Two Distant Strangers – Image: Netflix
Accusations of plagiarism surrounding the Oscar-winning Netflix quick Two Distant Strangers have been leveled from the creator of an identical YouTube quick from 2016.
Two Distant Strangers is a Netflix quick that Netflix picked up in March 2021 for launch in April 2021 (shortly earlier than the Oscars however after its preliminary Oscar nomination). It was initially launched in November 2020. The quick discovered on Netflix is directed by Travon Free and Martin Desmond Roe.
The accusations come via a TikTok from Cynthia Koa, who created a brief again in December 2016 launched on YouTube known as Groundhog Day for a Black Man. She lays the case that the Netflix quick might have stolen the idea due to a hyperlink between her unique video and NowThis, an internet publication with massive footprints on social media.
After the occasions of George Floyd final summer season, NowThis Information reached out to Cynthia Kao, expressing their intent to share the video and “amplify it”. After agreeing, the video surfaced on NowThis’s Fb web page and different social pages.
Hey @netflix , and @nowthisnews what’s up with this? Groundhog Day for a black man #twodistantstrangers pic.twitter.com/Ooi762L8rC
— @NeverRunOutofCoffee (@Kumong_bato) April 30, 2021
The controversy comes that a number of months after NowThis posted the movies, Two Distant Strangers was launched (which went onto win an Oscar for greatest quick) however with the truth that NowThis is credited within the film whereas Cynthia Kao is just not, and therein lies the potential situation. It’s not identified the complete extent of NowThis’s involvement aside from them being listed “in affiliate with”.
On the time of writing, the TikTok has amassed 677,000 likes and a pair of.1 million views whereas the unique YouTube video has simply surpassed 3.5 million views too.
Groundhog Day model motion pictures usually are not new and on this occasion, the quick has additionally drawn comparisons to a few different titles too. The Netflix quick shares an identical plot to an episode of the rebooted The Twilight Zone with an episode known as Replay launched in 2019. It’s additionally much like the 2019 film The Obituary of Tunde Johnson.
Whether or not there’s a authorized case right here appears to be murky. New Media Rights suggests {that a} declare can be laborious with out copyright in place. The Tweet embedded above additionally consists of loads of discourse relating to the topic of the YouTube quick and the creator behind it.
We’ve reached out to NowThis for remark.