At Cannes, an existential fight over technology, Netflix and the future of cinema

May 28, 2017 10:40 AM PT

Reporting from CANNES, FRANCE — Will Smith and Pedro Almodovar jostled over it.

Silicon Valley executive Ted Sarandos defended it.

The Oscar winner Alejandro Inarritu boasted about it.

And the people who run the entertainment business can’t stop debating it.

Despite its traditionalism, or perhaps because of it, this year’s Cannes Film Festival became the epicenter of the digital disruption rumbling through Hollywood.

From the screenings in the grand Palais des Festivals to the swanky parties on the beach to the crowds along the Croisette, it was impossible to run into a boldfaced name without also confronting the issue of digital progress--how much of it can, will and should be allowed into this bastion of cinematic purity. Opinions flowed like rosé, arguments flashed like paparazzi cameras. Everywhere one went in the glamorous town, people discussed and debated the industry’s relationship to Silicon Valley, the fate of the old-school movie theater and the kind of screen content that deserves to be called art.

In other words, an existential fight for the future of entertainment, all along the French Riviera.

“Cannes,” said the festival veteran and FilmNation executive Glen Basner, “has to figure out what it wants to be.”

The identity crisis began even before the festival opened when two Netflix movies—Noah Baumbach’s family dramedy “The Meyerowitz Stories” and Bong Joon-ho’s biogenetic satire “Okja”-- were included in Cannes’ prestigious competition section. French theater owners protested and festival organizers hastily backtracked, saying that in the future any movies not released theatrically in France would be barred from competition. (The winner of the competition section, considered the top tier of Cannes movies, receives the coveted Palme d’Or.)

At issue, however, is far more than a few international honors or the identity of a 12-day glitzy event on the French Riviera. Cannes may be the pinnacle of cinematic prestige and hold an outsized reverence for the past, but it represents a mind set that, depending on one’s point of view, should either be valiantly upheld in the face of barbarians or eagerly torn down in the name of democracy.

At the start of the festival, Spanish filmmaker Almodovar declared to reporters that “the size [of a film] should not be smaller than the chair on which you are sitting.” The head of this year’s competition jury, he added that: “[As long as] I’m alive I’ll be fighting for the capacity of hypnosis of the large screen.”

Sitting near him, Smith, a member of that jury, took exception. “Netflix has had absolutely no effect on what [my children] go to the movie theater to watch,” he said. “It has broadened my children’s global cinematic comprehension.”

The faceoff was a surprising moment of candor, violating an unspoken rule that jury disagreements stay private. And it was just the beginning.

Meeting with a small group of U.S. reporters at Netflix’s festival headquarters several days later, “Okja” director Bong said he didn’t mind if people couldn’t see his film in theaters. “It if looks good on the big screen it will look good on the small screen,” he said.

The pro-Netflix statement was met with a tweak by the actor Jake Gyllenhaal, one of the film’s stars. “So everyone at the premiere can sit and…watch it on their phones?” he said to the director, who was sitting near him.

The blowback didn’t stop Netflix from seeking to leave its mark on the festival with numerous events and parties. The largest of them was a glitzy bash at a villa outside downtown that evoked halcyon days of festivals past, when established U.S. and French giants regularly threw over-the-top parties.

Yet the company has also sought to position itself as an outsider. Posting on social media shortly before the festival, Netflix chief Reed Hastings proclaimed that the “establishment [is] closing ranks against us.”

Later, at the villa party, Netflix’s Chief Content Officer Sarandos told the trade publication Variety that if the company was indeed barred from next year’s competition, executives would find it “less attractive” to bring its movies to Cannes. He also said he found the idea of a high-minded festival requiring a commercial presentation a “paradox.”

Many found those remarks problematic.

“You can’t say you’re starting a business to shake everything up and then be annoyed when people complain about it,” Basner said. “That’s disingenuous.” Like a number of longstanding executives and producers, he also registered his objection to the Netflix films’ inclusion in the competition.

“Cannes competition should be about theatrical titles,” he noted. “What Netflix does is great. But no place celebrates cinema the way this place does. There are places outside competition for other kinds of entertainment.”

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The first “Okja” screening saw some criticism come without words. As the screening began, the picture on the screen was badly misaligned, prompting a 20-minute delay and much hooting from the audience. It was widely believed to be an act of sabotage by the pro-theater projection team at the festival after Bong had personally checked the projection just hours before.

Netflix vs. the traditionalists is not an easily dismissed spat. Under the leadership of new chief Scott Stuber, a longtime A-list producer in Hollywood, Netflix has pledged to make as many 50 movies per year, a number that dwarfs even the biggest studios and would dominate the landscape if it came to pass.

Critics have been quick to note that the pro-Netflix stance is influenced by the company’s willingness to open up its wallet; the streaming giant has been underwriting budgets far larger than other studios, as it did with the effects-heavy “Okja,” or buying finished movies at much more than the going rate.

That kind of overspending risks creating a bubble and bringing down companies that can’t compete, say critics, leading to consolidation or even quasi-monopolies.

“It’s really feast or famine right now,” said Adam Goldworm, the founder of the management and production company Aperture Entertainment, shortly after leaving Cannes. “If Amazon or Netflix wants your film, you’re set. But this is a short-term boon, and as the cash-rich streamers continue to price all other buyers out of the market and ultimately out of the business, I fear that they will then use monopolistic pricing principles to lower prices when they are the only buyers left.“

Some Cannes purists pointed out that the directors who spoke in support of Netflix were the ones working with Netflix. Bong’s comments elicited an eye-roll from many in the entertainment press corps. And there were similar mutterings about Smith’s remarks; the star has an upcoming project with the streaming service, an action-fantasy in which he plays a Los Angeles Police Department officer.

Having financed his movie independently before joining with Netflix for distribution, Baumbach carefully walked the line between the two camps. “I believe in that unique singular experience of going to the movies,” he said at the press conference for his film. “That’s not going away. [But] Netflix acquired the movie in post[production] and they’ve been hugely supportive and I feel very appreciative.”

There may be other ways to meld digital and analog. Amazon was also well-represented at Cannes, with several movies in competition. Unlike Netflix, which eschews all but a token theatrical release, Amazon abides by the traditional theater-cable-streaming chronology. Bob Berney, head of the company’s movie marketing and distribution, said that he continues to see value in this middle ground.

“We think it helps streaming audiences discover a film when there was a long-running theatrical release,” he said. “But I think there’s room for all kinds of models.”

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Best screenplay co-laureates directors Lynne Ramsay and director Yorgos Lanthimos, Palme d’Or laureate director Ruben Ostlund, best actress prize laureate Diane Kruger, actress and President of the Camera d’Or jury Sandrine Kiberlain, Camera d’Or laureate director Leonor Serraille and actress Laetiti Dosch pose on stage at the end of the closing ceremony.

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French director Leonor Serraille poses during a photocall after she won the Camera d’Or prize for her film “Jeune Femme (Montparnasse-Bienvenue).”

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Jury members Park Chan-wook, Maren Ade, Will Smith, Agnes Jaoui, Jury President Pedro Almodovar, Jessica Chastain, Paolo Sorrentino and Fan Bingbing attend the Palme D’Or winner press conference.

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Joaquin Phoenix poses during the award winners photocall after he won best performance by an actor for “You Were Never Really Here.”

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German actress Diane Kruger poses on during a photocall after she won best actress for the film “In The Fade” (“Aus Dem Nichts”).

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Director Ruben Ostlund celebrates on the stage after he receives the Palme d’Or for the movie “The Square” at the closing ceremony.

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Excitement bubbled over for director Ruben Ostlund as he celebrates on the stage after receiving the Palme d’Or for the movie “The Square.”

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Swedish director Ruben Ostlund bounds on stage after he was awarded with the Palme d’Or for the film “The Square.”

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Qiu Yang, winner of the award for best short for “A Gentle Night” (Xiao Cheng Er Yue) and Teppo Airaksinen, right, winner of special mention for his short film “The Ceiling” (Katto) attend the Palme D’Or winner press conference.

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Diane Kruger receives best performance by an actress for “Aus dem Nichts” (“In the Fade”) during the closing awards ceremony.

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Actor and member of the Feature Film jury Will Smith speaks on behalf of actress Nicole Kidman after she was awarded the 70th-edition Special Prize during the closing ceremony.

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Monica Bellucci and Pedro Almodovar attend the closing-awards ceremony.

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Award winners and jury members pose for a picture during the closing ceremony.

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Actress and jury member Uma Thurman arrives at the award ceremony at the 70th edition of the Cannes Film Festival.

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Actress Uma Thurman arrives for the closing ceremony.

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Actor Robert Pattinson with a trademark hair pull during the photo call for the film “Good Time” at Cannes.

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Actress Eva Green shoots photographers a look upon arriving at the screening of the film “Based On A True Story.”

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Director Roman Polanski poses for photographers during the photo call for the film “Based On A True Story.”

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Jermaine Jackson, left, and Maday Velazquez pose upon arrival at the screening of the film “The Beguiled” at Cannes,.

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Actors Jake Gyllenhaal, left, Ahn Seo-Hyun, Tilda Swinton and director Bong Joon-Ho attend the photo call for the film “Okja.”

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Actress Paz Vega poses for photographers upon arrival at the screening of the film “In The Fade.”

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French actress Juliette Binoche arrives for the closing ceremony.

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Egyptian director and member of the Un Certain Regard jury Mohamed Diab, left, French actor and member of the Un Certain Regard jury Reda Kateb, actress and president of the Un Certain Regard jury Uma Thurman and Czech artistic director of the Karlovy Vary festival and member of the Un Certain Regard jury Karel Och.

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German director and member of the Feature Film jury Maren Ade and actor and member of the Feature Film jury Will Smith.

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Director David Lynch

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Emily Stofle, left, director David Lynch, actor Kyle MacLachlan, and Desiree Gruber, arrrive for the screening of the TV show “Twin Peaks” during the 70th Cannes Film Festival.

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Rooney Mara attends the closing ceremony.

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Australian actress Nicole Kidman poses during the photocall for “The Beguiled.”

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French actress Marion Cotillard poses as she arrives for the 70th anniversary ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes.

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Petra Nemcova attends the Generous People fifth anniversary party during the 70th Cannes Film Festival at Martinez Pier in Cannes, France.

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Australian actress Nicole Kidman and British model Naomi Campbell meet up at the 70th anniversary ceremony in Cannes.

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Japanese actor Tatsuya Fuji and Japanese director Naomi Kawase arrive for the screening of the film “Hikari (Radiance)” at Cannes.

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Director Guillermo del Toro attends Cannes.

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Francois-Henri Pinault, left, Selma Hayek and Gael Garcia Bernal.

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Actor Benicio del Toro at Cannes.

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Eva Longoria arrives for the screening of “The Killing of a Sacred Deer.”

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Nicolas Winding Refn, Liv Corfixen and Elle Fanning attend Prada’s private dinner at Restaurant Fred L’Ecailler during Cannes.

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Anja Rubik, Diego Luna, Daniela Michel and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu attend Prada’s private dinner during Cannes.

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Benoit Chang, Jack Gao , Miao Xu and Hang Shi attend Prada’s private dinner during Cannes.

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Vanessa Axente and Jean-Paul Gaultier at the premiere of “The Killing of a Sacred Deer” at Cannes.

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Princess Camilla of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Duchess of Castro and Pamela Anderson attend the Harmonist Gala Event at Club Albane during Cannes.

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Belgian actor Franz Harduin, left, British actor Toby Jones, Belgian actress Fantine Harduin, Austrian director Michael Haneke and his wife Susi Haneke, French actress Isabelle Huppert, French actor Jean-Louis Trintignant and his wife, Marianne Hoepfner and French actor Mathieu Kassovitz arrive for the screening of the film “Happy End.”

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Actor Andrew Lowe, producer Ed Guiney, Irish actor Colin Farrell, actor Sunny Suljic, Australian actress Nicole Kidman, Irish actor Barry Keoghan, British actress Raffey Cassidy and Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos leave the premiere of “The Killing of a Sacred Deer.”

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Al Gore and Elizabeth Keadle attend the “The Killing of a Sacred Deer” screening at Cannes.

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Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban depart after the screening of “The Killing of a Sacred Deer.”

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Actor Colin Farrell, left, simulates a fight with actor Barry Keoghan as they leave along with actress Nicole Kidman following the screening of the film “The Killing of a Sacred Deer.”

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Actresses Nicole Kidman, left, and Elle Fanning pose as they leave following the screening of the film “How to talk to Girls at Parties” at the 70th Cannes Film Festival.

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Actresses Elle Fanning, left, Nicole Kidman, director Sofia Copolla and actress Kirsten Dunst walk the red carpet for the screening of the film “The Beguiled” at the 70th edition of the Cannes Film Festival.

(Alastair Grant / Associated Press)

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Charlotte Casiraghi, Salma Hayek and Jessica Chastain attend the Women in Motion Awards Dinner at the 70th Cannes Film Festival at Place de la Castre.

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An animated Antonio Banderas walks the runway at the Fashion for Relief event during the 70th Cannes Film Festival at Aeroport Cannes Mandelieu.

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Mary J. Blige attends “The Meyerowitz Stories” screening.

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Emma Thompson, Ben Stiller, Dustin Hoffman, Noah Baumbach and Adam Sandler depart after the “The Meyerowitz Stories” screening.

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Naomi Campbell walks the runway at the Fashion for Relief event during the 70th Cannes Film Festival at Aeroport Cannes Mandelieu.

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Kendall Jenner, center, and Heidi Klum walk the runway at the Fashion for Relief event.

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Valery Kaufman, left, Maria Borges, Natalia Vodianova, Bella Hadid, Naomi Campbell, Heidi Klum, Natasha Poly and Tami Williams pose on the runway at the Fashion for Relief event.

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Mexican actress Salma Hayek arrives for the Kering Women In Motion awards.

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French actor Louis Garrel, left, French-Argentinian actress Berenice Bejo, French director Michel Hazanavicius and French-British actress Stacy Martin arrive for the screening of the film “The Redoubtable (Le Redoutable).”

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Julianne Moore, left, screenwriter Brian Selznick and Michelle Williams pose for photographers while leaving the screening of the film “Wonderstruck” at the 70th Cannes Film Festival.

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Director Takashi Miike, Takuya Kimura and Hana Sugisaki attend the “Blade Of The Immortal (Mugen No Junin)” premiere during the 70th Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals.

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Model Winnie Harlow, Rihanna and model Petra Nemcova attend the Chopard dinner in honor of Rihanna and the Rihanna X Chopard Collection during the 70th Cannes Film Festival on the Chopard Rooftop in Cannes.

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Feature film jury members are seen on stage during the festival’s opening ceremony. They are, from left, French music composer Gabriel Yared, Italian director Paolo Sorrentino, South Korean director Park Chan-wook, actor Will Smith, Spanish director and jury president Pedro Almodovar, French actress and director Agnes Jaoui, German director Maren Ade, Chinese actress Fan Bingbing and actress Jessica Chastain.

(Chantal Valery / AFP/Getty Images)

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Spanish dancer and choreographer Blanca Li performs on stage during the opening ceremony of the 70th edition of the Cannes Film Festival.

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Actress and president of the Un Certain Regard jury Uma Thurman and general delegate of the Cannes Film Festival Thierry Fremaux pose as they arrive for the screening of “Ismael’s Ghosts.”

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Actresses Susan Sarandon, left, and Elle Fanning arrive for the screening “Ismael’s Ghosts.”

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Adrien Brody and his partner Lara Lieto arrive for the screening of “Ismael’s Ghosts.”

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Jessica Chastain waves after a news conference ahead of the opening ceremony.

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French actress and president of the Camera d’Or jury Sandrine Kiberlain poses for selfies as she arrives for the screening of “Ismael’s Ghosts” (the French title is “Les Fantomes d’Ismael”).

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Thai actress Araya Alberta Hargate, known as Chompoo, arrives for the screening of “Ismael’s Ghosts.”

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Chinese actress Li Yuchun poses as she arrives for the screening of “Ismael’s Ghosts.”

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Teenage French American model and actress Lily-Rose Depp, daughter of Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis, poses during the opening ceremony.

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Italian actress Asia Argento attends the screening of “Ismael’s Ghosts.”

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Actress Robin Wright arrives at the opening ceremony and the screening of the film “Ismael’s Ghosts.”

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Spanish director Pedro Almodovar, who is president of the feature film jury, arrives at the Grand Hyatt Cannes Hotel Martinez on the eve of the opening ceremony of the 70th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France.

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Chinese actress Fan Bingbing, who’s a member of the feature film jury, greets fans as she passes throngs of media at the Grand Hyatt Cannes Hotel Martinez in Cannes.

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Susan Sarandon acknowledges the crowd as she arrives at the Grand Hyatt Cannes Hotel Martinez.

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Elle Fanning smiles and waves as she arrives at the Grand Hyatt Cannes Hotel Martinez.

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German director Maren Ade, a member of the feature film jury, arrives at the Grand Hyatt Cannes Hotel Martinez.

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Actor Will Smith, a and member of the feature film jury, greets the crowd as he arrives at the Grand Hyatt Cannes Hotel Martinez.

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Italian director Paolo Sorrentino, a member of the feature film jury, pauses for a selfie as he arrives at the Grand Hyatt Cannes Hotel Martinez.

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Actor T.J Miller parasails to “The Emoji Movie” photo call at the start of the 70th Cannes Film Festival at the Carlton Pier in Cannes, France.

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Actor T.J Miller attends “The Emoji Movie” photo call at the start of the 70th Cannes Film Festival at the Carlton Pier.

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A view of the Palais des Festivals before the start of the 70th Cannes Film Fesival. The festival runs from May 17 until May 29.

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A poster of the movie “Spider-Man: Homecoming” adorns the facade of the Carlton Hotel ahead of the 70th Cannes Film Festival.

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A woman strolls past a poster for the movie “The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)” ahead of the 70th Cannes Film Festival, in Cannes, France.

(Sebastien Nogier / EPA)

He said he did not worry about a bubble. “My feeling is that all these new outlets are great for filmmaking and great for audiences, who have more alternatives.”

Those alternatives stretched even further at Cannes. For the first time this year the festival allowed in a virtual-reality piece, Inarritu’s immigrant-themed “Carne y Arena.”

And while it remains unclear how wide this kind of programming will be embraced by organizers at future Cannes editions, VR has the potential to shake up the festival and the industry far more than the streamers, since VR movies are a radically different form in a way a two-hour Netflix feature is not.

“It was a big decision for the festival to accept us,” Inarritu told The Times. “But they think, and I think, this is an extension of cinema, and so it’s important we’re here.” (Festival director Thierry Fremaux did not reply to emailed questions about technology and Cannes.)

In fact, the changes go beyond questions of medium to encompass even the tone of movies at the festival. Organizers came under some criticism when they decided to allow into competition “Redoubtable,” a cheeky movie about Jean-Luc Godard, the high priest of French cinema. Godard himself called the project--from the director of the Oscar best-picture winner “The Artist”--a “stupid, stupid idea,” and many European critics scoffed.

Those behind “Redoubtable” see the criticism as symptomatic of the same calcification that makes Netflix so needed at Cannes.

“People say how can you do a movie about Godard? But if you don’t shake up traditions, why be an artist?” said Louis Garrel, the 33-year-old actor who plays the French icon, in a comment that easily could be applied to the technological fight.

Many in the film business look to Cannes the way passengers look to flight attendants on a turbulent airplane—if they’re changing their routine, everyone else needs to as well. That’s one reason the Netflix titles caused such consternation.

Still, the festival continued to hold its ground in other areas—notably television. There were gala debuts for David Lynch’s rebooted “Twin Peaks” and the new season of Jane Campion’s “Top of the Lake.” But Lynch and Campion are Palme d’Or winners with deep ties to the festival and for the most part, Cannes resisted the siren call of TV, and the sweeping television sections of competitors like Toronto and Sundance.

Defenders say a Cannes inclusive of Netflix films is a matter of necessity. The major Hollywood studios were absent from Cannes for the first time in many years—no “Mad Max,” no Pixar movie. (Increasingly, Hollywood powerhouses feel they don’t need the prestige stamp of Cannes for a summer movie, while it’s too early to bring a fall release given how quickly publicity evaporates in the social-media era.) Without companies like Netflix, these defenders say, big-ticket entertainment might leave the festival entirely.

Besides, say supporters of the Cannes digital movement, the inclusion of titles from companies like Netflix does not detract from others’ ability to shine at the festival.

“People say this is the mecca of cinema. And it is,” said Inarritu. “But it’s OK to have smaller houses of worship too.”

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