Expanding the global footprint of New Zealand stories
How did Doc Edge film festival triple its audience in the middle of a pandemic? EHF Fellows, Alex Lee, and Dan Shanan set a great example of how to flourish in the switch to digital.
The surest way to create change is through passion. And the surest way to spark passion is by bringing people face-to-face with an issue. That’s why documentaries can be such powerful tools. They offer glimpses into worlds and problems that people might not otherwise encounter in their daily lives.
EHF Fellows, Alex Lee, and Dan Shanan have been bringing new documentaries to audiences in New Zealand for the past 15 years. They started the Documentary Edge Festival in 2004 with a mission to support filmmakers and inspire audiences through world-changing stories.
This Academy-Award qualifying event has grown into Australasia’s leading documentary festival attracting international attention and critical acclaim.
This year, COVID-19 concerns enabled Doc Edge to be the first film festival in Australasia and the first screen industry event in the Asia Pacific to go online, giving the festival an opportunity to grow in unexpected ways.
By switching to a digital platform, Doc Edge was able to expand its reach to countries around the globe and triple its previous attendance.
Their remarkable success presents an example of how to adapt to unprecedented challenges.
A change in plans
When the COVID-19 outbreak reached levels of global concern last March, Alex knew they were going to have to make hard decisions
The festival was only 3 months away and New Zealand was heading towards a complete lock-down. Doc Edge was already in production for a live event. No one knew when things would re-open. Alex and Dan had to choose between shutting down (losing 15 years of hard work and goodwill) or to pivot quickly and innovate and pivot.
They chose to embrace change.
While many people spent lockdown looking for ways to entertain themselves, Alex and his team spent most of their time on Zoom calls creating a world-class online event on a very tight deadline.
Even before this pandemic, Alex had anticipated a need to incorporate digital elements into the festival at some point. It’s just the way the world has been heading. So instead of scaling back their event, the team decided this was a great opportunity to push the boundaries and try new things.
“We weren’t just intent on pivoting, we were intent on making an impact.”
The new face of Doc Edge
For the 2020 online Doc Edge Festival, they increased the number of films and lined up more than 70 digital Q&A sessions with the filmmakers, cinematographers, and producers of the films. They adapted their in-theatre schools programme and delivered this online. Their industry event and market found the new digital landscape enabled both NZ and international industry to participate together creating new opportunities.
In the end, Doc Edge tripled its audience compared to previous years, in part because the online platform opened it up to a truly worldwide audience.
What could have been a devastating setback, Alex says, turned out to be the push they needed to grow the festival for future years. He’s most excited by the great feedback they’ve received, and several inquiries from other countries that are interested in starting their own local Doc Edge festivals.
“We truly believe in the humanity that comes from documentaries, and if we can extend that beyond New Zealand that’s really a dream and aspiration.”
Looking ahead post COVID-19
Like many of us, Alex and his team are interested to see what comes from a post-COVID world.
“The world has changed, we can’t go back to the old - but we don’t know what the new is.”
Alex says that he’s not 100% certain of what future Doc Edge festivals will look like, but they will definitely be hybrid with both online and in-person events.
They learned a lot from Doc Edge 2020 about how they can smooth out online screenings and avoid technical issues. Doc Edge 2021 will be one to watch out for as they curate and design an experience that will be memorable and community building like none other thus far.
The tricky part will be creating unique and complete experiences for both digital and in-person audiences.
The Doc Edge team wants to continue to push the envelope and create a new kind of event that New Zealand has never seen. Their goal of changing the world through compelling stories is supported by an ever-widening global audience.
The more people that know about an issue, the better chance it stands of being solved. Stories — especially documentaries — do the important work of opening people’s eyes to the world’s challenges and inspiring them to seek solutions.
This year, Doc Edge cracked open a new global platform and they are excited to continue collaborating with other documentary-makers and aficionados around the world and fostering the most impact possible from their success.
Get involved
Doc Edge runs events and screenings of new documentary films throughout the year. Check out their website to learn more at docedge.nz