Netflix Banned From Competing At Cannes Film Festival Due To Lack of Theatrical Releases (theverge.com) 120
Netflix has been banned from competing in the Cannes Film Festival, according to a report from The Hollywood Reporter. "Theirry Fremaux, the head of Cannes, told THR last week the ban is because Netflix refuses to release its films in theaters, choosing instead to debut them on its streaming service and, in some rare cases, do day-and-date releases so the film can be seen both online and off," reports The Verge. From the report: In the case of Bong Joon-ho's Okja and Noah Baumbach's The Meyerowitz Stories -- films that were entered into last year's Cannes to widespread protest from French filmmakers -- Netflix was unable to secure last-minute permits for one-week theatrical releases due to French media regulations. "Last year, when we selected these two films, I thought I could convince Netflix to release them in cinemas. I was presumptuous, they refused," Fremaux told THR. "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." Starting with this year's Cannes, which takes place in May, films screened in competition will need to have a French theatrical release. Netflix is still allowed to show films at Cannes, Fremaux added, but its films will not be eligible for the prestigious Palme d'Or.
Hmm, time for another Cannes... (Score:5, Interesting)
If I were Netflix I would use the very large amount of money it has, to go in with Amazon to make a second Cannes that accepts the world as it is (maybe call it "Jarres"), and let Cannes as it is now fade into irrelevancy. Do you think stars would be more, or less likely to go to something sponsored by Netflix and Amazon?
Re:Hmm, time for another Cannes... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Hmm, time for another Cannes... (Score:4, Funny)
You know, I almost said that myself - but then I realized the Cannes we have today is probably well stocked with blackjack and hookers already. :-)
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Supposedly "classy" celebrities outfit versus stars from actual Adult Video News (AVN) Awards: (safe for workplace :) )
Some Met Gala Guests Wore Less Than Porn Stars Wore To The AVN Awards [elitedaily.com], from Elite Daily
https://imgur.com/evSy8FL [imgur.com]
Pr0n stars are classier than many celebs today.
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You know, I almost said that myself - but then I realized the Cannes we have today is probably well stocked with blackjack and hookers already. :-)
Then how about Bojack and hookers?
Re: Hmm, time for another Cannes... (Score:3, Funny)
#forkTheCannes
Re: Hmm, time for another Cannes... (Score:4, Informative)
Re: Hmm, time for another Cannes... (Score:2)
Sundance is most def more prestigious than Cannes to anyone who doesn't have a hard-on for European cinema. The US is the center of the cinematic world; has been for generations. Sorry, Francos.
Re: Hmm, time for another Cannes... (Score:2)
I'm sorry, but do you actually think Sundance plays movies like Thor and Black Panther? Do you even know what a film festival is?
It already exists (Score:4, Funny)
It's called the Las Vegas Film Festival.
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Do you think stars would be more, or less likely to go to something sponsored by Netflix and Amazon?
Depends on the stars. Most of the big names are still doing their work for Netflix/Amazon's competition.
Cannes bannes all films not relseased in france (Score:4, Insightful)
this article is pure ignorance. it's not the france is banning netflix for not showing films in theaters. It's that cannes has always exclded films not released in france.
Complicated (Score:5, Insightful)
it's not the france is banning netflix for not showing films in theaters. It's that cannes has always exclded films not released in france.
But, Netflix cannot release in theater even if they wanted, because some weird old protectionist law make it impossible to both release online and in theater at the same time.
(The law was designed in such a way so that back in the days, movie theaters would have a window of opportunity to try to profit from a movie, before the movie got unleashed on VHS tapes. Of course it was probably presented as some crap like "movie theater should be noble place used to display art, not to serve as vile commercial to advertise VHS sold in shops").
Similar restriction also (used to) exist regarding the timing of TV releases(*) in France (again to guarantee a "right to profit" to those who released before).
And modern EU-wide laws (that also exist in France) prevents Netflix from geo-locking (They cannot block streaming of some movie to French IP addresses for the sake of France's movie theater release priorities).
So yeah, it *is* France's law that a preventing Netflix to compete in Canne due to some indirect interactions that blocks Netflix from doing what they are required to do in order to compete.
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(*) : Which wasn't very efficient at its intended "profit-securing" purpose, because these law couldn't obviously apply to nearby countries such as Switzerland and Belgium where french is also one of the spoken language and where the movie would be released sooner on over-the-air TV that could be received in France. Much to the dismay of VHS shops in France and/or TV channel in france who would have wanted to profit from advertisement sold during movie airing.
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The law may have protected release in theaters and on physical media at the same time but that does not apply to Netflix streaming either.
This citation states that the law applies to video on demand services [ifta-online.org]. What citation states that it does not?
France requires a 36 month theater-to-VOD window (Score:2)
it's not the france is banning netflix for not showing films in theaters.
Yes it is. France has statutory release windows [ifta-online.org], which forbid a movie distributor that shows a movie in theaters in France from offering that movie for streaming on an all-you-can-eat video-on-demand service for 36 months after initial theatrical exhibition.
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Do you think stars would be more, or less likely to go to something sponsored by Netflix and Amazon?
It probably comes down to marketing. Considering some (or many, dunno) of the stars go to the existing events with designer clothes, jewelry and accessories that they're paid to wear, I don't think they'd go if it wasn't lucrative for them, but then, their presence also gives the event some gravitas, which it otherwise wouldn't have, so that probably helps the remainders to feel special when they aren't making money out of the event.
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Like the Sundance Film Festival? In Park City, Utah?
Think someone already made one.
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Yes, there are other film festivals - but not other Cannes. I'm thinking, stick it to them with a festival set in France, at the same time, preferably at an even nicer location.
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Move the wealth away from the part of France that though it was better than "streaming" media.
Another part of France will embrace and support streaming media and will give a great location to celebrate art.
Relevance of Theater (Score:4, Insightful)
I'd say that most movie houses aren't actually theaters either.
From Wikipedia
Theatre or theater[1] is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers, typically actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage.
And My Home Viewing Setup is better than any movie house from 50 years ago (Except maybe the Real Buttered Popcorn)
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And My Home Viewing Setup is better than any movie house from 50 years ago (Except maybe the Real Buttered Popcorn)
You're not making real buttered popcorn? What's really great is if you do it on the stove in ghee, then top it with a bit of butter. You don't use as much actual butter, but it obviously still comes out super-buttery.
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Ghee is one of the many pleasures I have in cooking. Most people don't have a clue why it is so good to cook with.
TBH, I never thought of cooking Popcorn in it. Thanks for that tip!
Re: Relevance of Theater (Score:5, Funny)
except, that ain't butter.
I can't believe that.
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50 years ago, it was. :-D
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I'm not sure why you're modded insightful. Funny? Sure. This is not an insightful comment.
Theater is an overloaded term. The page you are referencing is referring to theater as an art form to which the movie art form is cinematography.
Theater as a building, which you would have been able to find by following the "other uses" link, is a type of building or environment that contains a stage and seating. Theaters can host a multitude of events from musical concerts, plays, comedians, or even cinema but it is b
diluting their own award (Score:3)
It's like professional sports in the Olympics.
The best players in the world don't complete in the Olympic games because their professional careers don't give them the opportunity.
So the gold medal winners aren't really top of their sport, they're top of the group who doesn't have a high paying professional contract.
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The Olympics is the top of the track & field sports.
It's not for professional sports like Basket Ball, Baseball, Soccer and Golf.
Justin Rose won gold for golf in the 2016 Olympics.
He's had 8 wins on the PGA tour.
Meanwhile, 150 other people have more PGA wins than him.
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I'm not your research monkey.
Also, the Summer Olympics is a lot bigger than the Winter Olympics.
Regarding your first reply to my first comment, Usain Bolt has never won a medal at the Winter Olympics.
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There's 34 sports in the summer Olympics. A sport in Olympic jargon is "all the events that are sanctioned by one international sport federation."
Aquatics, Basketball, Canoeing/Kayaking, Cycling, Gymnastics, Volleyball, Equestian, and Wrestling are multi-discipline sports.
Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Baseball, Boxing, Fencing, Field Hockey, Football (Soccer), Golf, Handball, Judo, Karate, Pentathlon, Rowing, Rugby, Sailing, Shooting, Skateboarding, Softball, Sport Climbing, Surfing, Table Tennis, Taekwond
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Track and field? Best athletes in the world
Swimming? Ditto.
Skiing? Yep.
The list goes on and on. It's really on a small subset of professional sports where the Olympics don't represent the best athletes in the world.
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Here's a few sports in the 2020 Olympics that won't be representing the best in the world:
baseball
softball
basketball
beach vollyball
boxing
hockey
golf
judo
karate
rugby
sailing
soccer
surfing
taekwondo
tennis
They're considering adding squash, wakeboarding, dancing, bowling and netball too.
It's more than just a handful.
Lemme check... (Score:1)
Let's have a look at the fuckometer and see how many fucks we give....
.\........
Well, that's not many fucks at all.
Cannes is pretty much just a big virtue signal fest and seeing off Netflix is about par for the course. I'm pretty sure this problem isn't going to dominate the next Netflix board meeting while they're trying to figure out what to do with their $560 million in profits.
It's French government censorship (Score:5, Informative)
TFA is terrible at explaining this, but the reason Netflix can't enter Cannes is because their movies haven't been in French cinemas, and the reason their movies haven't been in French cinemas is because it's illegal to to show movies inside and outside cinemas at the same time: http://merlin.obs.coe.int/iris... [coe.int]
Re:It's French government censorship (Score:5, Insightful)
And they are very protective of their movie industry, a lot of it depending on public subventions.
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Oh, and by the way, it's not France that has a language police. Not only are you clueless, you're ignorant as well.
https://www.thelocal.fr/galler... [thelocal.fr]
Just a quick Google for 'french language police'. Just recently they were in the news for wanting a different French word for 'smartphone'.
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Spoken like a true clueless anglo-saxon that has never lived with the fear of seeing his own culture slowly fade away and go extinct.
Funny, I saw a rally [wikipedia.org] by a bunch of anglo-saxons that live with the fear of seeing their own culture slowly fade away and go extinct. They were carrying tiki torches and chanting "they will not replace us". To me, they didn't seem like models of virtue.
when you cannot be served in english anywhere you go, when you can't find a single book, a single movie, a single song in english anymore. When every single day of your life you feel like a stranger, an immigrant, an outcast, in the very country you were born in.
Yup, that's pretty much exactly what those guys were protesting.
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To me, they didn't seem like models of virtue.
What exactly did you find objectionable about them?
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Their presentation. It seemed to go beyond political objection to intimidation. Oh, they go about it differently from Antifa (opposite, really) but the implication of violence seemed just as strong.
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So what exactly is the difference between your fear of your culture fading away, and their fear of their culture fading away? No, seriously, enlighten me? I'm not trying to suggest that your culture should fade away, by any means.
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amusing (Score:3)
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who cares? (Score:3)
Sometimes, Cannes picks genuinely good movies. Often, they just pick pretentious crap like Melancholia [wikipedia.org]. On balance, an award at Cannes is more likely to be a negative than a positive.
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they just pick pretentious crap like Melancholia [wikipedia.org]
Anyway Netflix wouldn't stand a chance. "Crap" movies like "Melancholia" at least show innovation, and you might not like the story but acting and directing are good. Netflix is focused on "recipes that work", delivering satisfying shows like McDonald's serves food to appease hunger pangs.
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Great art tends to be innovative. But innovative art is rarely great art.
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i once went to an experimental art performance. (I was a friend of the soprano, along with about a quarter of the rest of the audience.) My conclusion: if you know it's going to succeed and/or be good, it isn't experimental.
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The point remains: although most great art is innovative, great art is a tiny percentage among all innovative art and most innovative art is crap [theplaidzebra.com]. So, even if Melancholia had been innovative (instead of the trite, boring piece it was), that wouldn't have been something in its favor.
Furthermore, if the art succeeds among the modern bourgeoisie and academics, the kind of people that go to "experimental performances", you can be pretty certain that it isn't great art: both groups of people are overwhelmingly i
NetCannes (Score:2)
Don't play to lose (Score:3)
Okja and The Meyerowitz Stories were OK, but they're not going to compete with any of the Cannes finalists. Netflix will just keep trying and Cannes will eventually realize that requiring a theatrical release is an artifact of a bygone era.
Personally, I think some of the mini-series on Netflix are more worthy of Cannes than those two movies, but again, Cannes doesn't understand that the world has moved on.
They should also ban Disney... (Score:2)
since they no longer use film, and it's a film festival.
Cannes is committing suicide. (Score:2)
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The Old Guard and the Changing Business Model (Score:2)
Netflix and all the up and coming digital providers of content will face this same backlash from the existing community of studio executives and producers. They are all in bed with the theater owners so it's not a movie if it's shown outside the theater to try to disregard the new content medium.
In the end they will fail and the new big players will be the distributors and that scares the daylights out of all these old school guards that have made millions skimming the existing system by screwing over the
Amazon is playing the game.. (Score:2)
Apparently Amazon is playing the game, at least in the USA, because I've seen a couple of Amazon produced-or-at-least-distributed movies in theaters. (With MoviePass, of course.) For example, The Big Sick.
Remember the Granatelli STP turbine race car? (Score:3)
It competed at Indy in 1968 and lapped the entire field before crapping out right at the end with a minor mechanical problem. But because all the pricey Offenhausers driving the other Indy cars immediately became obsolete, the official response was to ban turbines at Indy in future years. That was the moment when the US yielded world domination of automotive technology to Asia.
Cannes used to be one of the great festivals for indy films. This decision makes it the Indy of the film world.
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Who watches anything based on Cannes Reviews ? (Score:2)
Do you ? Do you even know anyone who does ? Do they ?
The number of awards $show has been nominated for, how many A list actors are in it or the fact it was featured in some obscure film festival that few outside of the entertainment business even know about has zero impact on my decision to watch material X vs material Y.
IMO, this is the industry doing everything it possibly can to discredit the newcomer in a last ditch effort before the inevitable happens.
Dear Industry: You either evolve with the times,
Fair is fair (Score:2)
This is how it's been for real movie companies too, even when their primary intent is to do a TV movie or home video release. If they want to be considered for various awards, they have to put the goddamn thing in actual theaters enough to qualify.
This has been going on for decades.
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> So... Netflix has been canned from the festival?
Cannes cans Netflix?
Cinemas has had their monopoly way too long (Score:2)
Most piracy is all about access to releases. If you live the wrong place you are discriminated against when it comes to legal access to movies, tv-shows and music. Pirates have long ago stepped up to fill this gap. The only valid path is to release globally on all forms of media every single time. The cinemas then would need to wake up and devise a concept people would want to pay extra for - sound, picture, environment... Upgrade the hard gun-filled seats and the overpriced popcorn and be vigilant so that
Oh dear... another dinosaur (Score:2)
Cannes is on its way to irrelevance (Score:2)
If a major film festival decides to ban the largest producer and distributor of film, it's pretty clear that film festival is entering its death spiral.
So enlightened (Score:1)
Just what are they alleging? (Score:1)
What ??!
Also in headlines: Could Today Be 2018's Slowest News Day?
it's the rules (Score:2)
it's in the rules, the netflix movies do not comply to the rules and thus can't compete. every festival can make up it's own rules, i don't see the problem.
ofcourse it is stupid and silly and there are really good netflix movies available, but that is besides the point.
if i would organise a games festival, but in the rules it states it can only be cardboard games, then computer game companies can complain about it all they want, their products simply don't apply.
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We were all dying to know that you don't care about this article. And what better place to announce it than a message board specifically for discussing said article? Would you mind telling us about some of the other things you don't care about?
Thank you for the Interesting, Insigtful, and not-at-all Redundant post indicating your indifference.
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Would you mind telling us about some of the other things you don't care about?
Gay marriage... and, um, Pokemon.
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i forgot, /. is only for your particular opinion only. thank you for your opinion on my non opinion.
Re:who cares!!! (Score:5, Insightful)
If the industry didn't make such an event out of this stuff, then no one would!
The other thing is, it also shows how resistant to change the industry is. Just like they couldn't embrace the digital frontier and have had problems with piracy, even now, with streaming, which is a way to get people to pay for this stuff (i.e. not pirate) and they still don't want them in their little club. Not that I really care, but watching from the sidelines makes me think that in doing this, they're displaying a stubbornness and willingness to go down with the ship, if it comes to that.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
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I'm not sure what the issue is - an organisation that exists to support cinema is refusing to support a different organisation that is committed to undermining cinema (by "cinema" I mean the physical act of going to see a movie on a big screen in a publicly accessible building). Why *should* they support that any more than they allow oil paintings or books to enter?
Re: who cares!!! (Score:2)
The organization claims to be a film festival, not a cinema festival. Netflix has brought to light the lie that Cannes is about art; Cannes is actually an incestuous profit machine with no regard for art.
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The organization claims to be a film festival, not a cinema festival.
It started in 1939 (although it was postponed until '46) when the two were synonymous.
Netflix has brought to light the lie that Cannes is about art; Cannes is actually an incestuous profit machine with no regard for art.
Well, that sounds so unlike the well-known art charity Netflix, doesn't it? Next you'll be telling me that the Oscar for Best Film doesn't always go to the year's best film! Sorry - Oscar®.
I'm not arguing about either side's morality, just that Netflix is basically complaining that rain is wet and that the Pope grasp of bar mitzvah is lacking in detail. It's just a whine.
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They can make the rules as they see fit, but sometimes, you see a disruption take place, and I personally find it amusing when the old guard are trying to maintain their status and keep the newcomers out.
The point is; netflix isn't going anywhere! If they're making the profits I've read about, and more importantly, prepared to spend money on making art films, which the industry, broadly speaking, struggles to make money on, then it comes across as incredibly petty for organisations to try to keep them out o
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They can make the rules as they see fit, but sometimes, you see a disruption take place, and I personally find it amusing when the old guard are trying to maintain their status and keep the newcomers out.
The point is; netflix isn't going anywhere!,
That's what they said about Blockbusters.
If they're making the profits I've read about, and more importantly, prepared to spend money on making art films, which the industry, broadly speaking, struggles to make money on, then it comes across as incredibly petty for organisations to try to keep them out of prestigious events
I just don't see that. Netflix is making television programmes. There are television festivals they can go to. What's the problem?
however, after all, these french associations/organisations are notoriously corrupt, with so many scandals plaguing other organisations, such as FIFA, FIA, IOC, as a few examples, I'm not really surprised.
Well, okay. I guess Netflix is purer than the driven snow but it's still making TV programmes - by which I mean programmes to watch on your TV. If they want to make cinema then they need to release it to cinema.
Another aspect is that these judging organisations usually develop prestige through identifying and recognising quality, and having rigorous judging. If they exclude something for more arbitrary reasons, they're only hurting their own credibility in the long term.
"Rigorous" judging in an industry that gave Peter Jackson an Oscar for directing isn't something I'm holding out for.
Maybe the pro
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Because Netflix is making avant guard art. If you exclude the most interesting works than winning becomes meaningless. If winning is meaningless than ultimately nobody will pay attention anymore. If the underlayng reason for the festival was to build excitement about film to sell more tickets you cant succeed without the excitement
Netflix doesn't sell any tickets - that's the point.