Netflix is making a slew of its documentaries available for free on YouTube, including the popular David Attenborough-narrated nature documentary series Our Planet, to make educational resources available to children who can’t attend school due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“For many years, Netflix has allowed teachers to screen documentaries in their classrooms,” Netflix said in a statement. “However, this isn’t possible with schools closed. So at their request, we have made a selection of our documentary features and series available on the Netflix U.S. YouTube channel. … We hope this will, in a small way, help teachers around the world. ”
Our Planet is a followup to the hit series Planet Earth, showing the lives of animals as filmed in 50 different countries around the world. Produced in partnership with the World Wildlife Fund, the series won two Emmys last year.
In addition to Our Planet, other documentary series which are also available to stream for free include:
- Abstract: The Art of Design, a showcase of prominent designers in which each episode focuses on a different field of design.
- Babies, a series about developmental milestones during the first year of life.
- Explained, a popular series of short explainers about topical issues created in partnership with Vox Media.
Several documentary films are available to view for free as well:
- 13th, Ava DuVernay’s documentary about the U.S. constitutional amendment forbidding slavery, and how this applies to modern incarceration in the U.S.
- Chasing Coral, about the challenges of documenting and recording the bleaching of the ocean’s coral reefs.
- Knock Down the House, covering four women including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez mounting grassroots campaigns during the 2018 midterm election.
- Period. End of Sentence. a short about women in India fighting against stigma around menstruation.
- The White Helmets, a short about the violence and political unrest in Syria in 2016.
- Zion, the story of a young wrestler born without legs growing up in the foster care system.
You can find the full episodes and movies available to stream for free on the Netflix U.S. YouTube page. The videos also come with educational resources and Netflix says it will be making subtitles in various languages available through YouTube later this week.
