Once seen as rather elitist and niche, the documentary feature market is expanding as audience demand for real life stories continues to grow.
Documentaries have become a huge genre in their own right, says Lia Devlin, head of distribution at Altitude Films, whose slate includes “Tina,” “Zappa,” “David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet,” and festival hit “Gunda,” which it releases this June.
“Audiences have reappraised the documentary genre. They are treated very much now as feature films and a solid entertainment format.”
Streamers have played a key part in helping broaden the appeal of feature docs, offering thrilling and emotional real-life stories that are often as dramatic as anything that fiction could dream up. Netflix, in particular, has helped to raise awareness. The streamer, for example, has two hotly tipped Oscar documentary contenders this year, “My Octopus Teacher” and “Crip Camp,” having previously won the category in 2018 with “Icarus” and in 2020 with “American Factory.
Documentaries have become a huge genre in their own right, says Lia Devlin, head of distribution at Altitude Films, whose slate includes “Tina,” “Zappa,” “David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet,” and festival hit “Gunda,” which it releases this June.
“Audiences have reappraised the documentary genre. They are treated very much now as feature films and a solid entertainment format.”
Streamers have played a key part in helping broaden the appeal of feature docs, offering thrilling and emotional real-life stories that are often as dramatic as anything that fiction could dream up. Netflix, in particular, has helped to raise awareness. The streamer, for example, has two hotly tipped Oscar documentary contenders this year, “My Octopus Teacher” and “Crip Camp,” having previously won the category in 2018 with “Icarus” and in 2020 with “American Factory.
- 4/20/2021
- by Tim Dams
- Variety Film + TV
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