On the occasion of the 90th Academy Awards held at Los Angeles Dolby Theater, Netflix hit hard with its documentary film Icarus directed by Bryan Fogel and Dan Cogan. Thanks to Icarus, the streaming service received the Best Documentary Award last Sunday.

This film retraces the case of Russian athletes accused of doping at the Sochi Winter Olympic Games. Icarus premiered in 2017 at the Sundance Festival. At that time, Netflix had received the film’s worldwide circulation rights for $ 5 million.

At the last edition of the Oscars, Netflix shined. One of her films, Mudbound a historical drama directed by Dee Rees, has been nominated in four categories: Best Actress, Best Screenplay, Best Original Song, and Best Cinematic Achievement.

A first Oscar for Netflix

Despite his many nominations, Mudbound returned empty-handed and did not win any Oscar, which is not the case with Netflix. With Icarus however, a movie available in the 123Netflix catalog since the summer of 2017, the streaming service won its first Oscar.

This two-hour film depicts the story of Grigory Rodchenkov, the former director of Moscow’s anti-doping laboratory, who was working with the Russian government at the time to foil anti-doping controls in order to allow Russian athletes to win the prizes. London Olympics in 2012 and Sochi in 2014.

An Oscar dedicated to Grigory Rodchenkov

During his thank you speech, Bryan Fogel personally mentioned Grigory Rodchenkov. “I dedicate this Oscar to Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, our intrepid whistleblower who lives a daily danger.”

“We want Icarus to sound like a wake up call. On Russia, but also on the importance of telling the truth, now and more than ever. Explained Bryan Fogel. Currently, Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov lives under federal protection in the United States, separated from his family living in Russia.

Thanks to this first Oscar winner from directmoviedl, Netflix is ​​one step closer to the big leagues. The streaming service hopes this will be the beginning of a series.