PARK CITY, Utah (AP) 鈥 Filmmaker was in a 鈥淪undance haze鈥 when he took a meeting with Netflix following the premiere of 鈥淪trong Island鈥 in 2017. The streamer was still somewhat new in the original documentary space at that point, but had made several big splashes with docs as different as 鈥淭he Square,鈥 about the Egyptian revolution, and 鈥 鈥 Liz Garbus鈥 portrait of Nina Simone, both of which were nominated for Oscars.
鈥淪trong Island鈥 would go on to get an Oscar nomination, too, as would its Sundance and which would win best documentary in 2018. But 鈥淪trong Island鈥 was a different kind of film, a wrenching and deeply personal investigation into the 1992 murder of his brother and the failures of the justice system. When Ford, a first-time filmmaker, walked out of the meeting, he asked his producer if that had gone as well as he thought. He was assured it had.
鈥淭here was no explaining the film to them,鈥 Ford said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. 鈥淣etflix understood what 鈥楽trong Island鈥 was doing and what it could say to a big, broad audience.鈥
Ten years after 鈥淭he Square,鈥 an acquisition that put Netflix documentaries on the map, the streamer is back at the with an eye towards acquisitions and two very different originals. Ford鈥檚 latest, 鈥淧ower,鈥 an inquiry into the evolution of policing in America that had its world premiere Thursday night in Park City, Utah. Bao Nguyen鈥檚 鈥淭he Greatest Night in Pop,鈥 about the making of the charity anthem 鈥淲e Are The World,鈥 debuts Friday before streaming on Jan. 29.
鈥淚 think that Netflix is largely responsible for the documentary landscape that exists today,鈥 Ford said. 鈥淚t was responsible for giving the public access to films like mine.鈥
With 鈥淧ower,鈥 which looks at policing from 30,000 feet, he said, 鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 particularly interested in the debate about defund the police. I wasn鈥檛 particularly interested in the rhetoric of Back the Blue. What I was interested in is this thing that I saw at play which was just this manifestation of the power of the state being exercised over people.鈥
Adam Del Deo, Netflix's vice president of documentary, joined the company around the time of 鈥淭he Square鈥 and commissioning 鈥淲hat Happened, Miss Simone?,鈥 working with veteran Lisa Nishimura.
鈥淲e really were the new kids on the block trying to persuade filmmakers that having the reach of the platform was something that was really important,鈥 Del Deo said. 鈥淭he mission when I began was to be the premiere storyteller in the doc space. That was the case back in the DVD days and continues to be the objective today.鈥
In the 10 years since, the Netflix audience has grown from around 37 million members to over 250 million worldwide and the appetite for documentaries has only intensified. It鈥檚 allowed for experimentation in commissions and acquisitions in both series and features, including 鈥淐hef鈥檚 Table,鈥 鈥淢aking a Murderer,鈥 the Emmy winning 鈥淲ild Wild Country,鈥 the Oscar winning 鈥 鈥 and the Oscar nominated 鈥 鈥
Many of those successes started in some form at Sundance, the festival that launched doc classics like 鈥淗oop Dreams鈥 and 鈥淧aradise Lost鈥 before the so-called 鈥済olden age of documentary鈥 from the past several years. They don鈥檛 have one specific type of movie they鈥檙e after 鈥 in fact, they鈥檝e found their members seek out diversity of genre and thus it鈥檚 a matter of finding 鈥渂est in class storytelling,鈥 he said, whether that鈥檚 in sports, pop culture, nature, current events or anything else.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really a question of curation of titles that鈥 really cut through, that are going to feel fresh and drive conversation and create cultural moments around the world,鈥 Del Deo said.
鈥淲hat Happened, Miss Simone?鈥 was the company鈥檚 first commissioned documentary and Garbus remembers being excited but also a little wary as they were 鈥渦ntested.鈥 Then she met Del Deo who became her trusted 鈥渕an on the ground鈥 while making the film, which played on the festival鈥檚 opening night in 2015, with a performance by John Legend.
鈥淥ne of the most exciting things was being on Twitter the moment the filmed dropped on Netflix, seeing reactions from Brazil, from France, and seeing the world light up at once,鈥 Garbus said. 鈥淚t was thrilling. You really felt like you were in a global moment.鈥
鈥淢iss Simone鈥 was also the beginning of a long friendship and professional partnership between Garbus and Del Deo that continued through 鈥淗arry & Meghan鈥 and on through 鈥淧ower,鈥 which Garbus executive produced.
While Nishimura exited the company last year, Del Deo is excited about the future of their original documentaries 鈥 including several recent festival acquisitions like the Jon Batiste film 鈥淎merican Symphony鈥 (out of Telluride), 鈥淏lack Barbie鈥 (out of SXSW) and 鈥淢ountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa鈥 (out of the Toronto Film Festival) 鈥 as well as their Sundance titles and those they haven鈥檛 discovered yet.
鈥淭he Greatest Night in Pop鈥 was produced by Lionel Richie and features never before seen footage from the making of that memorable charity song that started with Harry Belafonte and brought together performers like Bruce Springsteen, Smokey Robinson, Cyndi Lauper, Dionne Warwick and Huey Lewis. It is sure to be a popular crowd-pleaser with one of those big premieres in the festival鈥檚 biggest venue, the Eccles, where 鈥淢iss Simone鈥 also started.
鈥淚 think it's going to put a lot of smiles on people,鈥 Del Deo said. 鈥淚 cannot wait for people to see this film.鈥
Though Nguyen was only around 2 when the song came out in 1985, it鈥檚 taken on greater meaning over the years. It was one of the records that his parents, Vietnamese refugees, would often play. And then recently, visiting his mother in Vietnam, his taxi driver had it playing in his car and its timeless, global resonance set in.
鈥淚t was such an unlikely group of people who came together in one night. That sense of pressure, I felt was quite cinematic,鈥 Nguyen said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 great to be able to share this film to the world because of how much the song touched people all around the world.鈥
Lindsey Bahr, The Associated Press
