What is Netflix’s Our Oceans all about and how is Barack Obama related to it? Explained
Netflix's Our Oceans is a docuseries narrated by former United States President Barack Obama. The series is produced by Freeborne Media, Wild Space Productions, and Higher Ground Productions.
Higher Ground Productions is the production company headed by Barack and Michelle Obama, and it has been involved in a number of productions such as American Factory and Becoming, which was a documentary covering Michelle's book tour.
Our Oceans was released on Netflix on November 20, 2024. The five-part docuseries covers the global ocean current, or "conveyor belt," that runs beneath the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Southern Ocean, Indian Ocean, and Atlantic Ocean.
Barack Obama has produced Our Oceans and is the narrator
Barack Obama is one of the producers of Netflix's Our Oceans through his company Higher Ground Productions. He's also the narrator of the entire docuseries.
Our Oceans is the latest collaboration between Higher Ground Productions and Freeborne Media. The two had previously produced Our Great National Parks, which covered national parks around the world, also narrated by Obama.
The new Netflix docuseries focuses on the "conveyor belt" of planet Earth's ocean currents. These currents flow beneath the major five ocean bodies on the planet and are a crucial part of the biosphere.
With the use of cutting-edge research and filming technology, Our Oceans serves as a deep dive into the state of the oceans as they are today, including an up-close and intimate look at the marine life that populates the Earth's major water bodies.
The "conveyor belt," or the global ocean current, plays a critical role in maintaining the Earth's biodiversity and aquatic life. Our Oceans will take viewers on a 75,000-mile odyssey through the flora and fauna that inhabit the aquatic wildlife of the planet's oceans, including sea urchins, blue whales, and cuttlefish.
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Barack Obama's Higher Ground Productions has collaborated extensively with Netflix
Higher Ground Productions and Netflix have had a longstanding partnership, going all the way back to 2019, when American Factory was released. The documentary film followed a manufacturing plant located near Daytona, Ohio, owned by the Chinese company Fuyao. The film was directed by Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar.
Another notable documentary produced by Higher Ground Productions is Becoming, which followed Michelle Obama's book tour, as she promoted her 2018 memoir of the same name. The documentary was directed by Nadia Hallgren and released on Netflix on May 6, 2020.
However, the production company isn't exclusively involved in non-fiction. It has been involved in numerous scripted feature films as well. These include 2021's Fatherhood starring Kevin Hart, Worth starring Michael Keaton, 2023's Rustin starring Colman Domingo, and Leave The World Behind starring Julia Roberts. All these films had limited theatrical releases and were distributed by Netflix.
Aside from its extensive work with Netflix, Barack Obama's Higher Ground Productions has also dabbled in the production of audio series in collaboration with Spotify. These include The Michelle Obama Podcast (July 2020), Renegades: Born in the USA (February 2021), The Big Hit Show: Twilight (January 2022), and The Big Hit Show: To Pimp a Butterfly (February 2022).
Netflix's Our Oceans is the latest collaboration between the streaming service and Barack Obama's Higher Ground Productions. The docuseries was released on November 20, 2024.
