Netflix Banned From Cannes Film Festival Competition - Find Out Why

Netflix is banned from competing in the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, and now, the festival head is explaining why.

“Last year, when we selected these two films, I thought I could convince Netflix to release them in cinemas. I was presumptuous, they refused,” Cannes Film Festival exec Theirry Fremaux said in an interview (via THR). If you don’t know, last year, Bong Joon-ho’s Okja and Noah Baumbach’s The Meyerowitz Stories from Netflix were allowed in the competition.

“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,” he continued.

Theirry added, “We have to take into account the existence of these powerful new players: Amazon, Netflix and maybe soon Apple. We’ll defend the image of a risk-prone festival, questioning the cinema, and we must be at the table every year.”

“Cinema [still] triumphs everywhere even in this golden age of series. The history of cinema and the history of the internet are two different things,” he concluded.

This year, Netflix will be allowed to screen movies at the festival, but they won’t be in competition for the coveted Palme d’Or prize.

The Cannes Film Festival will kick off on May 8.