Dear Dakota (2026): Cast, Story and Release Details

Prepared by Movies Dock Editorial

Dear Dakota is a 27-minute New Zealand documentary-comedy centered on floor five of Te Puni Village during 2026. Framed as a love letter to its residents, the film explores the many sides of their lives and preserves a year’s worth of memories through a nostalgic lens.

Dear Dakota is a 2026 documentary-comedy set around floor five of Te Puni Village. The 27-minute film presents itself as a love letter to the residents and their lives across one year.

Directed by Leo Stein and Jasmine Mortimer, the film takes a nostalgic approach to everyday memory. Its focus is not a single event, but the range of experiences found within a shared residential community.

Dear Dakota movie details

Story without spoilers

The film explores the different aspects of life among the residents of floor five at Te Puni Village during 2026. Rather than following a conventional fictional plot, Dear Dakota gathers its subject matter from the people and memories connected to that place over the course of a year.

Its documentary format and comedy classification suggest a personal, community-centered portrait, while the supplied tagline, “One years worth of memories,” points to a retrospective quality. The film’s premise remains grounded in the residents’ varied lives and the shared setting that brings them together.

What to expect

Viewers can expect a short documentary that combines comedy with a nostalgic look at communal life. At 27 minutes, Dear Dakota is built around a specific location, a defined period—2026—and the residents who give that setting its character.

The film’s framing as a love letter indicates an affectionate and personal tone, though no further details about its structure, individual stories or visual approach are available from the supplied information.

Cast and creative team

Leo Stein and Jasmine Mortimer direct Dear Dakota and also appear in the film as themselves. No writers are listed in the supplied credits. The available cast information identifies Stein and Mortimer as the documentary’s named on-screen participants.

• Leo Stein as Self
• Jasmine Mortimer as Self

Release and production context

Dear Dakota is a New Zealand production released on October 23, 2026. It has a runtime of 27 minutes and is classified as both Comedy and Documentary. The supplied information does not list a spoken language or production company.

Movies Dock view

With its focused setting and one-year timeframe, Dear Dakota offers a compact portrait of shared residential life. Its combination of documentary observation, comedy and nostalgia gives the film a clearly personal scope, centered on the memories associated with floor five of Te Puni Village.

Film data:
TMDB