Cannes screening of Netflix film Okja halted after ‘non-stop’ booing

The film was stopped after heckling and jeering from the crowd
Chaos: A screening of Okja starring Tilda Swinton was halted at Cannes
Netflix
Jennifer Ruby19 May 2017
The Weekender

Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for exclusive competitions, offers and theatre ticket deals

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

A screening of eagerly-awaited Netflix film Okja was halted after the audience erupted in boos at the Cannes Film Festival.

Viewers started heckling and jeering as soon as the Netflix logo appeared during Friday morning’s screening, amid controversy over the streaming service’s inclusion at the festival.

It soon became clear that the film was playing in the wrong aspect ratio, with the top of star Tilda Swinton’s head cut off in many screenings.

After relentless booing, the screening was abruptly stopped after just 10 minutes and then restarted later on.

Film journalists tweeted about the ‘chaos’ in the screening room, with some acclaiming that riots wre about to break out.

“Okja starts, huge boos at Netflix logo. Then film plays in wrong aspect ratio and Grand Lumiere almost rioted. Movie stopped,” wrote IndieWire’s David Ehrlich.

“That didn't start well. Screen not open properly, significantly cropped at top... the boos at the Netflix logo were immediately followed by boos at the terrible projection,” wrote blogger Elena Lazic.

Cannes Film Festival 2017 - In pictures

1/120

Despite the disastrous screening, the South Korean-American adventure film, starring Swinton and Jake Gyllenhaal went on to receive overwhelmingly positive reviews.

Jurors have reportedly been feuding over the inclusion of Netflix films in this year’s competition, with Will Smith at loggerheads with jury president Pedro Almodovar.

While Smith said "There's very little cross between going to the cinema and watching what they watch on Netflix”, Almodovar thinks that only films that are available to watch on the big screen should be included.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in