No Netflix, no red-carpet selfies at Cannes Film Festival this year
The Cannes Film Festival, from May 8 to 19, will ban Netflix from this year's event after the video-on-demand company refused to give its movies a cinema release, festival director Thierry Fremaux said.
Red-carpet selfies will also be banned.
Two Netflix films, Okja and The Meyerowitz Stories, were screened at Cannes last year, but the organisers had said Netflix would not be allowed to compete at the festival again if it did not show them in movie halls.
"Last year, when we selected two of their movies, I thought I could convince Netflix to release them in theatres. I was presumptuous. They refused," Mr Fremaux told magazine Le Film Francais.
"The people at Netflix loved the red carpet and would like to show us more movies. But they have understood their intransigence over their (business) model clashes with our own."
However, Netflix may be permitted to show movies on the fringe of the festival, outside the official competition, he said.
The decision to blacklist selfies taken by members of the audience on the red carpet caused a stir, after Mr Fremaux said selfies created a "mess".
Asked if the decision was outdated, he said: "No, it is quite the opposite, and you will see, others will follow suit."
Selfies "go against what has made Cannes' reputation. A certain elegance, discretion", he added. - REUTERS
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