Netflix Acquires Short Docs ‘An Open Field’ And ‘One Last Order’

EXCLUSIVE: Netflix has announced the acquisition of two award-winning documentary shorts that should put the streamer squarely back into Oscar contention.

Set to join the platform are an open field, winner of Best Short Documentary at the 2025 International Documentary Festival (IDFA), and One Last Order, which has earned multiple honors including Best Documentary and the Audience Award at the 2026 Aspen Shortsfest, the Short Film Audience Award at the Miami Film Festival, and the Best Documentary Short Audience Award at the Nantucket Film Festival.

Teboho Edkins, director of an open field, tragically lost his brother Max Thabiso Edkins in the catastrophic crash of a Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft in Ethiopia in 2019. The air disaster, caused by the faulty activation of Boeing’s MCAS automated flight software, killed all 157 people on board. Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 went down in an open farm field in the Gimbichu district of Ethiopia.

“In an open field, we learn that dozens of nearby villagers immediately converged on the site to help, and that some stood vigil for a month to protect and preserve the crash area,” notes a synopsis. “Years later, they continue to mourn alongside family members who visit the site, including [director Teboho] Edkins and his father, Don, who produced the film. Boeing’s widely criticized response to the crash stands in sharp contrast to the community’s enduring compassion. Both a personal essay on loss and an exploration of the potential healing power of collective mourning, Edkins’s film is a quiet testament to humanity— moments of warmth, resolve, grief, fear, patience, and simple acts of kindness.”

In a statement, director Teboho Edkins said, “This is a delicate and personal work, and about something fundamental to being human. I hope that the film can find its way to as many people as possible, and that something in it might resonate with them. Having Netflix bring the film to its global audiences is very meaningful to me and I’m grateful for their support as it makes its way out into the world.”

One Last Order, directed by Lauren DeFilippo and Sam Soko, tells an uplifting story from Gainesville, FL. For decades, Sighle (pronounced “Sheila”) Williams has brought joy to her community as a loving and caring presence at a fast-food hamburger stand.

“At Mac’s Drive-Thru in Gainesville, Florida, Sighle Williams is working her final shift after 37 years,” reads the synopsis. “She’s the voice who knows your order before you say it, the smile that turned fast food into something personal. But this isn’t just any farewell. The owner of Mac’s announces every dollar earned that day goes straight to Sighle. Cars wrap around the block. Three-hour waits. All carrying a Sighle story. One Last Order is the story of a woman who met the world with kindness through a drive-thru window and made the most routine moment of someone’s day feel like it counted.”

One Last Order is produced by Lauren DeFilippo, Sam Soko, and Amanda Pollak.

“Sighle remembered every order and every smile. Now we get to celebrate her, and all the other Sighles out there who make an ordinary day feel a little brighter,” observed DeFilippo and Soko. “This film is a love letter to everyday kindness and the people who make ordinary places extraordinary. We’re thrilled Netflix is sharing it with you, too.”

One Last Order is an Insignia Films & LBx Africa production in association with The Harnisch Foundation. Executive producers include Ruth Ann Harnisch, Sam Bisbee, Ron DeFilippo, Bramwel Iro, Stephen Ives.

an open field, meanwhile, is a production of Day Zero Film and Video Productions (South Africa), Day Zero Films UG (Germany), and Survivance (France). Don Edkins and Carine Chichkowsky produced the film.

Netflix has won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short the last two years – All the Empty Rooms in 2026 and The Only Girl in the Orchestra in 2025. It has another Oscar contender lined up with The Baddest Speechwriter of All, which the streamer acquired out of the Sundance Film Festival. That film, directed by two-time Oscar winner Ben Proudfoot and NBA great Stephen Curry, centers on Clarence B. Jones, a key adviser to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. who help craft King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

The Baddest Speechwriter of All has claimed numerous awards, including the Grand Jury Prize for Best Short Film at Sundance, and the Jury Prize for Best Short Documentary and the Audience Award for short doc at the Annapolis Film Festival in Maryland.