Is lockdown starting to drag a touch? With Auckland in level 4, and the rest of the country at 3, most of us are definitely starting to feel it.
Luckily, we've been here before, and festival organisers and events managers are now perfectly au fait with taking their incredible real-life events and translating them to an online world.
This week there are two fantastic local programmes that were meant to be happening around New Zealand, but which you can still attend, from the familiarity of your sofa.
The Doc Edge festival has been screening cutting-edge documentaries in theatres for 16 years. Last year, the festival switched it up to take the entire festival online, allowing New Zealanders all around the country access to the full festival for the first time. This year is no different, with a virtual programme of around 50 documentaries, a mix of free and paid-for content, and local and international stories. Each has a trailer to watch, so you know what you're in for.
The festival runs until September 13. Go to festival.docedge.nz for the full line-up.
There's a very different offering from the Going West Writers Festival, originally scheduled to run over four Saturday nights at venues in West Auckland. They've taken the second of these events – Documented Reality – and are making it available to view online, for free.
The livestream will contain talks, conversations and performances and will run over three nights – September 11-13 – when participants can tune in at 7.30pm.
On the first night, watch writers Charlotte Grimshaw, Lana Lopesi, Alison Jones and Ghazaleh Golbakhsh discuss the experience of being young female authors. On Sunday night, Mark Beehre, Jack Remiel Cottrell and Victor Rodger discuss the "queer agenda" and on Monday, local and international poets take centre stage.
All three evenings are available to view at no charge – go to goingwestfest.co.nz for more.