Cannes Film Festival: Okja gets four-minute standing ovation after press screening error

The competing film had generated boos in an earlier screening due to technical issues

Netflix's controversial Cannes film festival debut was received warmly by spectators who gave the film a four-minute standing ovation.

Bong Joon-ho's animal rights drama Okja, which stars Tilda Swinton and Jake Gyllenhaal, premiered at the French festival yesterday (19 May) after a morning press screening for journalists generated boos due to a technical glitch which saw the film halted for 15 minutes.

Last week, Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar threw a cloud of uncertainty over how the film would be judged after stating all competing films should be ones with a guaranteed theatrical release. Okja will only be available to watch on streaming service site Netflix.

Following this, Cannes festival bosses introduced a new rule that only films with a theatrical distribution in France would be able to compete in future.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, most of the crowd's cheers were reserved for the film's young star, South Korean actor Ahn Seo-hyun.

Okja tells the story of young girl Mija (Seo-hyun), who lives deep in the forests of Gangwon Province, South Korea. It will be available on Netflix worldwide from 28 June.

Netflix has one other title in competition, Noah Baumbach's The Meyerowitz Stories, which will compete alongside films including Sofia Coppola's The Beguiled and Wonderstruck from Carol filmmaker Todd Haynes.