Women Make Docs

“Agent of happiness” Amber sets out on a cross-country road trip surveying the satisfaction of the Bhutanese public, as this crowd-pleasing doco questions whether the Himalayan country really is the happiest place on Earth.

Journalist Shiori Ito embarks on a courageous investigation of her own sexual assault in an attempt to prosecute her high-profile offender. Her quest becomes a landmark case in Japan, exposing the country’s outdated judicial and societal systems.

In 2021, 26 plundered artefacts from the Kingdom of Dahomey are returned to the modern day nation of Benin. Mati Diop’s dreamlike documentary skilfully examines the debate surrounding the repatriation of stolen cultural treasures.

Pinny Grylls and Sam Crane bring the brutality of Grand Theft Auto to the world of Shakespeare – or is it the other way around?

In 1979, group of young Māori and Pasifika activists sought to stop Pākehā students at the University of Auckland performing a parody of haka each capping week. Unfortunately, the consequences for those activists were severe – many were convicted of crimes. Director Katie Wolfe uncovers this largely forgotten event in our history with interviews from both in this resonant and thought-provoking documentary.

Tessa Mitchell seeks to fully understand her infamous grandfather, printmaker and publisher Bob Lowry. Using the unconventional medium of performance documentary, she uncovers the story of a troubled but truly revolutionary New Zealander.

Moroccan filmmaker Asmae El Moudir enlists her family and friends to help investigate the mysteries of her childhood and her family’s connection to their nation’s troubled past in this multi-award-winning documentary.

Lucy Lawless makes her directorial debut with a raucous documentary exploring the life of another warrior princess – fierce and fearless Kiwi war video journalist Margaret Moth.

Bridget Sutherland documents the confronting career of Peter Roche, one of Aotearoa’s most electrifying conceptual artists, in this affectionately assembled portrait.

Filmed in Palestine between 2019 and 2023, No Other Land is a documentary film performing its calling. An urgent and irresistible reminder as to why we choose to understand the world, and others, through cinema.

The first thing you should know is that Mavis Beacon doesn’t exist. This bright and fresh Generation Z-skewing documentary takes the viewer on a whirlwind cyber-journey to the ’90s and back.