Cannes is dealing with its identity crisis over the inclusion of Netflix films in a gloriously passive aggressive manner. The Federation Of French Cinemas was reportedly mad because because Bong Joon-Ho’s Okja and Noah Baumbach’s The Meyerowitz Stories are on the festival’s competition slate, and yet the streaming service had no plans to give them a theatrical release in France. According to Variety, the festival has decided that’s okay—for now. In the future, however, it has decreed in a statement that “any film that wishes to compete in competition at Cannes will have to commit itself to being distributed in French movie theaters.”
Like a frustrated parent, Cannes is really just disappointed in Netflix and is not afraid to let it know. “Cannes is aware of the anxiety aroused by the absence of the release in theaters of those films in France,” the statement said. ”The Festival de Cannes asked Netflix in vain to accept that these two films could reach the audience of French movie theaters and not only its subscribers.” Cannes also “regrets that no agreement has been reached.” Basically, it would really like to ground Netflix right about now, but is rising above it.
For what it’s worth, Netflix is trying to make amends, Variety reports, attempting to secure a one-week run in French theaters that would begin on the same day as it begins streaming. That plan would skirt the country’s law that requires Netflix-like companies to wait 36 months after moviegoers have had a chance to see a film on the big screen to distribute it on their platforms.