Doc Edge Festival 2026 Announces Award Finalists, Jury And International Guests

More than 20 international filmmakers, producers, immersive creators and documentary subjects are travelling to Aotearoa and available for interviews for the 21st edition of the Oscar-qualifying Doc Edge Festival, joining an outstanding line-up of New Zealand and international finalists competing for this year's Doc Edge Awards.

Doc Edge Festival will showcase 87 films and immersive projects, including 28 world premieres, 12 international premieres and 23 Asia Pacific premieres. The festival opens in Auckland from 24 June – 12 July at The Capitol Cinema and Takapuna Beachside Cinema before travelling to Wellington from 15 – 26 July at The Roxy Cinema. A three day Christchurch Showcase will follow from 31 July to 2 August, with screenings and events taking place across the Jack Mann Theatre, Kōawa Studios and the University of Canterbury. Further programme details will be announced soon. Audiences nationwide can also access the festival through the Doc Edge Virtual Cinema from 27 July to 10 August.

"Doc Edge continues to bring the world's most compelling documentary storytellers to Aotearoa. This year's programme features a remarkable range of stories and perspectives. We're excited to welcome filmmakers and subjects from around the world whose work explores everything from political resistance and artificial intelligence to grief, identity, music, conflict and social change." says Dan Shanan, Executive Director of Doc Edge.

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading

International guests attending this year's festival including:

Soleil Moon Frye (USA), director of The Werewolf in the Waves, follows the reunion between herself and childhood friend Seth Binzer (Shifty Shellshock of Crazy Town) as his comeback tour unfolds into a moving story of love, addiction and loss. Shot largely on an iPhone, the film is an intimate and deeply personal portrait from the award winning director of Kid 90. Soleil is best known for her childhood role as the titular star of Punky Brewster.

Andrea Werhun (Canada), subject of Modern Whore, appears in this funny, raw and disarming hybrid documentary based on her memoir Modern Whore. Revisiting her experiences as an escort, stripper and OnlyFans creator, Andrea explores intimacy, identity and the realities of sex work while challenging common perceptions.

Ahmet Seven (Turkey), director of For Life, tells the remarkable story of Hind, a Palestinian woman whose husband has spent more than 20 years in an Israeli prison. Determined to become a mother, she embarks on a secret IVF journey that becomes a powerful act of love, resilience and resistance.

Sopawan Boonnimitra and Peerachai Kerdsint (Thailand), directors of First Cuts Are the Deepest, an International Feature finalist, follow three children over six years as they navigate school, friendship and growing up in different corners of Thailand.

Hank Chen (China), the team behind Student Army, an International Short Competition finalist, explore China's compulsory university military training programme, where millions of young students undergo their first introduction to discipline, patriotism and adulthood.

Ianessa Valdellon and Glaiza de Castro (Philippines), producer and actress of 58th, tell the story of the 2009 Maguindanao Massacre, the deadliest attack on journalists in history, through one family's ongoing search for truth and justice.

Schahab Kermani (Germany), director of Mar Musa, an International Feature finalist, offers an intimate portrait of an ancient Syrian monastery where monks and nuns work towards peace, healing and interfaith understanding in the aftermath of war.

Yann Ollivier (France), producer of Inside Gaza, presents a rare and powerful account from AFP journalists reporting from inside Gaza, documenting the conflict while risking their own lives in what has become the deadliest war ever recorded for members of the press.

Yi-Ping Cheng (Taiwan), creator of the immersive experience Poems of Life, part of the World Press Photo & Doc Edge Immersive Exhibition, invites audiences into a dreamlike interactive journey where a tin boy helps a mysterious bird navigate a ruined world, blending storytelling, eye-tracking technology and striking visual design.

Additional international guests include Alice Cagnat (France), director of Cagnat, Drawing or Nothing; Ariel Cypel (France), writer and executive director of Collapse; Ira Yeroshko(Ukraine), producer of Ember; Fayed Khan (Bangladesh) and Kirsty Wells (UK), directors of In the Path of Giants; Daniel Lin (USA), director of Remathau: People of the Ocean; Andy Huang (Australia), producer of Replica; Thaddeus Matula (USA), director of Revolution's Daughter; Haneol Lee (USA), director of Sole; Justin Zoras (Canada), director of The Bookstore That Never Sleeps; Andy Hui Liuxing (Singapore), producer of Tied with the Tides; Richard Carey (New Zealand, Canada based), director of Race Be Run and Royd Tolkien (UK) director and subject of There’s a Hole in My Bucket.

Media are encouraged to book interviews now with visiting filmmakers, producers, jury members and documentary subjects.

The 2026 Doc Edge Awards will take place on 1 July. The jury includes leading documentary professionals from New Zealand and around the world: Baby Ruth Villarama (Philippines), Dafydd Sills-Jones (New Zealand), Galia Barhava (New Zealand), Jane Wrightson (New Zealand), Jon Kroll (New Zealand), Kate Cresswell (New Zealand), Laura Theron (French Polynesia), Mette Hoffmann Meyer (Denmark),Rebecca Tansley (New Zealand), Sam Witters (New Zealand), and Tamar Münch (New Zealand).

2026 KEY FESTIVAL DATES & VENUES

World Press Photo & Doc Edge Immersive Exhibition & Festival Hub:

From 24 June daily from 10am to 8pm
Smith & Caughey’s, corner of Wellesley St. & Elliot St, Auckland CBD

Industry:
29 June – 1 July, Auckland

Awards:
1 July, Auckland

Auckland:
24 June – 12 July
The Capitol Cinema and Takapuna Beachside Cinemas

Wellington:
15 – 26 July
The Roxy Cinema

Christchurch:
31 July – 2 August
Jack Mann Theatre, Kōawa Studios, University of Canterbury

Nationwide:
27 July – 10 August
The Virtual Cinema

The 2026 Doc Edge Awards Finalists are:

NEW ZEALAND FEATURE FINALISTS
featherStrength
Finding Honk
Legacy (Héritières)
Music and the Mystical Experience
Ranginui: Call of the Ice
Sukundimi Walks Before Me
The War Below: Restoring Hope in the Solomon Islands
There's a Hole in My Bucket
Unlikely Kin

NEW ZEALAND SHORT FINALISTS
Digital Traditions: Kastom Keepers
Girls' Flight Out
Gloria
Good Kunst
Jacqueline Fahey: From Where I'm Looking
Race Be Run
Stoats' Last Stand
The Weight of the World

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FINALISTS
Collapse (France)
Dance For Your Life (Australia)
Elon Musk Unveiled: The Tesla Experiment (Germany)
First Cuts are the Deepest (Thailand)
Inside Gaza (Belgium, France)
Let Our Mountains Live (Norway, Finland)
Mar Musa (Germany)
Modern Whore (Canada)
Replica (Australia, France)
Return to a Strange Land (Czechia)
Revolution's Daughter (USA)
Seized (USA)
The Trial of Alec Baldwin (USA)
The Werewolf in the Waves (USA)
The Life We Live (USA)

INTERNATIONAL SHORT FINALISTS
The Bookstore That Never Sleeps (Canada)
Ember (Luxembourg, Ukraine)
Flashes in the Realms of Caves (Bahamas)
Hunter's Moon (USA)
If You Don't Like It, Look Away (France)
Memories of a Window (Germany, Iran, USA)
The Place Where Memories Hide (UK)
The Revolution Against Death (Denmark)
Sole (USA)
Student Army (China)
The Tuners (Poland)

© Scoop Media

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading