their streaming service and advertise that fact to attract users. French law, meanwhile, is determined to preserve the traditional cinema experience by prohibiting TV showings and streaming for a long time. These two things don't work together well.

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  • (Score: 2) by Wootery on Sunday May 14 2017, @08:33AM (2 children)

    by Wootery (2341) on Sunday May 14 2017, @08:33AM (#509394)

    What an absurd law.

    Apparently plenty of other countries do similar things. See Page "18" (actually the 22nd page) of this monstrous PDF. [europa.eu]

    • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Sunday May 14 2017, @10:34AM (1 child)

      by kaszz (4211) on Sunday May 14 2017, @10:34AM (#509418) Journal

      So Bulgaria, France and Portugal have this bullshit with release windows. F-%king nanny state.
      France also has laws that makes it illegal to employ encrypted communications asfair.

      • (Score: 2) by Wootery on Monday May 15 2017, @08:18AM

        by Wootery (2341) on Monday May 15 2017, @08:18AM (#509841)

        Crypto laws are bullshit, but I can at least see that it's the result of aging, technically-clueless legislators. I can't see why anyone would think it was a good idea to enshrine a particular 'release model' in law, though.