Netflix goes to Extremis with first short doc

Global streaming service Netflix plans to debut its first original short documentary, Extremis, in September.

The doc, from Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Dan Krauss, follows the harrowing decisions doctors, families and patients face in urgent end-of-life case, and is shot in cinema verité style.

Shot in the Highland Hospital in Oakland, California, Netflix claims the film “offers a uniquely intimate look at the intersection of science, faith, and humanity”.

“I strive to explore weighty ethical and moral questions through my films,” said Kraus, whose docs The Death of Kevin Carter and Kill Team won critical acclaim. “Doctors today can sustain life in ways once thought impossible, ushering in new and extremely complex questions about what it means for critically ill people to be kept alive.”

Netflix has pushed heavily into long-form docs through titles such as Virunga, but this marks its first effort in the short-form factual format.

The platform has also revealed release dates for it latest original stand-up programmes. Ali Wong: Baby Cobra premieres Friday, May 6; Bo Burnham: Make Happy debuts June 3; Jim Jefferies: Freedumb on July 1; and Jeff Foxworthy and Larry the Cable Guy: We’ve Been Thinking and Iliza Shlesinger: Confirmed Kills on September 23.