WHO WE ARE
Doc Edge is the home for storytelling that changes your world. Our kaupapa is to celebrate, support and showcase documentary.
OUR PROGRAMMES / SERVICES
Doc Edge Festival
An Academy Awards® qualifying international documentary film festival held annually in Auckland, Wellington, and online nationwide. It showcases the best films from New Zealand and around the world and includes the Doc Edge Awards, celebrating excellence in filmmaking and the Doc Edge XR Exhibition, a showcase of digital interactive storytelling featuring top international and local VR, AR, installations, and digital stories.
Doc Edge Schools
An educational programme for students from Year 5 to Tertiary that connects school students with documentaries from NZ and around the world. Doc Edge Schools offers screenings during the annual Doc Edge Festival and a Virtual Classroom platform for schools across the country.
Doc Edge Industry
Learning and connecting opportunities for media professionals. Doc Edge Forum is an industry event that brings together local and international film, TV and other media professionals. It offers seminars, panels, masterclasses, and networking opportunities. Doc Edge Pitch is a documentary pitching forum for shorts, features and TV series. Doc Edge Clinics is a professional development programme for filmmakers. Doc Edge Market is a virtual platform to connect NZ films with buyers, festival programmes, distributors & sales agents.
Good Pitch Aotearoa NZ
Good Pitch is a worldwide programme that amplifies a film through a strategic impact. Developed by Doc Society and Sundance Documentary Institute, Good Pitch brings together documentary filmmakers with foundations, NGOs, campaigners, philanthropists, policymakers, brands and media around leading social and environmental issues — to forge coalitions and campaigns that are good for the partners, the films and society. Doc Edge is proud to be the host of Good Pitch Aotearoa New Zealand.
A complete rebrand introducing a fresh new look for Doc Edge and all its pillars.
The 16th Festival was delivered for the first time as a ‘fusion’ edition with in-theatre and online events, live performances and an expanded XR Exhibition.
Doc Edge Awards returned to The Civic’s Wintergarden in Auckland with several Aussie filmmakers able to attend including Doc Edge Superhero, Heather Croall. Other international filmmakers joined virtually.
Industry events were delivered online and internationally. The Forum, Pitch competition, Impact Lab, Date-A-Doco, Doc Engage, Rough Cuts and Clinics offered content makers outstanding opportunities to learn and network.
Documentary Hui held to discuss the state of documentary in NZ, attended by stakeholders, filmmakers and decision-makers.
Doc Edge Schools programme comprised in-theatre and online screenings with Q&As. Schools nationwide had the chance to participate through the On-Demand platform.
Doc Edge invested in Salesforce CRM for the purpose of unifying contacts, improving user experience and personalising engagement journeys.
Doc Edge Schools held satellite screenings at Māngere Arts Centre- Ngā Tohu O Uenuku which also included a public screening of the film High Tide Don’t Hide.
Virtual Bubble was held during nationwide Alert Level 4 Lockdown providing NZ with 80+ films from 2020 and 2021 festivals.
Doc Edge collaborated with Loading Docs to host a live online launch watch party and Q&As for their new season. The event was held on the Virtual Bubble where the films remained for future viewing.
20th Anniversary of 9/11 commemoration in collaboration with the U.S. Embassy was held on the Virtual Bubble and included a panel discussion with former Prime Minister Helen Clark and Acting U.S. Ambassador Kevin Covert And five films on 9/11 made available for free for the month of September.
Sod you coronavirus, we went digital!
In partnership with Chorus and with the support from our family of partners, Doc Edge took COVID-19 head on and moved our entire Industry and Festival programmes online. From March 2020, the global filmmaking community was able to come together to share their knowledge, experiences and phone numbers, during the beginning of the pandemic.
Doc Edge Festival increased the size of the programme and went nationwide, with 83 films (57 features and 26 shorts), 138 scheduled screenings over 24 days, Doc Edge Schools, an Opening Ceremony, the Doc Edge Awards, an extended on-demand season and audience numbers of over 70,000.
Three workshops were held online to introduce the new impact producing programme Good Pitch Aotearoa New Zealand.
Name Association Partnership formed with RNZ.
Doc Edge Awards becomes a separate event held at The Wintergarden in Auckland.
Jenny Gao awarded first Singapore Internship by Doc Edge, Beach House Pictures and Asia New Zealand Foundation.
Doc Edge and Rei Foundation launch Rangatahi Film Fund to support filmmakers creating documentaries for children.
First Doc Edge Goldies programme offers free screenings to seniors thanks to Kelliher Charitable Trust.
Doc Edge Schools post-festival screenings in Mangere, Northland & Wanaka.
Doc Edge selected as an Oscar-qualifying festival for the Documentary Feature category.
Agreement signed with Doc Society to run Good Pitch Pasifika.
Doc Edge Directors, Alex Lee and Dan Shanan, selected as Edmund Hillary Fellows.
Pilot In-Schools VOD Docs 4 Schools programme.
The first Story Edge World Exhibition held in Auckland.
Doc Edge selected as an Oscar-qualifying Festival for the Documentary – Short Subject category.
With support from Wellington City Council, Wellington is selected as the launching pad for Doc Edge events.
The first Sandbox is held as part of Story Edge.
MOU signed creating the Pacific Documentary and Interactive Storytelling Alliance (PADISA).
Docs 4 Schools is launched with the support of the Rei Foundation.
Screen Edge Forum is held in Wellington for the first time at Park Road Post.
The Festival’s 10th anniversary is held at Q Theatre and audiences grow by 18%. In Wellington, the Festival returns to Roxy Cinema and audiences grow by 20%.
Story Edge expands to replace Doc Lab.
2012 – Start of Doc Edge Presents, a season of monthly screenings in Auckland.
2012 – Documentary Edge Forum renamed Screen Edge Forum.
2013 – The Documentary Edge Festival moves to Q Theatre in Auckland and audience numbers grow by 25%.
2014 – The Auckland Festival audiences grow by 20%. In Wellington, the Festival moved to Roxy Cinema, Miramar, and audiences grow by 40%.
2014 – Story Edge starts with support from the NZ Film Commission for an interactive digital storytelling programme. Story Edge also receives support from NZ On Air in 2015.
2014 – The Docs for School programme is piloted with schools attending day-time sessions during the Festival.
DOCNZ rebrands as Documentary Edge, the Documentary Edge Festival and the Documentary Edge Forum.
The Documentary Edge Campus begins as a resource centre and library to make documentary materials available to the wider community (closed in 2013).
Doc Edge Lab is launched to help develop transmedia documentary projects (2010-2014).
2004 – The New Zealand Documentary Trust is established.
2005 – The inaugural DOCNZ Film Festival is held in Auckland and Wellington.
2006 – The inaugural industry events, DOCNZ Summit and Doc Pitch, are held in Auckland.
2006 – The DOCNZ Festival is introduced to Christchurch and Dunedin (2006-2009).
2009 – MOU signed with Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival (GZ DOCS).
Prior to 2004, there was no national documentary body to support and promote the documentary industry. Unlike other countries around the world, New Zealand did not have a festival dedicated to documentary.
This motivated the creative entrepreneurs, Dan Shanan and Alex Lee, to form the Documentary New Zealand Trust, a not-for-profit charitable organisation to promote and celebrate documentary.
Annual Returns
The Documentary New Zealand Trust and Screen Edge Ltd. Annual Returns at the Charities Register.
Annual Reports
The Documentary New Zealand Trust Annual Reports are available upon request.