The Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC) is an Australian conference for the promotion of documentary, factual and unscripted screen content, regarded as one of two major national conferences for filmmakers.

History

First established in 1987, AIDC began life as a biennial conference. Over time the event has moved to several different regions in Australia, mostly being held in capital cities. Over the years it has grown from being a small conference with a few international guests, to being a major annual international event. Serving both the commercial and creative needs of the industry, the conference provides a marketplace for documentary product for national and international buyers and distributors, showcases the work of Australian and international documentary makers, and creates a forum to discuss content, craft, technology and future directions. It was as a result of the first AIDC, held in 1987 at

McLaren Vale McLaren Vale is a wine region in the Australian state of South Australia located in the Adelaide metropolitan area and centred on the town of McLaren Vale about south of the Adelaide city centre. It is internationally renowned for the wine ...

, in the heart of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

's wine growing region, that the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

introduced its pre-sale commissioning system. It was held in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

in 2006 (and possibly previous to this), before relocating back to Adelaide for five successful years until 2015, again moving to Melbourne in 2016. In that year it was held at the

Australian Centre for the Moving Image ACMI, formerly the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, is Australia's national museum of film, television, videogames, and art. ACMI was established in 2002 and is based at Federation Square in Melbourne, Victoria. During the 2014-15 finan ...

(ACMI).

Description

AIDC is a

not-for-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

organisation committed to the sustainability of documentary, factual and unscripted storytelling. Its goal is to connect creators, purveyors and viewers of non-fiction screen content in ways that promote business, inspire creativity and ignite social change. the Conference is regarded as one of two major annual conferences for filmmakers, the other being the Screen Makers Conference held in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

List of Conferences

The conference was held online in 2021 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Australia The COVID-19 pandemic in Australia is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The first confirmed case in Australia was identified on 25 Januar ...

The Stanley Hawes Award

The annual

Stanley Hawes Stanley Gilbert Hawes (19 January 1905 – 19 April 1991) was a British-born documentary film producer and director who spent most of his career in Australia, though he commenced his career in England and Canada. He was born in London, England a ...

Award for contribution to the documentary in Australia is announced at each AIDC. The Stanley Hawes Award was established in 1997 to honour Stanley Hawes as first Producer-in-Chief of the

Australian National Film Board Film Australia was a company established by the Government of Australia to produce films about Australia in 1973. Its predecessors were the Cinema and Photographic Branch (1913–38), the Australian National Film Board (1939–1955, under diff ...

and Commonwealth Film Unit. The award recognises the significant support he gave

independent film An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is produced outside the major film studio system, in addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies (or, i ...

makers in the documentary sector and is awarded to a person that makes an outstanding contribution to the documentary sector in Australia.

Previous winners

* Graham Chase (1997) *

John Heyer John Whitefoord Heyer (14 September 1916 – 19 June 2001) was an Australian Documentary film, documentary filmmaker, who is often described as the father of Australian documentary film.''Oxford companion to Australian film'' (1999) John Hey ...

(1999) * Pat Fiske (2001) * Stewart Young (2003) * Robin Hughes (2004) * CAAMA Productions (2005) * John Hughes (2006) * Michael Gissing (2007) * David Bradbury (2008) * Bob Connolly (2009) *

Tom Zubrycki Tom Zubrycki (born in London, England, in 1946) is an Australian documentary filmmaker. He is "widely respected as one of Australia's leading documentary filmmakers", according to ''The Concise Routledge Encyclopedia of the Documentary Film''. Hi ...

(2010) * Rachael Perkins (2011) * Julia Overton (2012) * Documentary Australia Foundation (2013) * Chris Hilton (2014) * Pauline Clague (2015) * Sonya Pemberton (2016) * Brian Beaton (2017) * Curtis Levy (2018) * James Bradley (2019) *

Janine Hosking Janine Hosking is an Australian documentary film maker. She won a Walkley Award in 1997 for a Seven Network television report titled ''Tjandamurra'', the story of Tjandamurra O'Shane. Hosking has made several other well received documentaries ...

(2020) * Michaela Perske (2021) * David Tiley (2022)

AIDC Awards

On 2021, AIDC announced the inaugural winners of the AIDC Awards in the following categories: * Best Feature Documentary * Best Documentary/Factual Series * Best Documentary/Factual Single, won by '' Looky Looky Here Comes Cooky'', directed and co-written by

Steven McGregor Steven McGregor is an Australian filmmaker, known for his work on ''Redfern Now'', ''Black Comedy'', '' Sweet Country'', and numerous documentaries, including ''My Brother Vinnie''. Early life and education McGregor grew up near the leprosariu ...

, co-written and presented by Steven Oliver * Best Short-form Documentary * Best Audio Documentary * Best Interactive/Immersive Documentary On 18 February 2022 the nominees for the second time were announced, with the winners announced on 9 March 2022.

David and Joan Williams Documentary Fellowship

The David and Joan Williams Documentary Fellowship was established in 2011 by Kim Williams, former CEO of

News Limited News Corp Australia is an Australian media conglomerate and wholly owned subsidiary of the American News Corp. One of Australia's largest media conglomerates, News Corp Australia employs more than 8,000 staff nationwide and approximately 3,0 ...

Foxtel Foxtel is an Australian pay television company—operating in cable television, direct broadcast satellite television, and IPTV streaming services. It was formed in April 2018, superseding an earlier company from 1995. The service was establi ...

and

Fox Studios Australia Disney Studios Australia (formerly Fox Studios Australia) is a motion picture and television production facility in Sydney that has operated as part of The Walt Disney Company since 2019. Occupying the site of the former Sydney Showground at ...

, in honour of his parents. It is intended "to give an independent filmmaker enough money and time to reflect and prepare for his or her next work or to undertake relevant study and research". The fellowship is given in the form of grants, initially overseen by filmmakers Bob Connolly and Victoria Treole, and administered by the AIDC. The first fellowship was scheduled to be given in June 2011, and was to be awarded annually. In 2015, the fellowship was worth , and became biennial at the same time as transferring its management to the Documentary Australia Foundation. Recipients have included

Jennifer Peedom Jennifer Peedom is a BAFTA-nominated Australian director. Her documentary ''Solo'' (co-directed with David Michôd) won the 2009 Australian Film Institute Award for Best Documentary in Under One Hour. Her film ''Sherpa'', which was filmed ...

Matthew Bate Matthew Bate, nicknamed “Master” (born 24 May 1987) is an Australian rules footballer and former player for the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). At the conclusion of the 2012 AFL season, he was delisted by ...

, Juliet Lamont,

Lynette Wallworth Lynette Wallworth is an Australian artist and filmmaker, known for her use of emerging technologies such as virtual reality (VR), and interactive installations. She is known for her 2016 VR project ''Collisions'', which tells of the "collision" ...

, Al Hicks (2015) and

Erica Glynn Erica Glynn (born 1964) is an Indigenous Australian filmmaker, known for directing, producing and writing documentaries and other films. Early life, education and family Glynn was born in 1964. She is the daughter of photographer Freda Glynn, ...

(2017).

References

External links

*{{official, https://www.aidc.com.au/ International conferences in Australia Documentary film organizations Film organisations in Australia 1987 establishments in Australia Recurring events established in 1987 Annual events in Australia