Documentaries are a smart direction for Netflix. They can actually afford to license the best ones for streaming. Of the five Oscar nominated documetaries that were announced today, three are already streaming on Netflix and the one Netflix produced comes out tomorrow.<p>Given that the actual movie studio distribution of these movies must be minuscule, it makes a lot of sense for Netflix to just buy them directly.
To be clear - The Square wasn't created by Netflix. The Square is an independent documentary started a few years ago, boosted with a successful Kickstarter (<a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/noujaimfilms/the-square-a-film-about-the-egyptian-revolution" rel="nofollow">http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/noujaimfilms/the-square-...</a>) last year, and finally picked up by Netflix. That said, much credit goes to Netflix for recognizing and promoting independent documentaries.
Rightly deserved. It's an incredible documentary and I suggest everyone watch it when it's released.<p>I hope Netflix continues in this direction. It seems to be a great platform for documentaries to reach mass consumption, like we saw with Blackfish.
I've always found Netflix to be a great source of documentaries. Especially now The History channel and discovery channels play mostly reality shows now. Its also great to see their own productions are decent to watch. They may have a chance to become an HBO type provider.
Here's the link to the Netflix documentary -<p><a href="http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/The_Square/70268449" rel="nofollow">http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/The_Square/70268449</a><p>It's not yet available to public but you can watch the trailer and save it to your list.