‘These hero carers are in everyone's street, at every school, at every workplace’

Sunday, 21 June 2026

It's unusual: Kiwi Jon Earle has made a documentary he never intended to make, and for which he has no commercial expectations.

Called featherStrength, it's deeply personal. That's enough for him, and he hopes it will help others like him.

About unseen and uncelebrated carers, featherStrength will have its world premiere at the Doc Edge Film Festival, which starts this week, before screening in Wellington in July, then Christchurch, where the festival runs from July 31 to August 2.

Originally from Christchurch now based in the Netherlands, Earle spent more than a decade filming the documentary while helping raise his youngest daughter, who has profound developmental disabilities shared by only about 300 people worldwide.

She did not have the motor skills as a baby to breastfeed, so her parents constantly battled malnutrition to keep her alive. Her care has proved unrelenting.

'There's no data, there's no how-to, there's no guideline book as to how to navigate this, because there isn't a one-size-fits-all solution,' he says.

'That's the same with every condition … even bigger known conditions like Down syndrome. In terms of caring, it became very intense very quickly.

'We were just walking, walking, walking, walking inside the house, trying to settle this crying baby, and the rest of the time was spent trying to get as much nutrition into her as we could.

'At that point it was really pretty desperate.'

Sadly, Earle's story is far from unique.

Data from The State of Caring in Aotearoa report and Stats NZ paints a picture of a vast yet largely invisible workforce.

At least one in 10 New Zealanders - roughly 480,000 to 500,000 people - are unpaid carers supporting a family member or friend with an illness, injury or disability.

About 84% are female. The most common age bracket is 50-54 years old. The average carer provides more than 30 hours of care each week, over nearly nine years.

Only 21% are in full-time employment, while 30% are entirely unable to work because of their caring responsibilities.

Financial strain is common. Rates of depression and anxiety are far higher than in the general population. Many report extreme loneliness, low life satisfaction and declining physical health. Even taking a short break or 'time out' can be extraordinarily difficult.

Intensely focused on the private emotional realities of family caregiving, Earle maintains a high degree of privacy in the film in an effort to make it universal rather than family-specific.

He will give his Dutch wife's name - Aukje - but not those of his two daughters.

'Probably just leave them out,' he tells the Sunday Star-Times from the Netherlands.

But there is an unspoken love between the two sisters, who care deeply for each other, he will say.

“Siblings often are unseen in care situations, yet they too are carers, even from a very, very young age.”

What began as personal coping gradually evolved into a feature documentary. It proved a bridge back to the world for a man who was once an outdoorsy environmentalist, planning and completing journeys across continents.

But his focus in this documentary is not the great outdoors - it’s the restrictive indoors. His heroes are quiet and unsung achievers: carers.

'A lot of my background has focused on endurance heroes. But these heroes are in everyone's street, at every school, at every workplace … they're often unseen and unheard, but they wear the capes,' he says.

'I don't have any expectations with this at all. I'm just curious. I'm starting from this place of curiosity. I'm just delighted that Doc Edge has taken the chance on it. If that's it, that's it, though I do hope it resonates.'

Filmed using smartphones, digital cameras, GoPros and archive footage, featherStrength captures the daily realities of caregiving.

It shows how family life, identity, work, relationships and expectations shift over time under the pressure of long-term care.

At the start, Earle and Aukje had to accept that their whole lives were going to be different, while also dealing with the grief of letting go of 'this healthy child's dream that parents all have'.

Earle talks openly about the exhaustion of constant care while still trying to be a good parent to a toddler and maintain his own physical health.

It was hard, he admits.

But featherStrength provided a bridge back to the world.

He describes making the film as an ongoing effort to heal, reconnect with self, his family, his surroundings and become 'a better, healthier human'.

'To be where I am in myself now, is where I hoped to be. I'm not all the way there. It's ongoing. It's just striving to be a better human.

'The reason to share it is that I started this when I felt really isolated here in the Netherlands. Through creating it, it feels like I'm building a bridge out from where I've been.

'And that's all it is — just striving to be healthier. It's just more connection.'

The film is not intended to be inspirational or triumphant.

Instead, it explores the realities of caregiving: isolation, exhaustion, adaptation, endurance and acceptance.

Earle has also created a connected visual art project made up of five large-scale panels, each reflecting different stages of caregiving and adaptation.

He hopes the project will resonate in his homeland, where so many people quietly carry caring responsibilities.

Earle has been connecting with organisations including Carers NZ, Parent to Parent and Rare Disorders NZ.

He is keen to explore a wider conversation around caregiving, disability, masculinity, family life and learning to live with a future you never expected.

Earle and Aukje met in Canada while planning a South Pole-to-North Pole trek highlighting sustainability and climate change.

The expedition never happened.

Instead, they reunited by cycling from Tanzania north through Africa and into Europe.

It was, Earle admits, a sort of extended first date.

As well as beginning their relationship, it sparked his love of camerawork.

Now, years later, that passion has produced a documentary about a very different kind of endurance.

Not the endurance of explorers, adventurers or elite athletes, but of people who get up every day and quietly care for someone they love.

Doc Edge Film Festival: Auckland, June 24-July 12; Wellington, July 15-26, Christchurch, July 31-August 2.