Netflix Original Snags Oscar Nomination

Netflix received its first Oscar nomination for Best Documentary Feature for The Square, a documentary on the Egyptian revolution.

Directed by Jehane Noujaim, the film follows a group of revolutionaries risking their lives as they battle political leaders and a corrupt regime in an effort to build a new Egypt.

Starting in the heart of the Tahrir Square protest, covered around the world on Jan. 2011 in Cairo, the documentary follows Ahmed Hassan, a revolutionist who has lived all of his life under the Hosni Mubarak regime.

Hassan and his friends joined the revolution in search of freedom but their effort continually gets pushed back by politics and violence as his country turns into a chaotic state.   

“We are not looking for a leader to rule us because everyone who went to Tahrir is a leader,” said Hassan in the documentary. “We are looking for a conscience.”  

The film has already collected a few awards like the Toronto International Film Festival Documentary People’s Choice Award, and an earlier cut of the film won the Audience Award at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.

The Square is one of five nominated for the Best Documentary Feature in this year’s Academy Awards, which are to be hosted by Ellen Degeneres and will air March 2.