Documentary Edge Festival Announces Festival Award Winners

A film about the Christchurch earthquake was the big winner at this year's Festival Awards as part of the Documentary Edge Film Festival.

The Day That Changed My Life picked up the coveted Best New Zealand Feature and Best New Zealand Director (for Christopher Dudman) and Best New Zealand Editing.

Best International Feature was awarded to Hannah Polak’s Something Better To Come, a film which follows the lives of Russian teenagers living in the world’s largest garbage dump, as they navigate growing up and their aspirations for the future.

The recipient of this year's Documentary Edge International Superhero Award was Chris McDonald of Toronto's Hot Docs festival. Each year the Festival honours an international leader in the documentary industry for his or her work.

The full list of winners is below:
Best International Feature – Something Better to Come
Best International Short – Tashi and the Monk
- Special Mention – The Queen
Best International Director – Ben Patterson (Sweet Micky For President)
- Special Mention – Lyric Cabral and David Sutcliffe ((T)error))
Best New Zealand Feature – The Day That Changed My Life
- Special Mention – A Place to Call Home
Best New Zealand Short – Our Hope
- Special Mention – The Secret World of Tim
Best New Zealand Director – Christopher Dudman (The Day That Changed My Life)
Best New Zealand Cinematography – Speechless: A Polar Realm
Best New Zealand Editing – The Day That Changed My Life
Best New Zealand Emerging Filmmaker – Tony Forester (An Accidental Berliner)
Documentary Edge International Superhero Award – Chris McDonald (Hot Docs, Toronto)

The Documentary Edge Film Festival continues in Wellington this week.