Cannes in the “Get Off Our Lawn” Camp, Declaring Netflix, Amazon Movies Unfit for Competition

Established film institutions are still having trouble figuring out exactly how Netflix and other streaming services fit into their views on the industry. The Cannes Film Festival has planted their flag firmly in the “Get Off Our Lawn” camp by declaring that films made by Netflix, Amazon, and the like cannot compete in the festival. They can screen their films, but they are not eligible for a Palme d’Or.

This is a shift from last year, when the festival screened Netflix’s Okja and The Meyerowitz Stories, both of which were highly regarded films from lauded filmmakers. (Bong Joon-ho and Noah Baumbach, respectively.) But when the Netflix logo came onscreen, the audiences booed. French filmmakers and unions threatened to boycott. For their part, Cannes has offered to let streaming platforms compete, so long as their films got a theatrical release in France. But given the country’s strict rules about release chronology–they don’t allow for day-to-date releases, where the film hits streaming sites and theaters on the same day–this seems to be a fairly empty gesture.

The festival’s head, Theirry Fremaux, explained somewhat condescendingly, “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.”

Cannes isn’t the only one refusing to accept Netflix into their Very Serious Artist club. Despite the incredible quality of the films being produced by these sites, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences still has trouble recognizing their artistry. Brilliant movies like Okja and Mudbound are largely, if not entirely, ignored at the Oscars. Just recently, Steven Spielberg added his name to the choir of filmmakers who don’t think Netflix should have a seat at the Oscars. To his credit, he did praise the quality of the current television era, and the work the streaming sites produce. But he believes that because they are meant to be viewed on a television, they deserve to be honored at the Emmys, not the Oscars. (I wonder if anyone is going to tell Spielberg how much viewing happens on mobile devices and see if he thinks that bars them from receiving those Emmy nominations.)

I get that old guard institutions like Cannes and the Academy want to hold onto their formal definitions of what makes a Film. But for the rest of us who marvel at the quality of work being produced by streaming services, it just looks like an insistence on clinging to ideals that are fast becoming obsolete.

Although, for a festival that has now also announced a ban on selfies, none of this is exactly surprising.

(via THR, image: Netflix)

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