Doc Edge Unveils Bold 2026 Festival Programme With 28 World Premieres

The Oscar qualifying Doc Edge Festival has announced its full 2026 programme, unveiling a bold line-up of documentary films and immersive storytelling from Aotearoa and around the world that confront, challenge, and connect audiences through urgent, real-world stories.

This year’s festival features an unmissable and genre-defying line-up which includes 49 feature films, 26 short films, and 12 immersive projects. Running from 24 June to 10 August, the programme spans global issues, powerful local voices, and deeply human stories across screenings, exhibitions, and events in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and nationwide via the Virtual Cinema.

The 2026 programme includes 28 world premieres across film and immersive storytelling, including 14 New Zealand world premieres alongside international premieres from Germany, Thailand, Czechia, Singapore, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Among them are 10 feature films, 13 short films, and 5 immersive projects making their world premiere at the festival.

This year’s festival traverses stories of whānau, resistance, conflict, environmental collapse, creativity, Indigenous knowledge, survival, music, and human connection through work from both emerging voices and internationally acclaimed filmmakers. The festival also includes a special French focus supported by Institut Français and the Embassy of France in New Zealand, featuring films including the acclaimed Inside Gaza and Collapse alongside Cagnat, Drawing or Nothing (Cagnat, le dessin sinon rien) and If You Don’t Like It, Look Away (Au bain des dames).

The World Press Photo & Doc Edge Immersive Exhibition 2026 and the Doc Edge festival hub will take over the Smith & Caughey building in central Auckland from 24 June, transforming the iconic space into a major new home for documentary storytelling in Aotearoa. The ticketed exhibition will bring internationally acclaimed photojournalism and cutting edge immersive works together under one roof for the first time in New Zealand, while also serving as a central gathering place for festival audiences, filmmakers and industry guests throughout the festival. More info here.

Auckland screenings this year will take place at The Capitol Cinema alongside new venue partner Takapuna Beachside Cinemas from 24 June to 12 July. Wellington screenings return to The Roxy Cinema from 15 – 26 July, while Christchurch audiences can attend screenings at Jack Mann Theatre at the University of Canterbury from 31 July to 2 August.

Doc Edge Industry returns to Auckland from 29 June to 1 July, with filmmakers and documentary professionals from around the world converging in the city for a programme of pitching sessions, industry talks, networking events, and market opportunities.

The Doc Edge Awards will take place on 1 July in Auckland.
Joining the already announced premiere films are these newly announced World Premieres:

FEATHER STRENGTH
Dir. Jon Earle | New Zealand, Netherlands | World Premiere
Created over more than a decade, featherStrength is an intimate film about caregiving, endurance, and family life. Filmed largely by director Jon Earle himself, the film follows the realities of raising his daughter with profound developmental disabilities and the emotional, physical, and financial pressures that reshape his family’s life.

RANGINUI: CALL OF THE ICE
Dir. Julia Sartorio | New Zealand | World Premiere
Set against the darkness and isolation of Antarctica in winter, the film follows Māori astronomer Rangi Matamua and language expert Mataia Keepa as science and mātauranga Māori meet on one of the most extreme landscapes on Earth. As storms close in and conditions shift around them, the pair navigate a frozen world shaped by ice, stars, survival, and ancestral knowledge.

FIRST CUTS ARE THE DEEPEST
Dirs. Sopawan Boonnimitra, Peerachai Kerdsint | Thailand | World Premiere
Filmed over six years, the film follows three children navigating very different corners of Thailand’s education system. From a religious boarding school in the deep South to an overcrowded classroom in Bangkok, the film captures the quiet moments, friendships, and pressures that shape them as they grow up.

Additional New Zealand World Premiere shorts include:

• Digital Traditions: Kastom Keeper
• Gloria
• Good Kunst
• The Weight of the World
• Student Army
• Race Be Run
• Girls' Flight Out
• Jacqueline Fahey: From Where I'm Looking
• Stoats' Last Stand

Additional International World Premiere shorts include:

• Tied with the Tides · Singapore
• The Bookstore That Never Sleeps · Canada
• The Place Where Memories Hide · United Kingdom

Other New Zealand films screening in this year’s programme include

The War Below: Restoring Hope in the Solomon Islands

and a special screening of

NZ Wars: Stories of Waerenga a Hika.

Full programme and tickets available now at

Doc Edge Festival

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 Queen Street, Auckland

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, University of Canterbury

Nationwide:

27 July – 10 August

The Virtual Cinema

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