You’ve heard of Netflix’n’chill. The Cannes film festival is having a Netflix’n’not-chill moment. A Netflix’n’stress moment. A Netflix’n’migraine moment. Two of this year’s Palme d’Or contenders are funded by Netflix, the streaming-media outfit which recently expanded into film and TV production: Bong Joon-ho’s Okja, starring Tilda Swinton and Noah Baumbach’s The Meyerowitz Stories, starring Adam Sandler. This, we had thought, is a sign of the times for Cannes – this and the fact that the festival was also going to showcase TV work from David Lynch and Jane Campion. Could it be that the festival was moving away from old-school cinephile insistence on the primacy of the big screen?

Not so fast. French exhibitors, represented by the National Federation of Cinemas, were livid about the inclusion of these Netflix hipsters – because Netflix wasn’t committed to showing these films in their movie theatres. The prestige and publicity of Cannes was to be bestowed on Netflix product which would not bring a single euro to French cinemas! The art of the cinema had been taken lightly, the French industry treated as a glorified ad platform and French cultural amour propre had been dissed. And the Cannes film festival is a jewel of the republic.

Now the Cannes authorities have calmed the situation by announcing that as of next year, chosen films would have to guarantee a conventional French cinema showing, but that the Netflix films could stay. For now. For its part, Netflix has offered to show these movies very, very briefly in French cinemas under a temporary licence. No more than six screenings. As one industry hand put it to me: it’s the equivalent of John F Kennedy agreeing to remove US nuclear missiles from Turkey.

So what’s going to happen next year? Incoming president Emmanuel Macron will play his part. At present, Netflix and Amazon don’t particularly want to commit to a full, conventional theatrical release because under French law they have to wait three years before they can offer streaming video on demand. The “temporary” licensing workaround is cumbersome. President-elect Macron is committed to reviewing the law. Perhaps this temporary arrangement can be expanded beyond six screenings, possibly to the summer months following the festival. But Netflix will have to suck it up. Cannes is all about the traditional cinema experience. The awe of the theatrical event. The audience gathered in the darkness. If Netflix wants the big festival and the big prizes … it has to have the big screen.