- South Korean cult-horror series 'Hellbound' returns at BIFF
- Nepalis fear more floods as climate change melts glaciers
- Honduras arrests environmentalist's alleged murderer
- Padres pitcher Musgrove needs elbow surgery
- Supreme Court lets stand rules to curb mercury, methane emissions
- Boston beat Denver in NBA exhibition season opener, but Jokic says omens are good
- Chagos diaspora angry at lack of input on islands' fate
- Biden says 'not confident' of peaceful US election
- US trade chief defends tariff hikes when paired with investment
- Lukaku stars as Napoli beat Como to hold Serie A top spot
- Ohtani set for MLB playoff debut as Dodgers face Padres
- Pogba's drug ban cut to 18 months from four years
- Devine leads New Zealand to big win over India in Women's T20 World Cup
- Bosnia floods kill 16 people
- EU court blocks French ban on vegetable 'steak' labelling
- Prosecutors seek dismissal of rape charges against French rugby players
- Meta AI turns pictures into videos with sound
- Bolivia's Morales says claims he raped a minor are a 'lie'
- MLB Reds hire two-time champion Francona as manager
- Daniel Maldini receives first Italy call-up for Nations League
- US dockworkers return to ports after three-day strike
- Ancelotti points finger at Madrid's 'lack of intensity'
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- Country star Garth Brooks denies rape accusations
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- Odegaard injury has forced Arsenal to be 'different', says Arteta
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- Meta must limit data use for targeted ads: EU court
- Mauritius to hold legislative election on November 10
- Britain qualify for America's Cup final after 60-year wait
- IMF asks Sri Lanka to protect hard-won gains
- Morata returns to Spain Nations League squad after injury
- Irish regulator to probe Ryanair use of facial recognition
- Public allowed to see video evidence in France mass rape trial
- US hiring soars past expectations in sign of resilient market
- Under-fire Ten Hag 'together' with Man Utd hierarchy
- Guardiola talks of Man City love affair as financial hearing rumbles on
- De Bruyne out of Belgium Nations League squad
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- UK's Starmer hails 'landmark' carbon capture funding
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- Bosnia floods kill 14 people
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Shunned by French studios, 'Amelie' director clinches Netflix deal
He made perhaps the most famous French film of the century so far with "Amelie", and now Jean-Pierre Jeunet says he'll make his new movie with Netflix after failing to find a traditional backer.
The US streaming giant has found great success in poaching directors who increasingly struggle to get funding elsewhere, including Martin Scorsese ("The Irishman"), Alfonso Cuaron ("Roma") and Jane Campion ("The Power of the Dog").
Jeunet was similarly strained to find studio support for his movie, "BigBug", a dystopian comedy set during a war between humans and robots that premiers on Netflix on Friday.
"Almost no one wanted my new film in France. I came close to a full-blown depression," Jeunet told AFP.
"I heard the same words, the same phrases as I did for 'Delicatessen' (his 1991 debut) and 'Amelie': it's too weird, too detached and therefore too risky."
Netflix, however, called at just the right time.
"They said yes to the project in 24 hours," Jeunet said.
The streaming platform has faced some of its biggest obstacles in France, a country with strict rules about how long films must wait between a cinema release and home-viewing.
In order to win concessions, it has poured money into the French film industry -- a boon for riskier propositions like Jeunet.
- 'People mocked me' -
To be fair to French studios, the director's track record has been mixed, with 2004's "A Very Long Engagement" and 2013's "The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet" failing to match the excitement around his previous films.
But for Jeunet, this only underlines what he sees as the hypocrisy of the French film industry -- complaining about the financial clout of foreign streaming platforms, while being just as obsessed with money.
"Marketing has all the power and the decision-makers are people who come out of business school and want to tell you how to make your film," he said.
"As soon as the film is released, they have their eyes on how many tickets are sold. If it's 200 people, it's a catastrophe. And now (with Netflix) we have half a billion potential viewers -- if only one percent watch the film, that's a lot of people."
"When I signed with Netflix, people mocked me, saying I shouldn't do it. Now everyone is calling me to say they want to do the same."
- 'The world is changing' -
He rejects the fear that streaming platforms are killing off cinemas.
"Things don't replace each other, they add," he said.
"Platforms haven't replaced cinemas, which didn't replace the theatre. The big films will always be shown in cinemas. The world is changing, we have to adapt."
The studio might have changed, but "BigBug" remains very much a Jeunet production: "People who like my work will love it; those who don't will love to hate it," he said.
"There are two types of directors: those who renew themselves constantly but don't have any style. And those who, in a certain sense, always make the same film: Tim Burton, Woody Allen...
"I fit more into the latter tradition, even if it risks getting tedious more quickly," he said with a chuckle.
J.Pereira--PC