Italy's 'anti-Netflix' law to protect film industry
Italy's 'anti-Netflix' law to protect film industry
Italy aims to delay release of Italian films on Netflix
to protect its cinema industry
By Lionel BONAVENTURE November 17, 2018
Italy is to introduce an obligatory delay between Italian
films screening in cinemas and being shown on streaming services like Netflix,
in a bid to protect its domestic film industry.
The law comes after the thorny issue reared its head at
this year's Venice Film Festival, where several films came from US streaming
giants Netflix or Amazon, including the festival's Golden Lion winner
"Roma".
Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron's movie was the first by
Netflix to win a major festival prize. Thanks to its festival success, it will
start being released in theatres around the world on November 21 and then on
Netflix on December 14.
In contrast, France's Cannes Film Festival opted only to
accept films with a guaranteed cinema release, in a bid to protect theatres.
French law says there must be a 36-month interval between
when a film is shown in theatres and when it can be shown by a streaming or
Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD) service.
The result is that streaming producers have to wait
36-months before being able to show their films on their own platform, if they
also show them in cinemas.
As a result, the Venice festival drew several famous
directors with made-for-streaming products, including the Coen brothers, Paul
Greengrass and Cuaron, who could not compete at Cannes, drawing ire from many
in Italy's film industry.
They slammed what they saw as an attack on film theatres,
saying that any festival winner should be available to a broader public than
just Netflix subscribers.
Italy's film industry appealed to Culture Minister
Alberto Bonisoli to rule on the matter and introduce a law stipulating a
"statutory window" between cinema and streaming release.
France's 36-month stipulation is the strictest in the
world, with most other countries deciding for themselves, or allowing studios,
producers and broadcasters to negotiate on a case-by-case basis.
- More flexibility -
Bonisoli, from the anti-establishment Five Star Movement,
this week announced the new law, already billed as "anti-Netflix" by
the Italian press, which requires all Italian-made films to be shown in cinemas
before they are streamed.
The law enshrines the current practice of a 105-day delay
and adds some flexibility, as the delay can be slashed to 60 days for films
shown in fewer than 80 cinemas or viewed by fewer than 50,000 people in the
first three weeks.
"With this decree, we are pushing some films to go
directly, or more rapidly, towards easier commercialisation," Bonisoli
said.
At the same time "it's important to protect
theatres, which to keep operating need films that can guarantee an
income."
The head of Italian showbusiness association Agis, Carlo
Fontana, said that the new law protects against "unfair competition (from
streaming services), which could have created a dangerous short-circuit".
"Streaming giants like Netflix make a lot of money
in Italy without creating any jobs, while their (budget) policy is far from
transparent," Francesco Rutelli, a former mayor of Rome who presides over
Italy's cinema and audiovisual association Anica.
Nevertheless, he told the Il Messagero newspaper,
"blocking the path of Netflix or other platforms, which will only increase
in numbers, is as illusory as it is useless."
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