Doc Edge Schools brings documentaries to young audiences
May 2016 - present
Aotearoa New Zealand
School students enjoying Social Justice Shorts at the Doc Edge Schools festival.
Doc Edge Schools brings documentaries to young audiences
May 2016 - present
Aotearoa New Zealand
Since 2016, Rei Foundation has been partnering with the Doc Edge Film Festival to make documentaries more accessible to young people, both at film screenings in Auckland and Wellington and with an online platform. From May to June, the Doc Edge Schools programme provides free screenings of documentaries for schools in Auckland and Wellington.
These screenings help teachers engage their students with current issues, vital ideas, critical questions and new perspectives from around the world. Free education resource kits accompany each film, assisting teachers in bringing these conversations from the theatre directly into the classroom as learning experiences.
Rei Foundation believes in the power of documentaries to expand the worldview of our young people, who will go on to effect positive change in society".
In 2019 Doc Edge Schools held over 50 school sessions across two cities, hosted 4,300 students, and delivered inspiring sessions for students with film makers and expert speakers from across the world. Satellite screenings in Māngere and Whāngarei have brought documentaries to big screens beyond the main centres.
Rei Foundation and Doc Edge are committed to helping create greater access to documentary for those who might not otherwise have the chance. With this in mind, in the Doc Edge Schools programme has included a transport subsidy to help defray schools’ costs in getting their students to the theatres. Relaxed screenings in both Auckland and Wellington have created a setting where children with disabilities can benefit from documentaries in a more relaxed environment.
Rosie Brown and Kerry Clancy (centre and right) of the Tupu Ora Eating Disorders Clinic in a question and answer session facilitated by Doc Edge's Jess Keogh, at the screening of I am Maris, a documentary about a teenage girl who overcomes an eating disorder.
School students waiting to go into Q Theatre, the Auckland home of Doc Edge Film Festival.
Lawrence Wharerau from Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision introducing the special Ngā Taonga double feature of Bastion Point: Day 507 and Te Matakite o Aotearoa - The Māori Land March.
The film More Human Than Human raised a lot of issues around the role robots will play in the future. Artificial intelligence specialist Alex Bartley Catt was invited to screenings to help students process the film and answer their questions.
Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Maungarongo respond to the screening with a waiata.
Sangeetha Punnia with her mother at a relaxed screening. Sangeetha was featured in the short film Lives in Action and came to Auckland from Sydney to be at the screening and take questions from the audience.
Māngere College students at a satellite screening of Marks of Mana and Social Justice Shorts, at Māngere Arts Centre.
St Catherine's College at the Roxy, Doc Edge's home in Wellington.
Jason de Santolo's short documentary, Water Shield, was a part of Social Justice Shorts. Jason travelled to Aotearoa from his home in Australia to participate in the question and answer sessions after the screening.
Rei Foundation and Doc Edge have also collaborated to create the Doc Edge Schools On Demand service, which brings documentaries into classrooms all over Aotearoa and also in Niue, Chatham Islands and the Cook Islands.
Access to quality, youth-appropriate documentaries can help teachers engage their students with current issues, vital ideas, critical questions and new perspectives from around the world. While the festival screenings are extremely popular, Doc Edge and Rei Foundation felt that students outside of Wellington and Auckland were missing out.
Doc Edge Schools On Demand allows students all over Aotearoa and the Pacific to glimpse the world beyond their front door and understand more about different cultures and perspectives.
Many of the films on the Schools On Demand platform have closed captioning available, making them accessible to a wider group of students, and teachers are provided with resource kits for each film to help them to lead meaningful conversations about the documentaries to tie them in with their learning objectives.
For more information:
Check out Doc Edge Schools on Facebook
Doc Edge Schools website
Doc Edge Schools On Demand website
