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Netflix has acquired the international rights to two winners from the Cannes Film festival this year
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‘Atlantics’ was the ‘Grand Prix’ winner and ‘I Lost My Body’ was the ‘Cannes Critics’ Week’ winner
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The choice by Netflix to grab the two winners is interesting considering the rocky relationship between Cannes and Netflix
Netflix subscription owners (so everyone) rejoice, there’s two great films coming to the streaming service soon. Netflix has just picked up the rights to two award winning films of the Cannes fest, ‘I Lost My Body’ and ‘Atlantic’.
This is a tad peculiar, bear in mind the streaming giant last year declared it would not show any of its own films at the event. This decision came about due to a rule change right after Netflix’s debut at the highly prestigious event. The rule was made up by the Cannes artistic director, Thierry Frémaux who forbade any films that hadn’t been distributed in French theatres from playing in the competition. The rule was apparently “explicitly about Netflix.”
This bit of drama hasn’t stopped Netflix using its business brain though, as it now has the rights to both ‘Atlantics’ and ‘I Lost My Body’, two award winners at the event.
‘Atlantics’ is directed by French filmmaker Mati Diop and tells a love story set in Dakar. The film not only is Diop’s directorial debut, but marks the first time a black woman director has competed for Cannes’ prestigious Palme d’Or – the top prize of the show. ‘Atlantics’ instead won the ‘Grand Prix’ award, the second highest honour of the entire event.
The animated film ‘I Lost My Body’ follows a dismembered hand as it tries to get back to its body. It is the feature film debut for director Jérémy Clapin, who has previously made short films and worked in advertising. The ‘Critics’ Week’ at Cannes is a very selective programming of seven feature films and seven shorts, it is intended to give exposure to obscure yet fantastic films. ‘I Lost My Body’ took the top prize during this week, The ‘Nespresso Grand Prize’ which is given to the top feature film shown.
There’s no word at the moment when the two films will drop on the streaming service.
