Netflix Buys Major True Crime Doc That’s Already Getting Oscar Buzz

Netflix is bolstering its true crime lineup with their acquisition of The Perfect Neighbor, a documentary that’s already getting plenty of awards season hype.

The documentary, directed by Geeta Gandbhir, won the directing award for U.S. Documentary at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

Through compilations of police bodycam and dashcam footage, the film tells a chilling story of a woman in Central Florida killing her neighbor and invoking the state’s notorious “stand your ground” laws. Susan Lorincz, a white woman, fired a gun through a locked door and killed her Black neighbor Ajike “AJ” Owens. Owens was attempting to confront Lorincz for her repeated, two-year-long harassment of Owens’ children.

“The Perfect Neighbor is a deeply personal project, created to transform grief into purpose and honor the lasting legacy of Ajike Owens and her family,” Gandbhir said in a statement to Deadline. “My team at Message Pictures, along with our incredible partners at SO’B Productions and Park Pictures, are thrilled the film will be available on Netflix, offering audiences worldwide the chance to experience this urgent and powerful story.”

Owens’ mother, Pamela Dias, spoke to Deadline about the importance of the film.

“Ajika was an everyday mom, and that’s key here,” she told us. “It’s tragic, it’s devastating, and it’s something that could have happened to any one of us, to any family. It was important for the story to be told because it unfolds so many layers. You have a close-knit community, you have children, you have the issue of racism, you have police protocol, you have children who lost their innocence. There’s so many aspects to the story that it just had to be told.”

The Perfect Neighbor recently screened at South by Southwest on Sunday, and will continue to tour the film festival circuit. There is currently no date for its release on Netflix.