How Netflix Defied Cannes Tradition, Miffed Cinephiles And Forced A Rule Change

For all its desperate efforts to make international friends, Netflix, Inc. NFLX isn’t helping its cause.

The nascent film producer recently slighted the industry’s most respected festival — the point of pride for a now-wrathful nation — by defying 70 years of tradition.

Cannes Film Festival

Submissions to the Cannes Film Festival generally circulate in French cinemas following their prominent debuts, but this year, two competing Netflix productions — Noah Baumbach’s “The Meyerowitz Stories” and Bong Joon-ho’s “Okja” — will go directly to the online streaming service. Festival officials said they unsuccessfully appealed to Netflix to comply with customs.

“The Festival de Cannes asked Netflix in vain to accept that these two films could reach the audience of French movie theaters and not only its subscribers,” representatives said in a Wednesday statement. “Hence the Festival regrets that no agreement has been reached.”

The Cannes newcomer is resisting not only convention but also French law. The nation requires a three-year gap between theatrical release and streaming release, but Netflix plans concurrent distribution.

Local theater owners have had enough, and at their protests, the festival committee announced a rule change this week requiring all entries to play in French theaters beginning in 2018.

“The Festival de Cannes is aware of the anxiety aroused by the absence of the release in theaters of those films in France,” the statement read.

Netflix Comments

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings responded in a Facebook Inc FB post.

At the time of publication, nearly a week out from the May 17 festival, Netflix shares were trading down 1 percent at a rate of $158.77.

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