Dear Asian filmmakers, the Doc Edge Festival (New Zealand) is accepting documentaries until February 15, 2026.

About the festival:
Doc Edge is the Asia Pacific hub for all things documentary, celebrating, supporting, and showcasing documentaries. As an Academy Awards® qualifying festival for feature and short documentaries, held annually across New Zealand, we strive to select world and international premieres eligible for Academy Awards® 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 take pride in being one of the leading film festivals in the Pacific and are particularly interested in supporting filmmakers with Pacific content and subjects.

Note: We will only publish information about international competition. For national (New Zealand) documentaries please visit: https://filmfreeway.com/DocEdgeFestival

Eligibility:
– Films must be completed after January 1, 2025.
– The festival accepts short docs (under 40 minutes) and feature docs (over 40 minutes).
– Films must be at minimum New Zealand Premieres with preference given to World and International Premieres.
– The submitting party (“the Submitter”) must have the authority to submit the film to Doc Edge and the exclusive rights (including all music clearance rights) to screen theatrically in New Zealand.
– The festival doesn’t give fee waivers.
– All non-English films must have English subtitles and where available closed captions. Dubbing is not acceptable.
– Films that are not documentaries are not eligible for submission.
– Submission Fees and Deadlines:

* There are discounts for student films.
– Notification Date: April 30, 2026

We recommend filmmakers to read the full Rules and Regulations here: https://filmfreeway.com/DocEdgeFestival (This is also the submission link)

We remind readers that the 21st Doc Edge Festival will take place from June 24 – August 22, 2026 in Auckland, New Zealand.

Looking for a festival distributor? Learn more about our services here

To see other Calls please follow the next link: “Call For Entries”.