"Yuzi" Cannes suffered defeat, Cinema Federation: Film festivals should boycott non-theater theaters

It was announced that starting next year, films in the main competition unit must be released in French theaters to be eligible for entry. Almodovar, chairman of the jury of this Cannes Film Festival, also said on the opening day of the festival that films released in theaters will be eligible to win the Palme d'Or Award.

As the Cannes Film Festival draws to a close, the controversy over the two films released by Netflix has also heated up. Recently, the International Federation of Cinema (UNIC) issued a statement saying: "We believe that the world's top film festivals should praise the close connection between cinemas and society, culture and economy." The International Cinema Alliance is a federation composed of 36 major film associations and important operators in Europe.

The statement emphasized that theaters attach great importance to ensuring distribution in theaters for award-winning films at the festival, and supported the position taken by their French counterparts at the Cannes Film Festival.

At this year's Cannes International Film Festival, two films released by online on-demand media Netflix-"Jade Zi" directed by Feng Junhao and "The Story of Meyrowitz" directed by Noah Baumbach-were shortlisted for the Cannes Film Festival's main competition unit. In the competition unit, the two films will be released online and simultaneously with theaters in North America, which triggered concerns and strong protests from French theaters. Netflix proposed to the French side to simultaneously release the film online and French theaters, but the French side rejected it. In France, movies released in theaters cannot be shown on online platforms for three years.

In response, the Cannes Film Festival also responded, announcing that starting next year, films in the main competition unit must be released in French theaters to be eligible for shortlisted. Almodovar, chairman of the jury of this Cannes Film Festival, also said at the opening day of the festival that only films released in theaters are eligible for the Palme d'Or.

The Cannes Film Festival will present the grand prize on May 28, local time. This statement is undoubtedly a public opinion crackdown on films released outside theaters before the grand prize is presented.

In addition to traditional concepts for distribution in theaters, in France, part of the box office revenue of foreign films released will be used to subsidize French local films and support excellent art films around the world. According to Netflix's model, the box office of theaters is bound to be greatly affected, and the support funds for French local films and art films will also be affected.

Editor: yvonne