Tony Hsieh’s legacy grows with new streaming service

Tony Hsieh’s legacy just grew a little larger.

The new free streaming platform Documentary+ is a joint venture between the late Zappos co-founder and nonfiction studio XTR, headed by Bryn Mooser, a two-time Oscar nominee for short subject documentary.

“With Documentary+, not only are we building a home for some of the best documentary films of our time, but we’re giving filmmakers another option for distribution as competition continues to increase,” Mooser said in a statement. “The COVID pandemic created this great digital acceleration, and we are building Documentary+ to be a key cornerstone in the future of the industry.”

Among the filmmakers whose works are included at launch are Spike Jonze, Kathryn Bigelow, Terrence Malick, Davis Guggenheim and Werner Herzog.

Some of the service’s more high-profile films include the music documentaries “Festival Express,” featuring the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin and The Band, and “Hype,” which looks at the rise of Mudhoney, Nirvana, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam.

Of local interest, “The Aristocrats,” directed by Penn Jillette and Paul Provenza, features an all-star lineup of comedy greats discussing the most legendarily filthy joke of all time, while the climbing documentary “Fine Lines” includes Las Vegan Alex Honnold of “Free Solo” fame.

Hsieh, who died Nov. 27 of complications from smoke inhalation from a fire nine days earlier in New London, Connecticut, is listed on IMDb.com as the executive producer of six documentaries due out this year.

Documentary+ is available for free on all streaming platforms, mobile devices and at www.docplus.com.

Contact Christopher Lawrence at clawrence@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4567. Follow @life_onthecouch on Twitter.