Aussie Netflix doco wins at News & Documentary Emmy Awards

Netflix’s very first Australian-commissioned documentary Puff: Wonders of the Reef, has won at the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards in New York.

The film by Wild Pacific Media and BioQuest Studios won the Outstanding Nature Documentary category.

Filmed in Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef and narrated by Rose Byrne, the documentary follows a baby pufferfish travelling through a microworld full of fantastical creatures as he searches for a home on the Great Barrier Reef. Using special camera techniques the documentary shows the underwater world up close.

Director & producer Nick Robinson (Australia’s Ocean Odyssey, Kakadu, Life on the Reef), told TV Tonight, “Nature documentaries and blue chip documentary films like this are normally made by the Brits, so it’s fantastic that we’ve finally got one one back for Australian producers. It’s really exciting.

“I’d like to thank Netflix, the whole team at Wild Pacific Media and BioQuest Studios for all their efforts in bringing this story to life. It was a real feat to make a whole film about a fish that’s the size of your fingernail. It’s quite an achievement to actually tell this story.”

Pete West was the cinematographer. Electra Manikakis (pictured right) is the executive producer. Peta Ayers (pictured left) is writer, Louise Polain is producer, Bobbi Hansel is the lead editor.

“And a massive thank you for Rose Byrne, Screen Australia, Screen Queensland.”

Full winners list here.