If it’s only on Netflix, is it really a movie? Cannes is roiled by small-screen controversy

‘You must be small and humble in front of the image that’s here’, says Cannes jury president Pedro Almodovar

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Spanish director and Cannes jury president Pedro Almodovar (left) and US actor and jury member Will Smith arrive for the opening dinner of the 70th annual Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday. Photo: EPA

Published: 9:28am, 18 May 2017Updated: 10:28pm, 18 May 2017

The 70th Cannes Film Festival opened Wednesday under the lights of Cote D’Azur sunshine and high-wattage stars such as Will Smith and Marion Cotillard.

But a brewing storm over Netflix’s place at the world’s most prestigious film festival clouded the event as Cannes rolled out the red carpet.

Optimism is high at this year’s Cannes, which features a lineup widely considered to be well-stocked with heavyweight filmmakers, including Todd Haynes (Wonderstruck), Sofia Coppola (The Beguiled), Michael Haneke (Happy End) and Lynne Ramsay (You Were Never Really Here).

But rancour and controversy nonetheless dogged the festival’s preamble, as well as its opening day.

During the opening ceremony Wednesday, Iranian director Asghar Farhadi helped set a welcoming tone for the festival, calling it a “place where cultures speak to one another.” Farhadi’s presence in Cannes sharply contrasted with February’s Academy Awards ceremony, which the filmmaker (whose The Salesman won best foreign language film) boycotted to protest US President Donald Trump’s proposed travel ban on visitors from several predominantly Muslim nations.

Cannes jury member Fan Bingbing poses on the red carpet at the opening of the 70th Cannes International Film Festival. Photo: Xinhua

Farhadi collected his Oscar statuette Wednesday in France, via producer Alexandre Mallet-Guy.