Netflix exits Cannes festival

NEW YORK — Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s chief content officer, on Wednesday said the streaming giant is pulling its films from the Cannes Film Festival, further intensifying an ongoing dispute between Netflix and the world’s most prestigious film festival.

Cannes earlier banned any films without theatrical distribution in France from its Palme d’Or competition. That essentially rules out Netflix movies, which are released either day- and- date — on Netflix and in some theaters — or go straight to Netflix. In France, it’s a law that films can’t be released on home entertainment platforms until 36 months after their theatrical release.

That still left Netflix the option of play- ing out of competition at Cannes. But in an interview with Variety published Wednesday, Sarandos said he doesn’t want to send Netflix releases if they won’t be treated equally with other movies.

“We want our films to be on fair ground with every other filmmaker,” said Sarandos. “There’s a risk in us going in this way and having our films and filmmakers treated disrespectfully at the festival.”

Representatives for Cannes didn’t immediately comment Wednesday. In an earlier interview, Cannes director Thierry Fremaux said: “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.”