Ko au te Awa, ko te Awa ko au – I Am the River, The River Is Me. Photo: Supplied
Documentary is a very broad church, and the large programme of films in this year's Doc Edge festival should mean that there is something for every viewer.
But we live in a troubled world where challenging and vital stories are fighting for our attention. Audiences should also be prepared to dive in to some thought-provoking material.
There's plenty of it at this year's festival, even though with a programme this large and this diverse, not every film works.
Here are four features I've sampled and enjoyed from the 2024 line-up.
If you can handle big emotions: Bye Bye Tiberias
Actor Hiam Abbas (probably best known in the west for her role as patriarch Logan Roy's abandoned wife in Succession) is from a Palestinian family who had been exiled from their homes in Tiberias, on the shores of Lake Galilee, during the 1948 war of partition that created the state of Israel. Until then, the city had been shared by indigenous Jews and Palestinians but had been ruled by the British. After the war, most Palestinians never returned.
A scene from the documentary Bye Bye Tiberias. Photo: Supplied
Bye Bye Tiberias is a film by Abbas' daughter, Lina Soualem, and it follows Abbas on a return trip from her own, personal exile from her family when she went to Europe to pursue her dreams of an acting career. We see four generations of the family's women attempting to come to terms with the material loss and emotional disruption caused by the occupation.
The film spends lots of time with the family, reminiscing over home movies and old photos. The heartbreak is palpable, but I was more engaged when the film took a few steps back and provided extra context to what we were seeing.
As the great-grandparents pass away, the stories of life in the old Palestine start to fade and it's important not to let them go.
If you want to feel optimistic about the environment: Ko au te Awa, ko te Awa ko au - I Am the River, The River Is Me
In 2017, the Whanganui River was given the status of legal personhood by the Crown, a recognition of its importance to te ao Māori and its crucial role in the environmental health of the region. In this film, river guide Ned Tapa travels downstream with international guests including indigenous representatives from 'mobs' in Australia, curious about how they might use this precedent to protect rivers of their own.
Ko au te Awa, ko te Awa ko au – I Am the River, The River Is Me. Photo: Supplied
The film is a European production so locals who are steeped in this story - and tikanga principles - might find that they are being taught how to suck eggs, but it's the kōrero between the people from such different backgrounds that keep you interested.
New Zealanders love seeing how foreigners perceive us, and I think local audiences will be delighted by what their cameras focus on, but more especially the sounds of the river and surrounding forest that they patiently capture on their five-day journey.
If you want to see someone pushed to the limit: Racing Mister Fahrenheit
Racing Mister Fahrenheit is a great example of the 'sunk cost' theory of documentary making. This is where you have shot so much footage, and spent so much money, that when your story disappears on you - about halfway through in this case - you feel like you have to carry on regardless and hope that a new story emerges.
I'm sorry to say, that doesn't really happen here and a film about one man's obsession with speed and ego eventually just fizzles out.
Racing Mister Fahrenheit. Photo: Supplied
Bobby Haas was a soft-drink billionaire and motorsport lover, determined to make one final mark on posterity. He commissions the design and construction of a motorcycle and sidecar to break the land speed record at the famous Bonneville Salt Flats. Of course, as the hero of his own story, he will be on the bike, barrelling towards history.
To say that it doesn't go according to plan is an understatement.
If you want to learn more (get freaked out) about what's happening online: The Click Trap
I think I have seen versions of this film every year since the dawn of social media, but nothing appears to change - in fact things are getting worse - so filmmakers keep trying to raise our awareness of the damage being done to us when we venture online, and we continue failing to overcome our smartphone addictions.
The Click Trap. Photo: Supplied
The theme of this film is online advertising and how it has been used, not only to track us and sell us stuff we don't want or need, but to support some of the most pernicious sources of misinformation in society today, effectively using the mysterious tools of capitalism to undermine society itself.
It made me think about how these systems are failing almost everybody. Remember that old gag about business owners saying, "I spend a million dollars a year on advertising and half of it is wasted - I just don't know which half!" Now, it's more likely to be 90 percent that goes down the tubes - and into the pockets of some globally bad actors.
So, online advertising isn't working for most businesses, and it isn't working for traditional media whose shrinking share of the market is no longer enough to keep quality journalism alive. You'd think those two sides might get together to find a solution.
Meanwhile, the film does a terrific job of tracing the intricate connections, showing how lack of regulation by governments, and lack of attention by consumers, is proving dangerous to us all.
Doc Edge Festival opens on 19 June in Christchurch and then moves to Auckland and Wellington from 3 July.
