Whanganui dentist Darrell Grace features in documentary

Retired Whanganui dentist Darrell Grace (left) features in a free film viewable online in the 15th Documentary Edge Festival 2020. Photo / Supplied

It was going to her dad's get-together with dentist pals that prompted Celia Grace to have a documentary made about the annual event - with its fun and its dentist jokes.

"[The reunion] has always been an annual highlight for him, and when I finally got to go I could see why. I was struck by the deep friendship of this small group of increasingly frail men, and their ability to have so much fun," she said.

Grace's father is retired Whanganui dentist Darrell Grace, who was 95 when the documentary was filmed in 2017.

The result is the 15-minute film The Dental Reunion. It is one of 80 viewable free online in the 15th Documentary Edge Festival, which runs from June 12 to July 5.

The festival will be the documentary's premiere.

Celia Grace enlisted her old friend Tina Cleary to help produce it, and it was directed by Michelle Savill. Her film Ellen is Leaving won Best Narrative Short Film at SXSW Film Festival and San Francisco Film Festival.

The dentists' annual gathering was at the Wairakei Resort near Taupo, and the men had maintained their friendship since graduating from the University of Otago Medical School in 1950.

Darrell Grace will be remembered by many in Whanganui, as a dentist, an ardent conservationist, a former president of Whanganui's museum and a prolific writer of letters to the Whanganui Chronicle.

His daughter describes the documentary as bittersweet, gentle and observational.

"It celebrates the endurance of friendship amidst the challenges of old age."