Streaming giant Netflix reportedly has no plans to submit any of its 2020 film releases to any festivals throughout the rest of this year – nor will they send any of their talent to attend them reports Indiewire.
This marks a major change for the streamer who have used the festivals in recent years to launch successful awards campaigns for its big Fall film titles like Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma” and Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman”.
Of course, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s not clear whether any of these festivals such as Venice, Toronto or Telluride will even happen at this point. Certainly it’s not clear just what is going to happen with the awards race for this year as the doesn’t appear to be enough new movies released for the Academy to vote on.
This move however is still being seen as a blow for festival organizers, especially some of the smaller festivals, and could herald other major streamers and studios similarly pulling out. Netflix had David Fincher’s “Mank,” Charlie Kaufman’s “I’m Thinking of Ending Things” and Ron Howard’s “Hillbilly Elegy” all as possibilities for a festival run but will now likely release them straight to its own service.
One festival that is getting around the fact it’s unlikely to be held this year is the Cannes Film Festival, which has announced that in one week it will unveil its 2020 selections – allowing a handful of movies to be marketed with ‘Official Cannes Selection’ labels. Wes Anderson’s “The French Dispatch,” Thomas Vinterberg’s “Another Round,” Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s “Memoria” and Francois Ozon’s “Ete 85” are just some of the fifty or so films that will be given the title.
