At the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), kicking off on Sept. 8, Netflix is set to premiere four original documentary feature films. Amanda Knox, the company announced in a press release, will tell the story of the college student who served almost four years in an Italian prison before being acquitted on murder charges. Knox could serve as a successor to another true crime Netflix smash, Making A Murderer.
Additionally, famed filmmaker Werner Herzog will present Into The Inferno, Netflix said, which will explore “the deeply rooted relationship between humans and volcanoes.” The Ivory Game, executive produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, is a thriller about ending African elephant extinction, and, lastly, The White Helmets is a documentary short about three volunteer rescue workers fighting to save Syrian civilians affected by war.
“We are committed to pushing the boundaries of the documentary form,” Netflix’s VP of original documentary programming, Lisa Nishimura, said in a statement. “Our films screening at Toronto represent both emerging talent and iconic filmmakers during a thrilling time for documentaries.”
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The White Helmets premieres on Netflix on Sept.6, and Amanda Knox, which promises to be “a human story that goes past the headlines to examine the often fraught relationship between true crime tragedy, justice, and entertainment,” Netflix says, will debut on Sept. 30. Into The Inferno launches on Oct. 28, and The Ivory Game will follow on Nov. 4.
Other highly-anticipated documentaries slated to arrive on Netflix in 2016 include acclaimed director Ava DuVernay’s The 13th, about the history of racial injustice in America, and two Sundance Film Festival acquisitions: teen assault chronicle Audrie & Daisy, and fireworks artist bio doc Sky Ladder: The Art of Cai Guo-Qiang. Another documentary short, Extremis, will explore tough decisions amid end-of-life cases in a public hospital. Last year, two Netflix documentaries were nominated for Academy Awards: What Happened, Miss Simone? and Winter on Fire.
