On this occasion, Žiga Virc, the director of the film, stated the following: "With all my film projects I strive to reach the broadest and most diverse audience possible.Netflix is therefore ideal, as it provides a very broad distribution, while the viewers can watch the film wherever and whenever.'Houston, We Have a Problem!' is the first Slovenian film on this platform, and I hope it will be followed by many other Slovenian films."
The producer of the film Boštjan Virc added: "We received the offer from Netflix less than 24 hours after our world premiere at the last year's Tribeca festival in New York. The excellent reviews in the US media as well as, of course, our American agent – a must if one wishes to conduct business in the United States – contributed decisively to this."
Why has it taken so long for Netflix to make the announcement?Boštjan Virc explains that the postponement was the filmmakers' own wish, because in the interim the film has been screened at more than 60 international festivals to date.
Unfortunately, the Slovenian and East European Netflix subscribers will not be able to access the film.In these regions, the film has been available since last autumn on HBO GO exclusively.
"Houston, We Have a Problem!" was co-produced by Slovenia, Croatia, Germany, Czech Republic, and Qatar, while the Slovenian production house Studio Virc was the executive producer.Among other awards, the film received the Vesna Award for Best Feature at the 2016 Festival of Slovenian Film, became the Slovenian candidate for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and was the first original HBO production in the Adria region.The film has been distributed in the cinemas around Slovenia, in the other former Yugoslav countries, Austria, and Great Britain, as well as qualified for the TV programmes of HBO Europe, RTV Slovenia, the German WDR, the Italian RAI, the Finnish YLE, and Al Arabiya, which covers the United Arab Emirates and reaches the entire Near East.
