France: Clap of the end for the "Netflix Film Club", the professionals of the cinema breathe
The theatrical release of Netflix films was to take place between December 7 and 14, 2021, in several cinemas classified Art house.
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Text by: Lou Roméo Follow
4 min
It had been a week since the Netflix festival project had triggered a sling among film professionals in France.
The American platform gave it up.
Good news for dark rooms, weakened by the health crisis, and in accordance with the French cultural exception policy.
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No festival for Netflix.
Faced with opposition from professional organizations in the sector
weakened by the health crisis
, the famous American streaming platform has given up organizing its “Netflix Film Club”.
It was to take place for a week in December in theaters classified Art house, intended to promote independent cinema.
Films produced by Netflix will finally be shown at the Cinémathèque and the Lumière Institute in Lyon, two non-commercial theaters attached to museums.
The Hand of God
, chronicle of the childhood of Italian filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino,
The Lost Daughter
, first production of British actress Maggie Gyllenhaal and
Don't Look Up: Cosmic Denial
, comedy with Leonardo Di Caprio and Jennifer Lawrence, will be there. thus screened in preview, before being followed by six other productions already available on Netflix.
French cultural exception
For Richard Patry, president of the National Federation of French Cinemas (FNCF), which represents the majority of the 6,000 cinemas in the country, “
everything is back to normal, and the solution is suitable for everyone.
"Because Netflix's ambition came into conflict with the French cinema financing system, known as the" French cultural exception ", in force in the country since 1959. And contradicted its guiding principle: the chronology of the media .
“
The media chronology organizes the broadcast of a film according to its funding
,” explains Richard Patry.
It is the keystone of cinema financing in France.
Clearly, according to this principle, the more the spectator is ready to pay, the more quickly he sees the film.
In France, a film is first broadcast exclusively by cinemas, then by pay television channels, such as Canal +, and finally by public television channels.
The only exception to this rigid rule: film festivals, which can broadcast films before their national theatrical release.
A "
medium-term suicide
"
The independent distributors denounced in the Netflix project an infringement of this framework principle. In
a statement
, they warned room operators against a "
short-term attraction
", which would amount to "
medium-term suicide
" for the sector. In France, a percentage of the price of each cinema ticket sold is in fact donated to the National Center for Cinema and Animated Image (CNC), which then distributes it among professionals in the sector, in the form of production aid. . Pay-TV channels do the same with their subscriptions, as do public channels, which donate part of their advertising revenue.
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However, the films broadcast by Netflix do not fit into this chronology, and thus appear to be a scarecrow for some of the French theater operators, who believe that the platforms jeopardize the economic balance of the sector.
A Netflix festival in Art house cinemas was thus perceived as unfair competition with regard to films currently broadcast in theaters and subject to the exclusivity rule.
"
If everyone can broadcast a film at the same time,"
sums up Richard Patry, who welcomes the decision taken by Netflix,
the least remunerating broadcasters, who offer the film cheaper or for free, will dissuade viewers from going to the see in theaters, on VOD or on Canal.
And the cinema is financed!
It is thanks to this system that France remains the third country producing films in the world
.
"
A system to modernize
But if this system works, it must be modernized to make room for streaming platforms, new entrants in the sector.
“
Negotiations have been underway for several months because Netflix does not have, for the moment, a clear status in the media chronology,”
concludes Richard Patry.
The platforms, which contribute to the financing of French cinema, must find a better place in its system, commensurate with their investments.
"
Since July 1, 2021, a decree obliges platforms to donate at least 20% of the turnover they achieve in France to finance the production of French-speaking or European audiovisual and cinematographic works.
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