Men’s mental health is in the spotlight as Tauranga Boys’ College screens a documentary to shed light on one of the commonly faced issues by students at boys-only colleges.

On Saturday, April 19, Tauranga Boys’ College is hosting a special screening of the Fortress 40 Documentary.

It captured the journey of senior prefects as they endured 40 hours of intense physical activities - running, gym sessions, carrying logs and more - to raise awareness of men’s mental health.

“The 25-minute film highlights the emotional and physical highs and lows of the event and explores how the boys found strength together to complete the challenge,” said Tauranga Boys’ College teacher Gemma Cook.

“It’s a powerful story of resilience, leadership, and unity, and we’d love to share it with the wider community.”

The doors will open at the Graham Young Youth Theatre at 5pm, with the documentary screening at 6pm.

Beforehand, attendees can enjoy a sausage sizzle for a gold coin donation, and there will be drinks and snacks available for purchase.

Tauranga Boys' College Fortress 40 is a challenge that involves physical and mental endurance for 40 hours.

Tickets are $12 and can be purchased from the school website.

All funds raised will go towards the 2025 Fortress 40 challenge, to be held in September.

“In true Fortress 40 fashion, attendees will also have the opportunity to take part in some light-hearted F40-style challenges before the screening,” said Cook.

People are encouraged to bring a change of clothes and a towel if they’d like to get involved.

Following the film, there will be an exclusive Q&A with members of the Fortress 40 teams from 2023, 2024, and 2025.

The 2023 and 2024 members are travelling back from their universities in Auckland, Wellington, Dunedin and Sydney to attend.

Following the film, there will be an exclusive Q&A with members of the Fortress 40 teams from 2023, 2024, and 2025.

The 2025 members will be sharing why they wanted to get involved this year.

They will be sharing their motivations, the highs, the lows, and the impact it has had on them personally and as a team.

“This event is not only a fundraiser for the 2025 Fortress 40 challenge – 40 hours from 12am on September 12 to 4pm on September 13 – but also a powerful opportunity to raise awareness around men’s mental health and highlight the work being done by our prefects to promote it,” said Cook.

The documentary was directed and produced by Senã Pictures, who will be there on the night, along with representatives from Movember NZ.

Founder of Fortress 40

In 2023, when Kane McBrydie was the head boy of Tauranga Boys’ College, he attended a conference with other head boys of boys-only schools down in Christchurch.

“The people running the conference presented a whole lot of issues that are commonly faced by students at boys-only colleges in New Zealand.

“One of the ones that really resonated with me was about mental health and they showed some pretty daunting statistics.”

On the flight home, McBrydie pondered on the issue and decided he wanted to do something about it … Fortress 40 was born.

McBrydie’s brainchild quickly grew legs in a conversation with deputy head boy Jake Corney where they decided to create a challenge so intense that people would have to listen to their message.

“The 40-hour challenge seems pretty impossible … it’s a metaphor for mental health struggles.

“If you’re facing them alone, they can seem impossible and extremely difficult to overcome. However, when you face it with a group, when you have help from your mates … it becomes doable.”

Finally, the day came, the beginning of the very first Fortress 40 in 2023.

“It was obviously extremely difficult, definitely the hardest thing that I or any of the boys I dealt with have done.”

Tauranga Boys' College 2023 Fortress 40 participants 30 minutes after completing the 40 hours. They were the first to do the challenge, including co-founders Jake Corney, third from the left, Kane McBrydie, fourth from the left.

It all became worth it in the 35th hour when the boys were struggling to continue.

“It was our final gym I think, and we had no music because the gym speakers weren’t working. Everyone was in the trenches.”

Then, the team received a message from someone in the UK letting them know that they had been struggling with their mental health for the past 15 years, and the team had inspired them to go and ask for help.

“It was so touching. Our goal for the event was to inspire one person to go and talk to someone. We ended up inspiring so many more people.

“That was so awesome to see that it actually did have an effect.”