Doc Edge Festival

Overview

Doc Edge Festival 2027 Doc Edge is the Asia Pacific hub for all things documentary — celebrating, supporting, and showcasing the finest documentary films and storytelling from around the world. We invite filmmakers, storytellers, and documentary enthusiasts from across the globe to submit their work to one of the most prestigious documentary festivals in the Asia Pacific region. As an Oscar® qualifying festival for feature and short documentaries, held annually across New Zealand, we strive to select world and international premieres eligible for Oscar® contention. The festival is committed to curating a selection of the highest-quality films that demonstrate excellence in storytelling, celebrate diversity, and inspire social change. We are particularly committed to supporting Pacific voices and stories, and actively welcome submissions from filmmakers with Pacific content, subjects, and perspectives. In 2027, the festival will be a hybrid event, with screenings in cinemas and online across New Zealand. The online component is an integral part of the Doc Edge festival as it enables audiences from outside the key centres to also view the films. It will include the following exciting components: • Doc Edge Awards: Celebrates excellence and achievement in documentary filmmaking, with winners receiving Oscar® consideration, as well as cash and in-kind prizes. • Doc Edge Immersive Exhibition: Showcases digital interactive storytelling projects featuring top international and local virtual/augmented reality installations. • Doc Edge Industry: Asia Pacific's premier documentary industry event, providing world-class learning, pitching, and connecting opportunities for media professionals, comprising three main elements: Forum, Pitch, and Market. - Forum fosters networking and career development for storytellers. - Pitch allows filmmakers to present their projects to industry experts. - Market facilitates connections between New Zealand films and potential buyers. For the latest information and updates, please visit docedge.nz and sign up for our newsletter. We look forward to receiving your submissions for Doc Edge Festival 2027.

Last updated Sep 4, 2026

Legitimacy Analysis

Trust Signals

Festival Details

FilmFreeway communityGold festival

• Filmmaker

  Such a prestigious and beautifully curated festival

• Filmmaker

  Doc Edge is hands down one of the best festival experiences on the circuit, run by people who truly champion non-fiction cinema. We were honoured to host the world premiere of The Bookstore That Never Sleeps at Doc Edge. The care, hospitality, and genuine enthusiasm they bring to documentary storytelling are unmatched. A huge thank you to Alex, Dan, and the entire Doc Edge team for their incredible support, seamless communication, and for making our premiere so memorable. A world-class festival in every way.

• Filmmaker

  Doc Edge is a fantastic festival with a thoughtfully curated programme and a team that goes above and beyond to support filmmakers. The 3-day industry event is world class — an excellent forum for networking, pitching and panel discussions. Huge thanks to Alex, Dan, Hunter and the whole team for all that they do!

• Filmmaker

  Doc Edge has been the first festival that I have been accepted to and it was an amazing experience. I am humbled to have won the Best New Zealand Tertiary Student Short Film award which has already helped me with future projects. The industry event was amazing and I really appreciated the speakers and the networking opportunities. I found the experience wonderful, and a great standard to hold other festivals to in the future. The team at Doc Edge is also very attentive and patient with a first time filmmaker, so I really appreciate all the work they did.

• Filmmaker

  It was an honor to have our international premiere for "Ember" in New Zealand with Doc Edge! Amazing audience and cozy cinema. The team behind Doc Edge is passionate and so welcoming. I cannot wait to be back.

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