Looking for something to watch while you kick back for the weekend? Netflix’s diverse catalog has a lot to offer, from multi-season shows to titles that you can finish watching in one weekend. But most importantly, the platform hosts a large collection of Oscar-winning films.
From deeply emotional narratives to a Bond throwback that is only streaming on Netflix U.S. for a few more days, this weekend’s Oscar list is not something you want to skip. Here’s all you need to know.
Period. End of Sentence
How a small village’s women deal with a deep-rooted problem
Inspired by the life and work of Arunachalam Muruganantham, a social activist from Coimbatore, Period. End of Sentence. is an Indian, Hindi-language short documentary that tackles a widespread issue in several rural parts of India: the lack of women’s menstrual health awareness and resources.
Directed by Rayka Zehtabchi, the documentary follows the quiet menstrual health revolution led by women in a small village outside of Delhi, India. They learn to operate and produce low-cost and biodegradable sanitary napkins for young girls and women at a factory, empowering themselves through labor and their fellow residents. The brand under which the pads are sold is named “FLY,” with the intention of allowing women and girls in the village to soar to greater heights.
Period. End of Sentence. tackles the stigma and shame surrounding menstruation and women’s health in such rural areas, as well as the health consequences faced by those who do not have access to menstrual products. It touches on how young girls, due to their lack of access, had several school absences and eventually ended up dropping out and how this factory and its affordable products changed the stories for these women.
The film screened across the U.S. at film festivals in 2018 before premiering on Netflix in 2019. Period. End of Sentence. won the Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject) at the 91st Academy Awards.
Thunderball
A classic Bond film with high stakes and heavy action
Fans of Sean Connery’s James Bond don’t want to miss out on this absolutely classic Bond film. Thunderball, the fourth film in Connery’s take on the MI6 agent, is streaming on Netflix only for this weekend (leaving on April 20, 2026), so catch it before it’s too late.
This 1965 vintage spy thriller follows Bond on a new mission: investigating the theft of two atomic bombs by the criminal organization SPECTRE. The weapons are hijacked during a NATO training exercise by Emilio Largo, a high-ranking SPECTRE operative, who hides them in the Bahamas and demands a huge ransom from world governments. Bond is sent to Nassau, where he tracks Largo’s movements, infiltrates his inner circle, and forms an alliance with Largo’s mistress, Domino.
As our favorite agent uncovers the location of the bombs, the film sees underwater surveillance, gripping fights, and classic spying that is quintessentially Bond. Meanwhile, Bond and Largo engage in a cat-and-mouse game, faking knowledge about the other’s true identity. All this culminates in a high-scale confrontation between SPECTRE and allied forces as they race against time to prevent a nuclear catastrophe.
At the 1966 Academy Awards, John Stears won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. Connery’s seventh and final movie as James Bond, Never Say Never Again (1983), is an unofficial remake of Thunderball, which he took on after a twelve-year hiatus.
12 Years a Slave
An incredible, deeply tragic story based on real events
Cited as one of the best works of the 2010s is 12 Years a Slave, a deeply emotional and heavy film that you don’t want to miss out on. Based on a memoir written in the 1850s by Solomon Northup, this powerful historical drama follows Solomon, a free Black man living in New York, who is tricked by two conmen, kidnapped, and sold into slavery in the American South.
Stripped of his identity as a musician and freedom, Solomon endures years of brutal treatment under different slave owners, including the deeply cruel Edwin Epps. Despite the physical and emotional toll that his life takes on him, he holds onto his resilience and hope for survival while longing for home. The film also touches on his life after he gets his freedom and his legacy.
The film was shot across four historic antebellum plantations, with one location being very close to where Northup was actually held.
12 Years a Slave received a whopping nine Academy Award nominations, winning for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay for Ridley, and Best Supporting Actress for Lupita Nyong’o. The Best Picture win made McQueen the first Black producer to ever receive the award and the first Black director of a Best Picture winner. It also swept other award shows, like the Golden Globes, BAFTA, and the British Academy Film Awards.
Make sure you also browse through and stream the newest titles that Netflix has added this month. To find more Oscar and other award-winning films on Netflix, you can browse through the platform’s Oscar Spotlight category.
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