Cannes: Netflix film Okja stopped after technical glitch
A screening at the Cannes Film Festival had to be stopped after technical problems during the first few minutes of the film.
Okja,
starring Tilda Swinton and Jake Gyllenhaal, had been booed by some in
the audience after the Netflix logo appeared at the beginning.
But it then became clear the film was playing in the wrong aspect ratio.
The film has been controversial because producer Netflix has refused to screen it in French cinemas.
After the jeers, the movie was stopped and restarted without explanation.
Some film journalists in the screening uploaded videos of the heckling on social media.
The BBC's Lauren Turner, who was at the screening, said: "There was
shouting from the upper seats and it became apparent the aspect ratio
was wrong, so they restarted it after about 10 minutes.
"The
second time around the audience booed the Netflix logo again. But there
was also some cheering at the same time and a warm round of applause at
the end."
A statement from the Cannes Film Festival said: "This
incident was entirely the responsibility of the Festival's technical
service, which offers its apologies to the director and his team, to the
producers and the audience."
On Thursday, there was also some
booing when the Amazon logo came up at the beginning of Wonderstruck,
which stars Julianne Moore and Michelle Williams.
Earlier this week,
Cannes jury chair Pedro Almodovar said he agreed that films should have
to be screened in cinemas if producers want them to be considered.
Indiewire film critic David Ehrlich tweeted:
"Okja starts, huge boos at Netflix logo. Then film plays in wrong
aspect ratio and Grand Lumiere almost rioted. Movie stopped."
The Telegraph's Robbie Collin wrote:
"Cannes making an A+ case for the primacy of the cinema experience by
projecting the first ten mins of Okja in the wrong aspect ratio."
Blogger Elena Lazic said:
"That didn't start well. Screen not open properly, significantly
cropped at top... the boos at the Netflix logo were immediately followed
by boos at the terrible projection."
The film is a South
Korean-American adventure movie about a young girl named Mija who tries
to prevent a multi-national company from kidnapping her best friend, a
genetically engineered super-pig named Okja.
Swinton said: "It's an enormous and really interesting conversation that's beginning. But I think, as in many matters, there's room for everybody."
Gyllenhaal added: "It's important to have artistic expression in whatever form we can.
"Debate is essential always. It's a useful thing to have this discussion about how art is perceived and distributed."
BBC
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