Streaming mad
Cannes jury president agrees Netflix is important, but so is the big screen
The debate over Netflix movies at the Cannes Film Festival came to a head on the opening day when jury president Pedro Almodóvar all but ruled out the streaming service’s movies from taking home the top prize.
That means Okja, by Korean filmmaker Bong Joon Ho, and Noah Baumbach’s The Meyerowitz Stories, could be shut out of competition.
“I don’t conceive of not only the Palme d’Or but any other prize being given to a film and then not being able to see the film on a large screen,” Almodóvar said through a translator when the question was raised at a news conference Wednesday afternoon.
The Spanish director, who has had five films in the competition since 1999 — most recently Julieta last year — was asked by a journalist if he would rather have his films seen in 190 countries (i.e., on a streaming service) or win a Palme d’Or.
“I prefer absolutely to be seen in not only 190 countries, but always to be seen on a big screen,” Almodóvar said to scattered applause from the press.
“Digital platforms are a new way of offering work, which is interesting and positive. But they should not take the place of existing formats. They shouldn’t change the habits of viewers. That’s the core of the debate.”
Size matters, he noted. “The screen should not be smaller than the chair on which you’re sitting. It should not be part of your everyday setting. You must feel small and humble in front of the image that is here to capture you.”
He said younger generations in particular were losing touch with “the capacity of hypnosis of a large screen for a viewer.”
A more conciliatory note was taken by jury member Will Smith, who noted that his three children, aged 24, 18 and 16, go to the movies “twice a week” but also watch streaming services.
“In my home, Netflix has had absolutely no effect on what they go to the movie theatre to watch,” he said. “They go to the movies to be humbled in front of certain images. And there’s other films that they prefer to watch at home. It’s two completely different forms of entertainment.”
It’s also big business. Companies like Netflix and Amazon have grown quickly in recent years. Amazon brings Todd Haynes’ Wonderstruck to the festival this year, and last year had The Neon Demon by Nicolas Winding Refn and Paterson by Jim Jarmusch in competition. Neither won any prizes, unless you count the Palme Dog awarded to Nellie, the bulldog in Paterson.
Netflix this year took home the Sundance U.S. Jury Prize for I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore.
But where Amazon strives to release its films in theatres — Manchester by the Sea was another of its productions — Netflix is committed to streaming-only, and that takes money away from French cinema owners and also from the French film industry, which imposes a tax on films in theatres that helps fund future productions.
In defence of Netflix, French laws also prohibit any theatrical release from moving to a streaming service for 36 months, a wait that would make no sense for a film readily available on tablets and other small screens in the rest of the world later this year. To have screened the film in French cinemas after the festival as Cannes officials requested would have started that clock ticking.
“The world is changing,” said jury member Agnès Jaoui, a French actress, writer, singer and director. “We can’t pretend that technology isn’t evolving.” But of streaming service, she said, “They should have rights, but also duties.”
Smith added: “Netflix brings a great connectivity for (my kids) to the world. There’s movies that aren’t on a screen within 8,000 miles of them. And now they get to find those artists. It does nothing but broaden my children’s cinematic global comprehension.”
Officials in the French film industry will continue to grapple with laws that many see as outdated. But Netflix, unless things change, will not have to worry about controversy next year. In a statement from the festival several days ago, officials said that as of 2018, “any film that wishes to compete in Competition at Cannes will have to commit itself to being distributed in French movie theatres.”