It appears that the divide between traditional filmmaking and the growing landscape of streaming platforms is becoming wider. Netflix has been trying to legitimize itself as an original content creator and not just a streaming service. They’ve been at this for a while, producing their own critically acclaimed movies in hopes of obtaining the respect and status of traditional movie studios within Hollywood. While the streaming site has had some marginal success within the festival film circuit, it’s now facing a roadblock with one of most of the prestigious film institutions.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Netflix movies will no longer be able to compete at the Cannes Film Festival. This news came directly from the festival’s director Theirry Fremaux.
“The Netflix people loved the red carpet and would like to be present with other films. But they understand that the intransigence of their own model is now the opposite of ours.”
This development came after some uproar from last year’s festival allowing Netflix’s “Okja” and “The Meyerowitz Stories” into its line-up. Fremaux took the risk on in hopes that Netflix would come around to following festival rules and have some kind of theatrical release for its films in this year’s competition. However, it turns out that the Netflix didn’t budge.
“Last year, when we selected these two films, I thought I could convince Netflix to release them in cinemas. I was presumptuous, they refused.”
According to the report, Netflix, at the time, could not obtain temporary permits to screen their films in theaters dues to France’s strict chronology laws. That disagreement resulted in this updated rule requiring films to be screened in theaters.
“We have to take into account the existence of these powerful new players: Amazon, Netflix and maybe soon Apple,” Fremaux said. “(But) Cinema (still) triumphs everywhere even in this golden age of series. The history of cinema and the history of the internet are two different things.”