I will be watching Bong Joon-Ho's "Okja" in two days time here in Cannes, but the director recently stated something very interested about the film: Netflix told him he could not shoot it in 35mm.
“At first, Darius Khondji, my cinematographer, and I wanted to shoot ‘Okja’ on 35mm, but Netflix insisted that all Netflix originals be shot and archived in 4K. Khondji then figured that we would use Alexa 65, which equates to a 70mm film in digital format. It makes a great cinematic vibe.”
Ok fine, I'm all for making a "great cinematic vibe," but there is a reason why he wanted to shoot it in 35mm and not granting him that favor is putting a peculiarly unwarranted distress on the director and his director of photography. I'm not anti-Netflix in any way shape or form- I love how much freedom they are giving artists for their imagination to pop up on the screen, but not allowing film directors to shoot in 35mm is taking away a classicism that has always been part of cinema as a medium. I'm sure the Cannes film fest will take note of this latest Netflix controversy when it comes to picking the next batch of films for next year's 71st edition.
[Variety]