NAOMI WATTS STARRER "PENGUIN BLOOM" FROM MADE UP STORIES, JAM TART FILMS AND BROADTALK ACQUIRED BY NETFLIX IN SELECT COUNTRIES

Netflix has acquired Penguin Bloom in North America, UK, France and select countries in Asia

Cast: Academy Award nominee Naomi Watts, Andrew Lincoln, Academy Award nominee Jacki Weaver, Rachel House, Leeanna Walsman, Lisa Hensley, Griffin Murray-Johnston, Felix Cameron, Abe Clifford-Barr

Director: Glendyn Ivin

Ivin directed the short film Cracker Bag, which won the Palme d'Or at Cannes, and Last Ride. His credits in television include Puberty Blues, A Beautiful Lie, Safe Harbour, and The Cry.

Screenwriters: Shaun Grant and Harry Cripps

Based on the book by Cameron Bloom and Bradley Trevor Greive

Producers: Emma Cooper, Made Up Stories' Bruna Papandrea, Steve Hutensky, and

Jodi Matterson, and Naomi Watts

Production Companies: Screen Australia Presents in Association with Endeavor Content Roadshow Films and Create NSW A Made Up Stories, Jam Tart Films, and Broadtalk Production

Executive Producers: Sonia Amoroso, George Kekeli, Meryl Metni, Ricci Swart, Sam Bloom, Cameron Bloom, Bradley Trevor Greive, Joel Pearlman, Edwina Waddy, Jill Bilcock

Synopsis: In 2013, Samantha Bloom (two-time Academy Award nominee Naomi Watts), her husband Cameron (The Walking Dead's Andrew Lincoln) and their three sons left their home in Australia for a holiday in Thailand. While enjoying a view, Sam fell off of a rooftop due to what was later determined to be a rotted railing...breaking her vertebrae in two places. Paralyzed from the chest down, Sam - a lifelong outdoorswoman, surfer, and traveler - was unrecognizable to herself, and spent long months in a depression that made her question who she could be in the world and in her own family.

A year later, her children brought home a wounded baby magpie they found. Warily eyeing the black-and-white bird the kids affectionately named "Penguin," Sam bonded with the household's new member, beginning a process of emotional healing that surprised her husband and sons, her mother (Academy Award nominee Jacki Weaver), and herself. PENGUIN BLOOM tells the amazing true story of renewal that occurred when a woman whose life seemed shattered found hope and purpose in her family's love - and in a bird on its own journey of recovery.

QUOTE FROM THE PRODUCERS OF PENGUIN BLOOM: "We all fell in love with the life-affirming nature of Sam's story and her undeniable spirit. The emotional journey she and her family go on after Penguin enters their lives is unforgettable. We have a wonderful partner in Netflix and we're delighted they will be bringing Penguin Bloom to audiences around the world."

Netflix will release the film on January 27, 2021

ABOUT MADE UP STORIES  

Made Up Stories is a development and production company that amplifies distinctive voices to tell unforgettable stories about the diversity of human experience, driven primarily by multifaceted females on and off-screen. Made Up Stories was founded in 2017, and is run by Bruna Papandrea, the award-winning producer of the HBO series BIG LITTLE LIES, nominated for five Emmy Awards for its second season (and awarded 8 Emmy Awards, 4 Golden Globe Awards, etc., for its first season), and feature films including WILD, GONE GIRL (over $365 million in worldwide box office), WARM BODIES, MILK, and ALL GOOD THINGS. Made Up Stories recently produced the film THE DRY, based on the Jane Harper novel, from director Robert Connolly and starring Eric Bana. Previously, Made Up Stories produced Jennifer Kent's THE NIGHTINGALE, which made its world premiere at the 2018 Venice Film Festival where it won two awards before it was released theatrically by IFC Films and won six AACTA Awards including Best Film in 2019; and Abe Forsythe's LITTLE MONSTERS, starring Lupita Nyong'o and Josh Gad, which made its world premiere at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and was distributed by Neon and Hulu. On the television side, Made Up Stories' HBO series THE UNDOING starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant, directed by Susanne Bier and created by David E. Kelley premiered October 25, 2020. Additional projects in various stages of production include: TELL ME YOUR SECRETS, written by Harriet Warner, directed by John Polson, and starring Lily Rabe for Amazon; NINE PERFECT STRANGERS, based on best-selling author Liane Moriarty's book, written by David E. Kelley and John Henry Butterworth, and starring Nicole Kidman and Melissa McCarthy for Hulu; the Netflix thriller series PIECES OF HER, adapted from renowned author Karin Slaughter's eponymous book, created by Charlotte Stoudt and directed by Minkie Spiro, starring Toni Colette and Bella Heathcote; and ANATOMY OF A SCANDAL, a six-part series based on the international bestseller by Sarah Vaughan, created by David E. Kelley and Melissa James Gibson and starring Sienna Miller and Michelle Dockery that S.J. Clarkson will direct for Netflix.