Why Cannes and Netflix Went to War

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When Netflix decided to pull the five films it had planned to debut at the Cannes Film Festival, it was the culmination of a years worth of tension between the two giants, which started when Netflixs mere logo was booed at last years festival. Netflixs commitment to disrupting the typical film-distribution process—bringing its films to its streaming platform and theater simultaneously, and sometimes skipping theaters entirely—is anathema to Cannes and even the entire country of France, where there is a required three-year wait between theatrical run and streaming debut. But in skipping Cannes entirely, and thumbing his nose to festival chief Thierry Frémaux in interviews, Netflixs Ted Sarandos seems to be saying, essentially, that it doesnt matter. Is he right?

On this weeks Little Gold Men podcast, Vanity Fairs Hollywood correspondent Rebecca Keegan joins for a conversation about exactly what happened between Netflix and Cannes, and how it will impact both this years Cannes lineup and Netflixs future as a power player among exactly the kind of respected filmmakers who might usually flock to the Croisette.

Listen to the episode above, and for more Little Gold Men you can subscribe to the show on iTunes, where you can also leave a rating and a review.

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