Organisers react after unrest about inclusion of Netflix films The Meyerowitz Stories and Okja in competition this year

The Cannes film festival has waded into the war between Netflix and the global movie industry by banning films that are not released on the big screen from competing for its most prestigious prize, the Palme d’Or.

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The festival, which begins next week, announced that any film that appears in competition at Cannes from next year will have to commit first to being shown in French cinemas.

This year marked the first time that films distributed by the Netflix and Amazon streaming services have appeared in competition at Cannes, a move greeted as by many as a nod to the future of film. Announcing the festival’s lineup last month, its director Thierry Frémaux described it as a “laboratory” of cinema that was open to change.

But the move also prompted fierce opposition from the Federation of French Cinemas because neither of the Netflix offerings – Noah Baumbach’s drama The Meyerowitz Stories, starring Dustin Hoffman and Adam Sandler, and Bong Joon Ho’s fantasy epic Okja, starring Tilda Swinton – have been put forward for release in French cinemas.

In a statement released on Wednesday, Cannes said both films would remain in competition this year, but it had changed its rules to prevent straight-to-streaming films from competing.

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“The Festival de Cannes is aware of the anxiety aroused by the absence of the release in theatres of those films in France,” the statement said. “The festival asked Netflix in vain to accept that these two films could reach the audience of French movie theatres and not only its subscribers. Hence the festival regrets that no agreement has been reached.”



After consultation with its board, the festival then decided to adapt its rules. “Any film that wishes to compete in competition at Cannes will have to commit itself to being distributed in French movie theatres. This new measure will apply from the 2018 edition of the Festival International du Film de Cannes onwards,” the statement added.

Responding to the rule change on Facebook, the Netflix CEO, Reed Hastings, wrote that “the establishment [is] closing ranks against us. See Okja on Netflix June 28th. Amazing film that theatre chains want to block us from entering into Cannes film festival competition.” Netflix did not respond to a request from the Guardian for comment.

The dispute between Netflix and French exhibitors centres on a rule that states a film can only appear on streaming platforms in France a full three years after its release in cinemas – a rule that Netflix has so far refused to follow. However, it did purchase the streaming rights to the award-winning drama Divines at last year’s Cannes festival, a film that it will be unable to make available to its French users until 2019 as a result of the rule. As a compromise for the future, the company said it would be willing to offer a limited cinematic release of films at the same time as they appear on their own platform.



The dispute is part of a larger conflict between Netflix and the global film industry, which has intensified in recent years as the streaming service has moved to increase the number of films it produces and distributes. In 2015, four major US cinema chains refused to screen the Idris Elba war drama Beasts of No Nation due to Netflix’s decision to release the film online at the same time as in cinemas, which violated the US’s own rule that says there has to be a 90-day delay between theatrical and home entertainment releases.

Netflix, which has committed to investing $6bn (£4.6bn) in original content this year, is not the only streaming service likely to be affected by the new Cannes rules. Amazon has also been building a own film division in recent years, and has Todd Haynes’s period drama Wonderstruck, starring Julianne Moore, in competition at the festival this year. However, Amazon has so far shown more willingness than Netflix to release its films in cinemas, such as the Oscar-winning Manchester By The Sea.

Steven Gaydos, the executive editor of Variety, said the Cannes dispute was part of larger existential problems faced by the cinema industry, but it could not dictate how people watch films. “I really sympathise with the concerns of the French exhibitors. However, I don’t think you can force people to consume things in a certain way anymore,” he said.

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“The insurmountable issue here the magnitude of technological disruption. The theatrical experience is changing dramatically. The marketplace is confronting a gigantic challenge from these new platforms.”

This year’s Cannes film festival begins with an opening screening of French drama Ismael’s Ghosts, starring Marion Cotillard and Charlotte Gainsbourg. Director Pedro Almodóvar has been named president of the festival’s jury, which features Will Smith, Paolo Sorrentino and Jessica Chastain.

