Doc Edge Rei Foundation Film Fund

From 2019 to 2021, Rei Foundation worked with Doc Edge Film Festival to bring quality documentaries to more young people in New Zealand – our rangatahi. We believe documentaries can open young minds and encourage young people to see the world in new ways.

The Doc Edge Schools programme provided free screenings to school groups in Wellington and Auckland, and included “relaxed screenings” for students with different abilities. Doc Edge Schools on Demand is a streaming service available to schools all over New Zealand and in parts of the Pacific. Doc Edge selected films from their wider festival programme that were suitable for school-age audiences. However, over time, Doc Edge found relatively few documentaries made specifically for younger audiences.

In response, Rei Foundation and  Doc Edge launched the Doc Edge Rei Foundation Rangatahi Film Fund to support production of short documentaries made for younger audiences.

This fund was the first of its kind in the world, supporting four short documentaries over its first year, and three more in the second. Funded films were further rewarded with a premiere screening at the following year's Doc Edge Festival.

Rei Foundation sees this fund as an important step taken towards building a stronger body of documentaries made for young audiences in New Zealand and beyond.