Netflix has been at the centre of all debates in recent days. The reason? The decision made public by the Cannes Film Festival . Starting next year, all films produced by the online video platform will be banned, unless they have also been released in commercial theatres .
The root of this controversial decision lies in one of the latest works by Bong Joon-ho and Noah Baumbach. These are the titles Okja and The Meyerowitz Stories , which can be found on Netflix and which this 2017 are competing for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival .
The debate is on and some of the most recognised national and international faces of the seventh art have been quick to participate. The majority of those who have spoken out are against the decision taken by the Cannes Film Festival , one of the most important in the history of cinema.
The most media-driven reaction has been that of actor and director Will Smith . From the South of France, he has applauded the role that Netflix plays in today's society. "It has helped my children to have a greater knowledge of cinema," he expressed on Facebook.
At the other extreme, we find the “paradox” of Pedro Almodóvar . The national film director considers it unfair that a film wins awards at the festival without having been screened at the cinemas.
Of course, there was no shortage of responses to the festival, which this year brazil phone number celebrates its 70th edition, from Reed Hastings , creator of Netflix: "The establishment is setting us up for a trap . "
French exhibitors believe that the Netflix model will not only impact cinema numbers , but will also affect the quality of the films we see in the coming years.
Many actors and industry agents consider it inconceivable that the winner of a Palme d'Or at the historic festival cannot be shown on the big screen.
"Between not watching a film or watching it on Netflix, I prefer Netflix. There are no rooms to watch certain films , especially if you live in Ciudad Real, Cáceres or Zaragoza. And it is a problem that the platforms, in some way, solve," explains Ramón Colom, president of the Federation of Associations of Spanish Audiovisual Producers (FAPAE), in El Confidencial .
For many, the solution is to work on a model like Amazon 's . The e-commerce giant announced last year a 90-day window between theatrical releases and their exhibition on Prime Video .
It is a relationship that benefits both parties since Jeff Bezos' company needs movie theaters to have its space during awards seasons.
In Spain we do not have legislation that requires producers to wait a certain amount of time between the release in commercial theaters and Netflix .
"It is usually around four months (36 in the case of France) but the law that regulated it has become obsolete since it did not contemplate the new platforms ," explains Borja de Benito, spokesperson for the Federation of Cinemas , in the aforementioned newspaper .
De Benito also points out that it would be interesting for Netflix to be subject to the same measurements as cinemas . It should be noted that the audiences for the content found on the video on demand platform are not known.