Bong Joon-ho: "Streaming is good, but theaters are more precious"

Appearance at Cannes Film Festival Audience Interaction Event 'Rendezvous Avec'
"Theater Has a Two-Hour Rhythm Created by the Director"
Next Animation Project "Inspired by a French Deep-Sea Fish Guidebook"

"Streaming is a good way to watch movies, but from the perspective of making films, theaters are inevitably more precious."

Director Bong Joon-ho emphasized this to the audience at the Cannes International Film Festival on the 7th (local time). Appearing at the communication event 'Rendezvous avec,' he asserted, "Even if streaming platforms rise, the power of theaters cannot be matched." He did not mention large screens or grand sound systems as evidence. Instead, he cited immersion, which comes from the difficulty of pausing the movie or leaving the seat midway, as the foremost reason.

Director Bong said, "In a place called a theater, there is a rhythm of two hours created by the director, a single chunk of time," and added, "It is promised that the movie will be shown from a certain time to another, and the audience respects that."

He also mentioned the contradictions of the streaming era by sharing an anecdote about director Martin Scorsese, who directed the Netflix film 'The Irishman' (2019). "He asked his doctor if he had seen the new film, and the doctor gave a funny yet sad answer, saying he had been watching it for 15 minutes a day for a week. However, 'The Irishman' was a work that would have had difficulty seeing the light of day if Netflix had not supported it. Every studio had refused to produce it."

Director Bong went through a similar experience while preparing 'Okja' (2017). He was rejected by several studios, but Netflix provided full support and even granted 100% control, allowing him to produce the film. This movie was invited to the competition section of the Cannes International Film Festival. At that time, the French screening industry strongly opposed Netflix's strategy of simultaneous theatrical and online release. Even Pedro Almod?var, the jury president, mentioned excluding streaming films from awards, and since 2018, Cannes has not invited Netflix films.

Director Bong will direct an animation as his next project in collaboration with the VFX company Fos Creative Party. It is a drama featuring deep-sea creatures and humans. He revealed, "I was inspired by a French scientific book introducing deep-sea fish." He added, "One day, my wife bought a book at a bookstore and showed me photos that were so beautiful that I was deeply impressed. I finished the script work last January. I want to complete it by 2026 at the latest."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.