Documenting Winners

Last night I attended the Doc Edge Awards 2026, which recognised the best New Zealand and international documentaries submitted to the fest, along with some special awards for contributions to documentary.

Chief among those was the Raye Freedman Legacy Award that went to DEGANZ board member and documentary maker Kim Webby.

This award recognises outstanding female storytellers in the documentary film industry. Kim is a deserved winner.

I’ve known Kim for more than 30 years, from the time she was a current affairs reporter at TVNZ, prior to her move into documentary-making.

As a reporter, she was principled and relentless. As a documentary maker, she has proven herself time and time again as a director and producer of factual TV and feature documentary. Her latest film Unlikely Kin, co-directed with DEGANZ member Mike Jonathan, is showing at Doc Edge over the next month. Don’t miss it.

There were many other notable acknowledgements, but the one I’d like to point out is the Doc Edge Superhero Award 2026 that went to editor Tim Woodhouse. Tim is the long-time collaborator of DEGANZ member, former board member, and NZ doco powerhouse Leanne Pooley.

Tim and Leanne have been a creative team across many of her films and her latest factual series, Choir Games. Perhaps most notable because of the recent passing of Kiwi icon Dame Jools Topp was their work on feature The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls, which won the hearts of NZ and international audiences alike.

Other key awards that stood out were those that went to Best New Zealand Project Desiderium: What Stood Here, created by Ellie Adams, and Best International Project The World Came Flooding In, created by Van Sowerwine and Isobel Knowles.

I haven’t kept my eye on immersive projects, even though I first noted them at the 2017 Cannes Film Fest when Alejandro González Iñárritu made history with his groundbreaking virtual reality project, Carne y Arena (Virtually Present, Physically Invisible). It was the first immersive work ever presented as an Official Selection at a major film festival.

Immersive has clearly come a long way. You can see the 12 projects on offer at Doc Edge, including the winners, at the Smith & Caughey’s building in the Auckland CBD. It runs daily from 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM until July 12.

Even in these difficult times for the screen industry both domestically and internationally, it’s heartening to see that documentary is alive and well, as exhibited through the shorts and features selected for Doc Edge.

The struggle and passion for documentary storytelling, and the heartbreaking stories that get revealed through this medium, were on display last night. None more so than the film that won the Best New Zealand Documentary and Best New Zealand Editing Awards, featherStrength. Filmmaker John Earle, who documented his own journey to meet the relentless demands of raising a child with severe developmental challenges, was near wordless and close to tears both times he was acknowledged for his achievements.

I’ve yet to see the film, but it’s undoubtedly worth watching.

Tui Ruwhiu
Executive Director

Last updated on 2 July 2026