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Steven Spielberg takes on Netflix over Oscars

Director thinks streamed films should only compete for Emmys

Netflix made Roma available to stream with a limited release in theatres to qualify for an Oscar this year.

Mon Mar 4 2019 - 15:50

Steven Spielberg is taking on Netflix. At this year's annual post-Oscars meeting, the film-maker, who's representing directors as an Academy governor, will speak out against considering streamed films for awards, IndieWire reported. He feels that the streaming service should only compete for Emmy awards, the entertainment industry news site said.

“Steven feels strongly about the difference between the streaming and theatrical situation,” a spokesperson from Amblin, Mr Spielberg’s production company, told IndieWire, adding that the Hollywood director hopes others will join his campaign at the meeting next month. “He will see what happens.”

Netflix fired back late on Sunday, without naming Mr Spielberg, in a tweet that proclaimed the service’s love of cinema and said it also loves providing wider access to movies and “giving film-makers more ways to share art”. “These things are not mutually exclusive,” Netflix said in the tweet.

Netflix made Roma available to stream with a limited release in theatres to qualify for an Oscar this year.

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Mr Spielberg, who has won a best-picture award with Schindler’s List, is one of the three Academy governors of the directors branch, one of 17 that make up the film body.

The board of governors sets the Academy’s strategic vision, preserves the organisation’s financial health and assures the fulfilment of its mission, according to the Oscars website.

Roma was the favourite to win the Academy award for best picture before Green Book took the prize at the awards on February 24th.

Before the event, Roma had a 33 per cent chance of winning, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Roma was the first nominee for best picture that was essentially a digital release and if it had won, Netflix would have been the first technology company to clinch Hollywood’s top prize.

– Bloomberg

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