The Doc Edge (formerly DOCNZ International Documentary Film Festival, DOCNZ Film Festival, then Documentary Edge Festival) is New Zealand's
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...
-qualifying international documentary film festival, run annually by the
Documentary New Zealand Trust since 2005 under the motto ''Life Unscripted''.
Description
Doc Edge is held annually, from April to June, in
Auckland
Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...
and
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...
. The festival is run by the
Documentary New Zealand Trust under the motto ''Life Unscripted''.
It showcases documentary films from New Zealand and around the world, and includes awards, Q&A sessions with filmmakers, and other events.
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History
The first Documentary Edge Festival, previously known as DOCNZ International Documentary Film Festival, or simply DOCNZ Film Festival, was launched in 2005 in Auckland
Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...
[
The Festival was rebranded as Documentary Edge Festival in 2010, and has been branded Doc Edge since around 2016.][
In 2016, Doc Edge became an Oscar-qualifying festival for the Short Documentary Subject category, while in 2018 it received an additional qualification of the Feature Documentary Subject.
In 2016, the festival set up a petition demanding a visa for Iranian documentary maker Rokhsareh Ghaemmaghami, who was invited to be a guest speaker, present her feature film, and host classes, but got rejected by the Immigration New Zealand office in Washington.
Traditionally held in May to June in Auckland and ]Wellington
Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...
theatres, the festival chose to pivot during the coronavirus outbreak in 2020, taking the full festival online with a video-on-demand
Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typical static broadcasting ...
platform provided by Shift72
Shift72 is a New Zealand-based company that facilitates White-label product, white-label video streaming platforms. It was founded in 2008.
Shift72 is best known for facilitating online film festivals during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic which ...
, opening up to a nationwide audience for the first time and increasing the size of the programme.[
The 19th edition of the festival featured a line-up of 66 documentaries and 28 immersive projects, 30 world premiers among them.]
The Documentary Edge Awards
The Documentary Edge Festival celebrates the best of documentary films by awarding artists in the following categories:
References
{{Reflist
Documentary film festivals in New Zealand
Festivals in Auckland