Netflix acquires feature doc Virunga

Netflix has taken exclusive rights to feature-doc Virunga. The film follows park rangers in the titular national park, in the Democratic Republic of Congo as they battle against poachers.

The critically-acclaimed project was shown at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival and the deal with Netflix comes as the streaming service moves more heavily into acquired and original factual programming. It has picked up exclusive Virunga rights.

The film was produced by Violet films with the Bertha Foundation and Grain Media. London-based Grain handles international sales.

Orlando von Einsiedel wrote and directed the feature doc. The feature-length project follows a doc series he made about the same national park for the Earthrise strand on Al Jazeera’s English-language channel.