Berlin Film Festival hit by anti-Netflix protests

A small group of anti-Netflix protestors were present for the red carpet premiere of 'Elisa & Marcela' on Wednesday

(AFP/Getty Images)

Berlin Film Festival has been hit with controversy, as German cinema owners have accused it of “downgrading cinema culture” by allowing a film backed by Netflix to be screened in competition.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, a small group of anti-Netflix protestors were present for the red carpet premiere of Elisa & Marcela on Wednesday, 13 February.

The Netflix-backed drama, from Spanish director Isabel Coixet, tells the true story of Marcela Gracia Ibeas who, in 1901, took on the identity of a man to marry her lover of fifteen years, Elisa Sanchez Loriga.

The group’s signs bore slogans such as “No Netflix films in Berlinale competition” and “Kino statt Stream Festival” (”Cinema, not a streaming festival”).

The protest follows an official complaint from an association of German independent exhibitors, who accused Netflix of using film festivals “as a marketing platform and diminishing the position of cinema as a place of culture.”

Complaints were also made to the Cannes Film Festival, which did ban Netflix from partaking in the official competition, and the Venice Film Festival, which ignored protests and screened Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma. Cannes rejected Roma, which has now gone on to become this year’s Oscar frontrunner.

The Berlin Film Festival has stated that Elisa & Marcela meets its criteria of being “intended for the big screen”, although it’s unclear whether Netflix has plans for a theatrical release outside of Spain.