Venice Festival winner invisible to cinema’s audience worldwide

PRESS RELEASE

VENICE FESTIVAL WINNER INVISIBLE TO CINEMA’S AUDIENCE WORLDWIDE

Berlin, 11/09/2018

As film-festivals accept in competition TV productions, cinema’s audience is losing out on art house masterpieces.

 The International Confederation of Art Cinemas has recently called for a ban on movies produced or distributed by Netflix that were part of the official competition of the Venice International Film Festival. The award night of the prestigious festival proved that the cry out was well founded.

Awarding Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma with a Golden Lion is the equivalent of opening a Pandora´s box. Also the Toronto International Film Festival this week is presenting in its line-up a dozen TV productions and series.

The economic power of TV and streaming-platforms will force film festivals to give up on cinematographic productions.

The small screen might be an economic solution for small films, but real cinematographic productions are made for big screens. Films mainly released for television or streaming platforms mean a bleak future for cinema as an art form and as an experience.

It’s time that key players of the film industry act responsibly and consider the long term effects of their choices.