Overview
The Documentary Edge Festival has been bringing the very best documentaries from across the globe to New Zealand since 2005. After moving online and nationwide for the first time in 2020, the festival is heading back to picture palaces across the country from 3 June–11 July, 2021.
The 2021 program is jam-packed with 83 feature-length films and short documentaries that you can watch in cinemas and from the comfort of your living room.
Following its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival in March, 2021 doco Tina will finally arrive Down Under. The feature from Oscar-winning filmmakers T.J. Martin and Daniel Lindsay serves as a parallel to the memoir of global superstar, Tina Turner. The HBO film shows an intimate portrait of the musician who overcame extreme adversity to define her career and legacy on her own terms.
Also making their NZ premiere at the 2021 festival are The Wonderful: Stories From The Space Station, which draws together stories from men and women who have been part of the International Space Station, and Sundance feature A Glitch In The Matrix, which dives down the rabbit hole of science, philosophy and conspiracy to explore the theory that we're all living in a simulation.
Further unscripted features arriving in Auckland and Wellington theatres include Workhorse Queen, following drag queen Mrs. Kasha Davis as she deals with fame after reality TV; The Sea Decides, a title following adventurer Grant Rawlinson as he journeys from Singapore to New Zealand by rowboat and bicycle; plus Playing With Sharks, a story of fearless 1950s shark hunter turned marine conservationist, Valerie Taylor.
Filling out the lineup is a selection of 31 local and international bite-sized documentaries, including three specially commissioned short films.
The 16th Documentary Edge Festival 2021 will screen at Auckland's SkyCity Theatre from 3–7 June and The Civic from 10–13 June. In Wellington it will screen at The Roxy Cinema from 17–27 June. Titles will also be available to stream online from 4 June–11 July. For more information and the full lineup, visit docedge.nz.