Netflix takes on WildBear’s Second World War POW doc Under a Bamboo Sky

Second World War documentary Under a Bamboo Sky

Netflix ANZ has acquired historical Second World War documentary Under a Bamboo Sky from Australian production company WildBear Entertainment.

The feature documentary explores the untold stories of a group of Australian POWs across four countries, enduring imprisonment at Changi, building the Thai Burma Railway, then taken to Japan via sea and surviving a shipwreck to work in local coal mines and factories and then witnessing the atomic fallout at Nagasaki.

The epic survival story has been brought to the screen using footage colourised for the first time and via the personal recollections of 63 soldiers, sailors and airmen.

The documentary will be streamed on Netflix from May 8, following an Australia-wide theatrical release in the lead up to ANZAC Day 2026. The project represents WildBear’s first foray into theatrical distribution, collaborating with distributor ABCG Film.

The project was developed and produced by WildBear Entertainment and directed by Serge Ou, in recognition of the 80th anniversary of the end of WWII and financed by the ACT Government and Screen Canberra, The Returned & Services League of Australia and the Australian Government Department of Veterans’ Affairs with support from the Australian War Memorial.