Doc Edge 2021: 6 captivating films about love, desire and relationships

By MiNDFOOD

Doc Edge 2021: 6 captivating films about love, desire and relationships
The 2021 Doc Edge Festival is just around the corner, arriving across Aotearoa this June and July.

Over 80 films feature in the packed programme, screening to audiences in Auckland, Wellington and online nationwide.

The festival lineup is full to the brim with stories that will delight, inspire and intrigue you. One of the most universal human stories, the Doc Edge Festival showcases love in all its complexities – from late-in-life romances to human desire.

Discover these six captivating films about love, desire and relationships at the 2021 Doc Edge Festival:

Love: The Last Chapter

Theatre and Online, International Premiere

  

Join director Dominique Keller as she uncovers the remarkable love stories that unfold in an ordinary seniors’ facility. This tender film celebrates stories often not told on screen, tracking the late-in-life romances of three couples and sharing the depth of their relationships – from budding romances to enduring marriages.

“The film gently reveals its unique protagonists, interrupted with cheeky humour, innuendo, heartache, romance, and some of the funniest love scenes you could ever see,” says Doc Edge’s Kristen Cartmer.

Watch the trailer here.

Love & Stuff

Online Only, NZ Premiere 

An intimate and multi-generational love story, Love & Stuff follows filmmaker Judith Helfand as she becomes a ‘new old’ single mother at age 50, shortly after her own mother dies in home-hospice.

Told in the first person, it’s a deeply personal film with a darkly funny tone and a universal resonance, exploring the ways parenting transforms a person, our emotional attachment to things and what we leave behind for our children.

Watch the trailer here.

Love it Was Not (Ahava Zot Lo Hayta)   

Online Only, NZ Premiere 

Helena Citron was just a young woman when she was taken to Auschwitz. There, she found unlikely solace under the protection of Franz Wunsch, a high-ranking SS officer who fell in love with her and her singing voice. This sparked a forbidden romance that was kept secret until the war ended.

Thirty years on, Helena receives a letter from Wunsch’s wife asking her to testify on his behalf. Helena is faced with an impossible decision: will she help the man who brutalized so many lives by saved hers? Love it Was Not (Ahava Zot Lo Hayta) is directed by Maya Sarfaty.

Watch the trailer here. 

The Taste of Desire

Theatre and Online, Asia Pacific Premiere  

Told in a beautifully cinematic way by director Willemiek Kluijfhout, The Taste of Desire tells the story of one of world’s most prized possessions: the oyster.

From a burlesque dancer to Michelin chefs, the film dives into a “sensual, searching and at times surreal philosophical adventure”, bringing to the surface a wider observation of human desire and the length we will go to find satisfaction.

Watch the trailer

Gramma & Ginga: The Movie

Online (short film)

Directed by Miranda Bellamy, this delightful short film tells the story of beloved sisters Gramma and Ginga, who, at ages 104 and 99, became world-famous internet stars by accident.

More info here

Edith Gibson has 3000 Dolls

Online (short film) 

Daisy Lawless directs this short film that steps into the home of Edith Gibson, a widower in suburban Auckland who began collecting dolls in 2009 and now owns 3000.

More info here

All 31 short films are available to view with the short film pass here.

The 2021 Doc Edge Festival runs in theatres in Auckland from 3 – 13 June, Wellington from 17 – 27 June and online from 4 June to 11 July. To see the full festival programme and to book your tickets, visit docedge.nz.

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