Re:Cannes Will Ban Streaming-Only Movies from Competition
by gamblor956 on Friday May 12, 2017 @12:48PM
(#14325562)
That was just bad execution. The Academy Awards only requires that a film be screened for at least 2 weeks in LA and that it not be available for streaming prior to the screening window, however concurrent streaming is acceptable. (Straight from the horse's mouth: http://www.oscars.org/sites/oscars/files/89th-general_entry_...) For example, Netflix' Beasts of No Nation was available for streaming the same day as its premiere in LA and was eligible for Oscars, though it was not nominated for any.
They were backed via Kickstarter and promised backers a "pre-release" download. Because they wanted to be eligible for an Academy Award nomination they ended up releasing the movie in LA (and New York I think?) for the minimum run necessary and then waited another couple of months for the official release as digital download.
Because of the Academy Award rules they held back the "pre-release" downloads until just before the release of the digital download version. They angered a lot of backers by saying it was still technically a pre-release because the digital download hadn't been available yet although the film had already been in cinemas and available for private screenings for months at that point.
It's a good example for bad communication. Especially when upset backers were basically told the "pre-release" would happen at the last possible moment to combat file sharing, but that's another tangent.