This is not a scoop, the theaters are not in great shape. The news according to which the Netflix platform would prepare, during the month of December, screenings of its films in a few establishments classified “art and essay” has therefore ignited the powder. On Monday, October 25, in a joint press release, the unions of distributors DIRE (united European independent distributors) and SDI (Union of independent distributors) said “Shocked to learn that a Netflix festival is being held.” “Netflix has reached an agreement to show, in French theaters, in paid preview, several productions of their own that we cannot name “cinema films” because they will never be released in theaters but are intended to be seen by television viewers, in front of their television screens ”, we read in the press release.
Deploring this “Giant promotional trailer to encourage moviegoers to subscribe to a paid service”, distributors call on theater owners: “Dear operators who take part in this operation, with whom we have lived so many adventures, successes and failures, so many emotions, do you realize the gear in which you are getting involved? Do you realize that a short-term attraction of your spectators is a medium-term suicide for our respective professions? “
Contacted by The world, the Netflix platform confirms the project of a ” event “, not a festival, “Aimed at celebrating films and filmmakers”, in partnership with only a handful of theaters – the professional magazine French Film cites, among others, the Méliès cinema in Saint-Etienne, the MK2 and Utopia networks. The platform adds that, among the ten films concerned, could include the four feature films screened during the Lumière festival in Lyon (October 7 to 19): in addition The Power of the Dog, screened in preview and in the presence of its director Jane Campion at UGC Normandie, Monday 18 October, and which will be online on Wednesday 1er December, let’s quote Passing (French title: Chiaroscuro), by Rebecca Hall, Wednesday, November 10; God’s hand, by Paolo Sorrentino (December 15), and The Lost Daughter, by Maggie Gyllenhaal (December 31). With the exception of Passing, the other three films were selected in competition at the Venice Film Festival in September. Don’t Look Up, by Adam McKay (online December 24), would also be on the lineup.
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