The Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC) has announced the full program for its first-ever hybrid event – including over 40 sessions, more than 90 speakers and 70-plus industry decision makers – taking place in-person at ACMI Melbourne, and simultaneously online, from 6-9 March 2022, with an online-only international marketplace 10-11 March 2022. “As we launch the AIDC 2022 program, we celebrate and pay tribute to the ways in which our documentary and factual storytellers have continued to adapt and innovate in the face of ongoing challenges, bearing witness to and bringing us stories from all corners of the globe. We are thrilled to announce such a word-class program of speakers, sessions and screenings, guaranteed to entertain and inspire. Not to mention the incredible lineup of local and international decision makers as part of the industry program, set to drive creative and business outcomes, and contribute to the sustainability, recovery and growth of our industry.” Natasha Gadd, AIDC CEO / Creative Director, commented.
Still from Burning by Eva Orner
Gadd explained that the 2022 program features leading talents from across the screen and digital media industries, including Jonas Poher Rasmussen, whose Oscar®-shortlisted hybrid animated documentary Flee has received over 50 international awards and the Sundance Grand Jury Prize; Chapman and Maclain Way, the filmmaking brothers responsible for Netflix smash hit docu-series Wild Wild Country and Untold; Academy Award®-winning Australian filmmaker Eva Orner (Taxi to the Dark Side, Chasing Asylum, Burning); legendary independent producer and former co-head of movies at Amazon Studios, Ted Hope; investigative filmmaker Nanfu Wang, director of Academy Award®-shortlisted In the Same Breath, and One Child Nation; digital evangelist and co-head of documentary at TIME Studios, Loren Hammonds; and producers Darren Dale and Jacob Hickey of the acclaimed and prolific production house Blackfella Films (First Contact, Filthy Rich and Homeless, the Books that Made Us). Gadd also pointed out that other notable international guests include Sushmit Ghosh and Rintu Thomas, Academy Award®-shortlisted directors of Writing with Fire, Mahalia Cohen from US streamer Topic, Janet Han Vissering of Nat Geo Wild, Aloke Devichand of Netflix, Nick Solowski of Canada’s Blue Ant Media, Victoria Noble of Discovery, New Zealand filmmaker Florian Habicht, and May Abdalla and Kirsty Jennings of innovative UK-based XR studio Anagram, who will be running an interactive storytelling workshop as part of AIDC’s Doc.Lab.Interact program.
Gadd said that AIDC 2022 sees the biggest lineup of decision makers from global streamers including Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Topic and ESPN as well as new partners and institutions participating for the first time to launch new initiatives and opportunities for documentary makers including Australian streamer Stan, as well as philanthropic organisation the Judith Neilson Institute and philanthropic doc fund Shark Island Institute. Gadded added that AIDC 2022’s central theme – Bearing Witness – frames the conference and its sessions, considering how documentaries have continued to bring us vital stories from the frontlines and the margins during unprecedented times. The act, art and impact of Bearing Witness will be explored via sub-themes; On the Record (investigative documentary and interrogation); Truth to Power (films for change, accountability and impact), Moments in Time (crafting observation, capturing the everyday); Documenting History (memories of the present, archives for the future); and Future Visions (innovation, regeneration and potential futures).
More about the AIDC