The film was misframed on the big screen with the top and the bottom sections of the print cut off. The tech problems led to boos from the international press corps before the screening was suspended and restarted 15 minutes later.
"A technical problem occured during the press screening of OKJA, the film by Bong Joon ho, this morning at the 8:30am screening at the Auditorium Lumiere. After an interruption of several minutes, the screening started again and went normal," the festival said in a statement. "This incident is completely due to the technical staff of the festival who deeply apologize to the director and his team, to the producers as well as to the audience."
This time, the film was correctly projected. The press crowd both cheered and booed when Netflix's logo appeared on the screen. Some in the crowd were overheard speculating that it was intentional and a conspiracy to sabotage Netflix.
A Netflix representative declined to comment.
This year's Cannes festival is a watershed moment for Netflix, which has two titles in the competition lineup (Bong Joon Ho’s Okja and The Meyerowitz Stories from Noah Baumbach). Cinema purists have said this sets a dangerous precedent since the films don't get a theatrical release.
Festival organizers last week unveiled a new requirement for competition films to have traditional theatrical distribution in French theaters after the French Cinema Federation (FNCF) objected to the inclusion of two Netflix films in Cannes' official selection. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings hit back with a post on Facebook, saying: "The establishment [is] closing ranks against us."
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