David Farnor | On 17, Mar 2016

SXSW is underway in Texas and Netflix is in full attendance. As well as screening three of its upcoming films, Pee-wee’s Big Holiday, My Beautiful Broken Brain and Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru, the streaming giant has acquired two more features.

The first is documentary Asperger’s Are Us, which follows the titular Boston comedy group, whose members find it easier to associate with a faceless audience than with their own families. The film chronicles the coming of age of Noah, New Michael, Jack and Ethan, who plan one farewell show before they go their separate ways.

The directorial debut of DoP Alex Lehmann is exec produced by the Duplass Brothers and produced by Sean Bradley and Chris Dowling.

“I spent most of my nights searching Netflix for new and interesting documentaries,” said Mark Duplass in a statement, adding the Netflix was “the perfect place to be discovered around the world”.

Variety reports that the deal with Netflix was negotiated by ICM Partners and Submarine.

The second is Mike Flanagan’s home invasion thriller Hush, which the streaming giant actually snapped up just before the festival began.

Starring John Gallagher Jr., Kate Siegel, Michael Trucco and Samantha Sloyan, the film will be released on Netflix worldwide on Friday 8th April – within a month of its world premiere at the festival.

Siegel stars in the film as an author who lost her hearing when young. When a masked killer appears at the window of her secluded home, she must push herself beyond her mental and physical limits to survive.

Siegel co-wrote the script with Oculus director Flanagan, with Blumhouse Productions’ Jason Blum producing alongside Intrepid Pictures’ Trevor Macy, with Michael J. Fourticq Sr., Jeanette Brill, Kate Lumpkin and Couper Samuelson exec producing.

“Hush is a great example of what happens when you give an incredible filmmaker like Mike Flanagan creative freedom to tell a fun and original scary story,” said Blum in a statement. “We had a great time continuing our relationship with Mike and Intrepid and are psyched to share Mike’s movie with genre lovers all over the world on Netflix.”

The deals follow a range of acquisitions by Netflix at this year’s Sundance festival.

Update

Here’s a trailer for Hush:

Photo: SXSW

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