Amazon Studios shines at the Cannes Film Festival
Amazon Studios is stepping out as a serious art-house player at its first Cannes International Film Festival.
The film division of the online giant had five films accepted into the festival including the prestige opening night slot on May 11, premiering Woody Allen's 1930s romance Café Society.
In addition, Amazon had three films accepted in the Cannes competition, including Park Chan-wook's thriller The Handmaiden and Jim Jarmusch's drama Paterson starring Adam Driver. Both received strong reviews. The third, Nicolas Winding Refn’s The Neon Demon, premieres Friday.
Another Jarmusch project, the Iggy Pop documentary Gimme Danger, is the fifth Amazon project, premiering out of the competition. All of these films will eventually find a digital home on Amazon Prime.
Jason Ropell, head of global movies at Amazon Studios, said the goal is "bringing our customers movies that are worth remembering," adding "this is just a start."
On Wednesday, the studio picked up co-distribution rights for a sixth Cannes film, Oscar-winning filmmaker Asghar Farhadi’s The Salesman, which premieres on Saturday in competition.
"In terms of credibility in the indie-film world, these guys have definitely got it," says Steve Pond, columnist for industry website TheWrap.com.
The studio has put in place a well-respected executive staff which includes Ted Hope, a veteran independent producer; and distribution head Bob Berney, the former CEO of indie film distributor Picturehouse. Amazon has also endeared itself to theater owners, festival programmers and filmmakers by vowing to respect the three-month window in theaters before streaming films on Prime.
For an auteur filmmaker like Jarmusch, this was crucial. The director said he initially had "very, very deep misgivings" partnering with Amazon.
"I don’t want my film to be made and then just streamed out," Jarmusch said. "I want a theatrical release. This was a huge concern for me."
"They already satisfied me," added Jarmusch, whose Gimme Danger does not have a theatrical release date. Paterson will debut in the fall.
This is a sharp contrast to Netflix whose appearance at Cannes in 2015 was marked with controversy due to its philosophy of direct releasing its original programming onto the streaming site.
At a Cannes talk by Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s chief content officer, a French reporter cried out that Netflix will “destroy the film ecosystem in Europe.”
Amazon's Cannes experience has been more celebrated, with some dips.
Allen's visit was dogged with controversy over the repeated resurfacing of long-standing sexual assault accusations by his estranged adopted daughter Dylan (Allen continues to call the allegations "silly"). A French comedian even made a pointed joke about the accusations during the festival's glamorous opening night ceremony.
But Jarmusch's Paterson, a contender for the Cannes Palme d'Or award based on its positive reception, was just one example of Amazon receiving payoff for its ambitious Cannes movie push. Jarmusch admits he's become a fan.
"The problem with (other) Hollywood studios is that they are cowardly. They are afraid of anything where they can’t evaluate the demographic," Jarmusch said. "These are film guys, and they are daring."
Contributing: The Associated Press