Best of the Fest

Best of the Fest represents the ‘crème de la crème’ of the Documentary Edge Festival films. These documentaries have been hailed in film festivals across the world and are now being presented on the big screen to hungry doco-lovers in New Zealand.

The Academy Award long-list nominated film, Sergio, details the life of a Brazilian UN diplomat Sergio Vieira de Mello, acclaimed around the world for his efforts in UN sanctioned humanitarian and political programs in some of the most hostile of countries. On the brink of finally settling down with the woman he loves, Sergio becomes the representative of the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq.  And the date of his assignment? August 19th 2003 and for the first time, the UN became the target of terrorism. Haunting, devastatingly powerful with visceral immediacy, Sergio paints unforgettable portrait of a man who gambled with his own life to restore dignity to the lives of others.

Culture-jammers The Yes Men infiltrate the corporate landscapes they loathe as they try to rectify the social injustices across the United States. The Yes Men Fix The World (USA) shows in screwball gonzo fashion, the absurdity of corporate politics as Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno pose as large corporate executives to pull off some of the most outrageous and daring pranks to expose corporate greed and it’s effects on society – including being interviewed worldwide on global broadcaster the BBC and “accepting” full responsibility for things corporations would normally hire a spin doctor to clean up… rather than getting their own hands dirty. Not only insightful, this festival favourite (Audience Award at the Berlinale Film Festival) will leave you rocking with laughter in the aisles and clamouring for more.

Where can you find a suitable surrogate womb if you wanted to have a baby but couldn’t? Well in this day and age, where can you find almost anything? That’s right – Google. Google Baby (Israel) not only shows the strong motivation of many couples, be it heterosexual, gay, single, old or young, require throughout the proceedings but also the other side of surrogate pregnancies; from American women undergoing gruelling fertility treatments to impoverished Indian women who carry the child only to have the baby taken away at birth.

Other films in the Best of Fest category include Mount St. Elias (Austria/USA), MINE (USA), Forgetting Dad (Germany), Diary of a Times Square Thief (Netherlands), Pop Star on Ice (USA) and Project Kashmir (USA), all of which will convert even the hardest critics into documentary lovers.

For full synopsises on other films in the Best of Fest category or of all the films show at this year’s festival, visit www.documentaryedge.org.nz