Film festival combines with photo exhibition to document our lives

Dozens of documentaries are poised to be screened in collaboration with the world’s best photography in Auckland later this month.

Doc Edge and World Press Photo exhibition are combining for the first time the country's largest city to explore contemporary themes such as global conflict, social issues and the environment, organisers say.

The film festival and photo exhibition will run in Auckland from late June to mid-July, with documentaries also showing in Wellington, Christchurch and online.

Alex Lee, co-founder and co-director of Doc Edge, is excited about the collaboration because the two events have “very similar” audiences.

“The synergy is great because the demographic allows us to appeal to both markets but, at the same time, explore new markets for each of the organisations,” Lee says.

The information that people digest online these days is often manipulated by algorithms on social media, Lee says.

“Our campaign is all about trying to break the algorithm, so that people are able to see stories they don't necessarily get to see because they're trapped within a world of algorithms,” he says.

Lee believes New Zealand audiences can learn a lot from the offerings presented.

“To bring these films gives us an opportunity to help inform and educate our own audiences in New Zealand,” he says.

“But it is not about anything other than giving audiences the choice or being able to watch films and to learn and to decide how they feel about certain issues around the world.”

A dozen of Doc Edge’s immersive projects will be sharing space with the World Press Photo exhibition at the Smith & Caughey's building in central Auckland.

Denise Moller, marketing manager of the exhibition, in Auckland, says the annual display has been shown in New Zealand each year since 2010.

Working with “another amazing exhibition” enabled organisers to bring good press back in an exciting new form, she said.

“The exhibition contains all of the winning press photography from the previous 12 months, so it's a real showcase of what's been going on in the world,” Moller says.

“There is conflict, there is climate change, there are humanitarian issues but I think what is really lovely this year is that there is a real theme around resilience.”

It shows that people can be impacted by events, but there can also be some wonderful things that come out of them, she says.

Documentary featherStrength is the work of Jon Earle, who grew up in Christchurch and is now based in the Netherlands.

The film tells the story about Earle's decade-long care of a daughter with developmental disabilities.

He initially shot the footage “as a way to cope with the weight of life”, continuing to do so for more than 10 years.

“It is a personal portrait and quite an intimate one of my life as the father of a child with quite severe development challenges,” Earle says.

As the daughter grows older, her 24/7 care becomes more demanding on the family, he says.

He hopes the film can make other carers in New Zealand feel “seen”.

“I made it as a bridge out into the world,” he says. “My hope is in sharing it that it can be a bridge into people that are feeling isolated and overwhelmed by this situation - whatever that is.”

Chinese photographer Fang Wu’s project Motherhood at 60 is among the winners of this year’s World Press Photo contest.

Spanning 15 years, the project documented how Chinese woman Hailin Sheng gave birth at the age of 60 after losing her single child to an accident and raised her twin daughters.

Sheng’s husband suffered a stroke when their daughters were young and passed away a few years ago, leaving her the sole caretaker of the family.

Wu says “trust is the best gift time has given” him, as the photographer was in Sheng’s home more like a listener, hearing all the stories about progress and struggles.

“I have photographed the twin girls from their wrinkled, tiny bodies in incubators, to carrying backpacks to school, to growing into teenagers about to enter high school,” Wu said.

“And I have photographed Sheng Hailin from a 60-year-old new mother, to a widow managing on her own after her husband's stroke, to a 75-year-old still running around for her children's sake.”

When a story captures life, maternal love and humanity, it grows by itself, he says.

“All you have to do is stay there sincerely, using equality and respect to earn the moment when your subject opens their heart," he says.

"Time is not the measure. Depth and sincerity are the core.”

The greatest stories are often hidden in the most ordinary people, and the power of documentary photography is irreplaceable, especially in the age of AI, Wu says.

Hong Kong-based photographer Tyrone Siu feels “honoured and quite humbled” that his photo of a man in anguish beneath the Tai Po fire has been included in the exhibition.

He says New Zealand also knows the pain of sudden disasters — from earthquakes to floods and wildfires.

But in times like these, communities come together to support one another, just like many Hong Kong people did after the Tai Po fire, Siu says.

“My hope is that this image reminds us all of two things: how fragile life can be, and how powerful human kindness and community support can be in the darkest moments,” he says.

“Even when we lose so much, the strength we find in each other is what helps us rebuild.”