Cineflix behind three-parter greenlit by streamer’s Australian team
Prime Video in Australia has greenlit a pair of docuseries including a show from Cineflix about a group of backpackers who died after consuming tainted alcohol in Laos.
Free Spirits: The Backpacker Poisonings (w/t) tells the story of eight young travelers from around the world - including two Australians, a Briton, two Danes and an American - who were backpacking around Southeast Asia when they suffered from suspected methanol poisoning.
Six died and of the two who survived, one was left permanently blind.
The three-parter is told through the backpackers’ own footage, final messages, and testimony from the survivor and the victims’ families, with reconstructions of the events leading up to the tragedy and the search for answers that followed.
Cineflix produces with Amazon MGM Studios, with the show streaming globally on Prime Video.
Prime Video has also greenlit Madness of Three, which unpacks the 2022 murders in Wieambilla, Queensland, when three locals, two of them former teachers, left two police officers and an innocent neighbour dead.
The five-part show explores the conspiracy, delusion and online influence that drove the trio to violence. Blackfella Films for Amazon MGM Studios and will stream globally on Prime Video.
The streamer has also ordered a fourth installment of The Test, which tracks the Australian Men’s Test cricket team as they return to South Africa, face a five-Test series in India, and prepare for the 2027 Ashes.
Cricket Australia, Whooshka Media and Amazon MGM Studios are again attached on the series, which will stream globally on Prime Video.
The trio join Prime Video’s steadily expanding local slate in Oz, where the streamer has ordered 34 originals to date including The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Deadloch and sports doc Final Siren: Inside the AFL.
“We strongly believe that to be successful globally, you need to be successful locally,” said Sarah Christie, head of Australian and New Zealand originals at Amazon MGM Studios, who described the shows as “powerful, authentic stories told with the depth and insight they deserve.”
She added: “These new commissions reflect our continued dedication to telling compelling Australian stories that matter – from the sporting moments that unite us, to true crime cases that gripped us locally and made headlines internationally.”
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