Netflix has threatened to withhold its films from the Cannes Film Festival after the event’s director, Thierry Fremaux, announced in March that productions by streaming platforms will not be entered in the competition section, The Hollywood Reporter said.
Netflix’s refusal to submit its titles for out-of-competition screenings is being seen as a retaliation for a rule announced after last year’s event banned films that do not have a French theatrical release from the competition section. The new rule was instituted after French filmmakers and unions protested the inclusion of Netflix films Okja and The Meyerowitz Stories in the highly prestigious competition section.
“The Netflix people loved the red carpet and would like to be present with other films,” Fremaux told The Hollywood Reporter after the rule was announced. “But they understand that the intransigence of their own model is now the opposite of ours.”
The festival has also instituted a rule banning selfies on the red carpet from this year onward.
“Netflix titles have figured in the speculation about films that could screen at the festival, although it is not clear which may have been formally submitted,” The Hollywood Reporter said. “Among them are Paul Greengrass’ Norway; Jeremy Saulnier’s Hold the Dark; and Orson Welles’ The Other Side of the Wind, the newly completed version of a project the late director filmed in the 1970s.”
