Cineworld joins Vue Cinemas in protesting about BAFTA giving Netflix’s Roma its top film prize.
Two weeks after the boss of Vue Cinemas wrote an open letter of complaint to BAFTA, following Roma prevailing at its film awards, another chain has lodged its own protest.
In the case of Vue – and you can read the full story here – it was unhappy that a film it argued was made primarily to be seen on televisions won BAFTA’s top film prize. It cited a specific line in BAFTA’s rules that reads “Films should not be screened purely to qualify them for these awards, and the film committee may not accept entry if they do not deem the theatrical release to be meaningful”.
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In the case of Cineworld, it hasn’t issued a public letter, but instead has withdrawn support from BAFTA over the matter. It means that BAFTA members can’t use their membership cards to get access to screenings at Cineworld venues anymore.
Neither BAFTA nor Cineworld has thus far made a public comment about this as of yet. But Screen got hold of a copy of the letter send by BAFTA to its members, and you can read that here.
Expect this issue to rumble for the next few months at least, with Steven Spielberg leading the charge on the other side of the pond.
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