AIDC reveals First Look at 2025 program – The Southern Hemisphere’s premier gathering and marketplace for documentary and factual content – the Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC) – has today announced the first confirmed conference guests and unveiled its 2025 theme – FUTURE TELLING.
Taking place in-person from Sunday 2 March to Wednesday 5 March 2025 at ACMI, Melbourne / Naarm, followed by an online international marketplace, 6-7 March 2025.
AIDC 2025: FUTURE TELLING
Integrating a focus on tomorrow with ideas of storytelling and truth-telling crucial to documentary and factual practice, the AIDC 2025 theme FUTURE TELLING informs a program that explores new horizons
for the sector and considers ways to actively shape the future we want to see for ourselves and our communities.
Through a curated program of industry sessions, spotlight speakers, screenings and initiatives, AIDC 2025 will examine the changes, challenges and possibilities that lie ahead in a rapidly evolving media landscape – from industry reform to innovative modes of creating, new ways of seeing, and inventive ways of taking our stories to audiences across the globe.
Under the banner of FUTURE TELLING, AIDC 2025 will explore the following subthemes: Dok-Politik (advocacy, sector reform, policy change), Curious Truths (experimentation in form, creative nonfiction,
investigative storytelling), Stories Without Borders (co-pros, international formats, crossing genres, field building), ReFraming Reality (future of truth, innovation, new technologies and future-
casting), and Pulling Focus (sustainability, audience and distribution, impact and narrative strategy).
AIDC CEO / Creative Director Natasha Gadd, said,
“As we stand at the precipice of a new era for our sector, at AIDC 2025 we turn our lens to the future of documentary and factual storytelling to create a forum that not only explores what is on the horizon but also invites us to envision possible or alternative futures for ourselves and our sector.”
“We’re thrilled to announce this incredible first lineup of speakers, decision makers and initiatives for AIDC 2025 as we explore the bold, innovative and creative ways that we can actively shape the changes
we want to see.”
FIRST LOOK SPEAKERS
Revealing its first line-up of speakers, AIDC will welcome international and local conference guests at the forefront of the evolving landscape of non-fiction storytelling: Shane Boris, Shiori Ito, Gabriel Shipton and
Elizabeth Klinck for virtual and in-person sessions.
Shane Boris, Producer, Navalny, Fire of Love, Stray, Hollywoodgate (USA)
Shane Boris is an Academy Award-winning and two-time Academy Award-nominated producer and writer working on films that push the boundaries of conventional form to tell timeless and cinematic stories. In
2022, Boris produced two documentaries, Fire Of Love and Navalny, both securing Oscar nominations and marking him the first producer since 1942 to be nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Documentary Feature in the same year. He went on to win the Oscar for Navalny. His other recent films include Hollywoodgate, King Coal, Stray, The Edge Of Democracy, The Seer And The Unseen, and All These Sleepless Nights.
Shiori Ito, Director, Black Box Diaries (Japan)
Shiori Ito is the director of the Sundance World Cinema – Documentary prize-nominated and CPH: DOX 20204 Human Rights Award-winning Black Box Diaries (2024). A journalist, writer, documentary filmmaker,
and co-founder of Hanashi Films, Ito wrote the 2017 book Black Box, based on her own experience of rape and revealing the sexism in Japan’s society and institutions. The book won the Free Press Association of Japan Award in 2018, and in 2020 she was listed as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine.
Recently Ito was named the 2024 recipient of the International Documentary Association’s prestigious Emerging Filmmaker Award.
Gabriel Shipton, Producer, Transmedia Storyteller, Ithaka: A Fight to Free Julian Assange, The Censored* Collection (Australia)
Gabriel Shipton is an award-winning Australian film producer, transmedia storyteller and human rights advocate. He is the brother of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and has been at the forefront of the
fight to free him. He produced the Award-winning documentary Ithaka: A Fight to Free Julian Assange (directed by Ben Lawrence), about his family’s struggle against Julian’s extradition. Beyond filmmaking, Gabriel is a founding member of AssangeDAO, a decentralised autonomous organisation supporting his brother’s legal defence. He also produced The Censored*Collection, an innovative NFT project by artist Pak and Julian that utilised blockchain technology to tell Julian’s story through interactive digital art.
Elizabeth Klinck, Producer, Researcher and Clearance Specialist, Into the Inferno, Eat That Question: Frank Zappa in His Own Words, Stories We Tell (Canada)
Elizabeth Klinck is a Canadian archive producer, visual researcher, and clearance specialist whose work on hundreds of international documentary films has garnered BAFTA, Emmy, FOCAL UK Awards, Canadian Screen Awards, Peabody, and Academy Awards. Notable projects include Werner Herzog’s Into the Inferno, Thorsten Schütte’s Eat That Question: Frank Zappa in His Own Words, Sarah Polley’s Stories
We Tell, and Thomas von Steinaecker’s Werner Herzog: Radical Dreamer. She has been the recipient of six Best Visual Research Awards at the Canadian Screen, Gemeaux, and Gemini Awards, and in 2008 she
was the first Canadian to be awarded the UK’s FOCAL International Lifetime Achievement Award. Elizabeth Klinck’s participation in AIDC 2025 is generously supported by the Consulate General of Canada in
Sydney.
NEW DECISION MAKERS AND BUYERS
The AIDC 2025 marketplace will see an array of new decision makers and companies participating for the very first time, including, Alison Barrat, Head of Content, Love Nature / Blue Ant Media (Canada), Adam Jacobs, Creative Director, Quintus Studios (UK), Laura Miret, Commissioning Editor – Specialist Factual and Natural History Unit, ARTE France (France), Bo Zhang, Head of International Co-Productions,
bilibili (China), Charlotte Madsen, Commissioning Editor, Documentary, SVT (Sweden), Alice Burgin, Head of Industry, Visions du Réel (Switzerland) and the newly appointed commissioning team from NITV,
Dena Curtis, Head of Indigenous Commissioning and Production, Cieron Cody, Senior Commissioning Editor, and Joseph Meldrum, Commissioning Editor.
The newcomers will participate alongside commissioners and funders from high profile companies in the doc and factual space, including, Lucie Kon, Commissioning Editor, BBC Storyville (UK), Nic Meloney,
Executive in Charge of Documentary & Factual, CBC (Canada), Natsu Kawakami, Senior Producer, NHK (Japan), Stephanie Fuchs, CEO, Autlook Filmsales (Austria), Poppy McAlister, Head of TVF International, TVF International (UK), Theresa Navarro, Co-Director & Chief Operations Officer, Catapult Film Fund (USA), Alicia Brown, Commissioning Editor, STAN (Australia), Ari Harrison, General Manager, Umbrella Entertainment (Australia) – with many more to be announced.
Following a vibrant 2024 event with over 750 Australian and international delegates attending, AIDC 2025 will continue to expand its networking, knowledge, and professional and project development opportunities for documentary and factual practitioners.
AIDC MARKETPLACE & INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT
AIDC’s 2025 Marketplace & Industry Development Program will once again provide an expansive range of business and development opportunities specifically for documentary and factual practitioners. Alongside sales, acquisitions, and funding decisions resulting from AIDC Marketplace activity, in the past six years, AIDC’s Industry Development initiatives have unlocked $2.4 million in professional and project development opportunities, and awards and prizes, with an additional $180,000 so far unlocked for AIDC 2025.
Confirmed AIDC Marketplace attendees include various representatives from high-profile broadcasters, streamers, distributors, sales agents and funding bodies: ABC (Australia), ARTE France (France), ARTE G.E.I.E (France), Autlook Filmsales (Austria), BBC Storyville (UK), BBC Studios (Australia), bilibili (China), Cargo Film Releasing (USA), Catapult Film Fund (USA), CAT&Docs (France), CBC (Canada), DMZ International Documentary Film Festival (South Korea), Doc Edge (New Zealand), Doc Society (Australia), EBS Korea/EIDF (South Korea), Getty Images (New Zealand), Hot Docs (Canada), Hulu (USA), International Emerging Film Talent Association (IEFTA) (France), Limonero Films (UK), Love Nature / Blue Ant Media (Canada), Madman Entertainment (Australia), Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) (Australia),
NHK (Japan), NITV (Australia), Off the Fence (Netherlands), One World (Czech Republic), Quintus Studios (UK), Rise and Shine World Sales (Germany), SBS (Australia), Shark Island Foundation (Australia),
Sheffield DocFest (UK), Sideways Film (UK), STAN (Australia), Sundance Film Festival (USA), Sunny Side of the Doc (France), SVT (Sweden), The Post Lounge (Australia), TVF International (UK), Umbrella Entertainment (Australia), Visions du Réel (Switzerland), The Whickers (UK), and TRT World (Turkiye) with many more yet to be announced.
The 10th anniversary edition of AIDC’s market centrepiece, The FACTory International Pitching Showcase, presented by VicScreen, is currently accepting submissions, with projects sought across three strands; the Central Showcase (for projects in development with international potential); New Talent Showcase (for projects by early- career filmmakers); and Rough Cut Showcase (for projects seeking sales, distribution, and exhibition opportunities). Selected projects will pitch live to decision makers during AIDC 2025.
Meetings between industry guests and accredited producers will again take place through Cut to the Chase, AIDC’s curated meetings program for Business Pass and All Access Pass-holders. Now open for
submissions, Cut to the Chase matches producers and their projects to the most relevant commissioning editors, acquisitions executives, distributors, sales agents, financiers and funders, with in person meetings with local and international decision makers taking place during AIDC and additional international meetings arranged online.
Returning for its second year is AIDC’s slate-pitching program The Showroom, designed specifically for established Australian production companies with multiple nonfiction projects in development. The
Showroom generates business opportunities through extended meetings and exclusive access to high-level buyers representing international broadcasters, streamers and sales agents attending AIDC.
AIDC 2025’s Marketplace & Industry Development program will also host the Shark Island Foundation Feature Docs Pitch for its third year, offering up to $100,000 in development grants for character-driven
feature documentaries with distinctive points of view, creative vision, clear artistic style, and the potential to shift thinking.
AIDC is once again partnering with The Post Lounge for a fourth year of the The Post Lounge Doc Pitch, designed to support standout documentary and factual projects with a share in up to $30,000 of
equity investment through post-production. Producers are now invited to submit projects in development across any nonfiction genre via AIDC’s Cut to the Chase program.
And with the return of Leading Lights – AIDC’s philanthropically-funded program for diverse and emerging storytellers – AIDC 2025 has already unlocked over $180,000 in project development funding, professional development and prizes for delegates.
2025 AIDC AWARDS
Set to cap AIDC 2025 on Wednesday 5 March 2025, nominations are currently sought for the prestigious 5th annual AIDC Awards, recognising outstanding completed works of new Australian documentary and factual content across six categories: Best Feature Documentary, Best Documentary/Factual Series, Best
Documentary/Factual Single, Best Short-Form Documentary (with a cash prize presented by AFTRS), Best Audio Documentary and Best Interactive/Immersive Documentary.
AIDC Members are also encouraged to nominate an Australian documentary and factual industry luminary for the 2025 AIDC Southern Light Award, a $5,000 cash prize given by AIDC to an
Australian industry professional for their outstanding contribution to nonfiction screen, digital and/or audio media.
“SIGNIFICANT OPPORTUNITIES FOR OUR LOCAL TALENT”
Creative and economic screen development agency VicScreen continues its long-running and welcome support of AIDC, with the conference now entering its 10th year in Victoria.
VicScreen CEO, Caroline Pitcher, said,
“Melbourne is set to be buzzing with all things factual and documentary, with the 2025 edition of AIDC
taking place in March. Today’s first look reveals another exciting program set to bring global leaders in factual storytelling to Victoria to connect with our local documentary creators.
From the FACTory pitch day to awards and screenings, this multifaceted industry conference provides significant opportunities for our local talent to hone their skills, secure business deals through curated
meetings and turbo charge their careers. 2025 marks the 10th successive AIDC in Victoria and VicScreen is proud to continue our longstanding partnership with AIDC for this latest iteration of the
conference.”
Presenting partner ACMI also continues its commitment to AIDC, hosting the event within the museum in Melbourne’s Fed Square and collaborating on year-round documentary screenings programmed with
AIDC.
ACMI Director and CEO, Seb Chan, said,
“As part of our long-standing partnership with AIDC, ACMI is excited to present the next edition of the
country’s premier screen conference. In an increasingly complex world, our documentary and factual storytellers have never been more crucial to sharing perspectives, exploring truth, and inspiring us to imagine and create our shared futures. ACMI’s collaboration with AIDC is key to the museum’s work in strengthening our screen sector and building screen culture through our globally connected hub in Melbourne.”
Further announcements about AIDC’s Indigenous Creators Program and major new initiatives and pitching opportunities will follow in the coming weeks, with the full session program to be revealed 29 January 2025. Registration for AIDC 2025 is now open at aidc.com.au.
AIDC 2025: FUTURE TELLING
Conference: 2-5 March, ACMI, Melbourne / Naarm
International Marketplace: 6-7 March, Online
aidc.com.au
SPEAKER BIOS
SHANE BORIS
Shane Boris is an Academy Award-winning and two-time Academy Award-nominated producer and writer working on films that push the boundaries of conventional form in order to tell timeless and cinematic
stories. In 2022, Boris produced two documentaries, Fire Of Love and Navalny, both securing Oscar nominations and marking him the first producer since 1942 to be nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Documentary Feature in the same year. He went on to win the Oscar for Navalny. His other recent films include Hollywoodgate, King Coal, Stray, The Edge Of Democracy, The Seer And The Unseen, and All These Sleepless Nights. His films have premiered at festivals like Sundance and Venice, screened with museums including The Louvre and MOMA, received honors such as BAFTA and Peabody Awards, and were commissioned or acquired by distributors such as National Geographic, Netflix, HBO, and CNN. Boris has also been a guest speaker at universities such as the Harvard Kennedy School and Columbia School of the Arts, and has worked as a strategist for non-profits, a writing consultant for authors and academics, and a song lyricist for musicians. Shane is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
SHIORI ITO
Shiori Ito, the director of Black Box Diaries (2024), is a journalist, writer, and documentary filmmaker. Her primary focus is gender-based human rights issues. She co-founded Hanashi Films, a Tokyo and London-
based production company that has collaborated with NHK, BBC, and Al Jazeera, amongst others.In 2017, Shiori wrote the book Black Box, based on her own experience of rape. The book reveals the sexism in Japan’s society and institutions and won the Free Press Association of Japan Award for Best Journalism in 2018. It has been translated into 11 languages, including English. In 2020 she was listed as one of the 100
most influential people in the world by Time magazine. Black Box Diaries is her feature documentary debut. It premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival where it was nominated for the World Cinema –
Documentary prize. Black Box Diaries won the Human Rights Award at CPH:DOX 2024, and was the winner of the Audience Award at the 2024 Sarajevo Film Festival. Ito was recently named the 2024 recipient of the International Documentary Association’s prestigious Emerging Filmmaker Award.
GABRIEL SHIPTON
Gabriel Shipton is an award-winning Australian film producer, transmedia storyteller and human rights advocate. He is the brother of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and has been at the forefront of the
fight to free him. In addition to his work as a film producer, Gabriel has produced pioneering work at the intersection of media, technology, and activism to harness the potential of emerging platforms to catalyse
social change. Gabriel produced Ithaka: A Fight to Free Julian Assange, an intimate look at his family’s struggle against Julian’s extradition directed by Ben Lawrence.
The film was nominated for the 2022 Walkley Award for Best Documentary, received the Audience Award at the Berlin Human Rights Festival, won the Amnesty Award at the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, and was broadcast globally, including a theatrical release in the United States. Beyond filmmaking,
Gabriel was a founding member of AssangeDAO, a decentralised autonomous organisation supporting his brother’s legal defence. He also produced “The Censored Collection,” an innovative NFT project by
artist Pak and Julian that utilised blockchain technology to tell Julian’s story through interactive digital art.
This groundbreaking transmedia initiative engaged a global audience and successfully raised substantial
cryptocurrency funds for legal expenses. Gabriel has served as producer on Emu Runner (2018), which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and was nominated for an Australian
Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) Award in 2019. In 2021, he produced the Arabic-language psychological thriller Farah, which Netflix acquired.
ELIZABETH KLINCK
Elizabeth Klinck is a producer, researcher and clearance specialist whose work on hundreds of international documentary films have garnered BAFTA, Emmy, FOCAL UK Awards, Canadian Screen Awards, Peabody, and Academy Awards. Elizabeth was nominated for an Emmy in the Craft of Research in 2006 for her work on HBO’s Middle Sexes: Redefining He and She and has received three nominations for Best Footage Researcher at the FOCAL UK Awards. She has been the recipient of six Best Visual Research Awards at the Canadian Screen, Gemeaux, and Gemini Awards and in 2008 she was the first Canadian
to be awarded the FOCAL International Lifetime Achievement Award.
In 2014 she was awarded the inaugural DOC Star Award by the Documentary Organization of Canada in recognition of her mentoring and leadership in the Canadian documentary community. The Academy
of Canadian Cinema and Television gave Elizabeth the prestigious Board of Directors Tribute in 2019 for her body of work and volunteerism in the Canadian and international documentary film communities.
In 2023 Elizabeth was the first non-director to be the “FOCUS ON” honoree at Hot Docs International Film Festival. A graduate of Queen’s University, she has presented hundreds of masterclasses and workshops at numerous international festivals, markets, universities, and film schools.
Elizabeth has served on the board of WIFT, Canada’s Audio Visual Trust, World Congress of Historymakers, and is the founding chairperson of the Visual Researchers’ Society of Canada. She presently serves on the
Executive Committee for FOCAL International (UK) and is a member of BAFTA, DOC Toronto and WIFT. Elizabeth Klinck’s participation in AIDC 2025 is generously supported by the Consulate General of Canada in Sydney.
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AIDC reveals First Look at 2025 program
