The Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC) is an Australian conference for the promotion of

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

, 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 wi ...

, in the heart of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

's wine growing region, that the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

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

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

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 screen culture including film, television, videogames, digital culture and art. ACMI was established in 2002 and is based at Federation Square in Melbo ...

(ACMI), and remained there for four years. In 2020, the event moved to State Library Victoria for one edition. The conference was held online in 2021 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Australia The COVID-19 pandemic in Australia was a part of the COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first confirmed case in Aust ...

, before returning to ACMI for following editions.

Description

AIDC is a

not-for-profit A not-for-profit or non-for-profit organization (NFPO) is a Legal Entity, legal entity that does not distribute surplus funds to its members and is formed to fulfill specific objectives. While not-for-profit organizations and Nonprofit organ ...

organisation committed to supporting and elevating nonfiction storytelling through creative and business opportunities across film, television, streaming, and digital media.

List of Conferences

The Stanley Hawes Award

The annual

Stanley Hawes Stanley Gilbert Hawes MBE, (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, Eng ...

Award for contribution to the documentary in Australia was announced at each AIDC until 2023. The Stanley Hawes Award was established in 1997 to honour Stanley Hawes as first Producer-in-Chief of the Australian National Film Board 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 film production, produced outside the Major film studios, major film studio system in addition to being produced and distributed by independ ...

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 filmmaker, who is often described as the father of Australian documentary film.''Oxford companion to Australian film'' (1999) John Heyer spent the major ...

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

Bob Connolly Bob Connolly is an Australian film director, cinematographer and author. He is best known for his documentaries produced over the past 30 years, including ''First Contact (1983 film), The Highlands Trilogy'' and ''Rats in the Ranks'', most of t ...

(2009) * Tom Zubrycki (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 (2020) * Michaela Perske (2021) * David Tiley (2022) * Dr Cathy Henkel (2023)

The Southern Light Award

The annual AIDC Southern Light Award was established in 2024 to celebrate luminaries of the Australian documentary and factual industry. Expanding the eligibility scope of the pre-existing Stanley Hawes Award, presented from 1997 – 2023, the AIDC Southern Light Award is a $5,000 cash prize presented by AIDC to an Australian industry professional for their outstanding contribution to nonfiction screen, digital and/or audio media.

Previous winners

* Karina Holden (2024)

AIDC Awards

The annual AIDC Awards were established in 2021 to recognise outstanding completed works of new Australian documentary and factual content across six categories. The awards are traditionally announced on the final day of the AIDC conference.

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 News Corp. The group's interests span newspaper and magazine publishing, Internet, market research, DVD and film distribution, and film and television pr ...

Foxtel NXE Australia Pty Ltd, trading as the Foxtel Group, is an Australian pay television company that operates cable television, direct-broadcast satellite, direct broadcast satellite television, and IPTV streaming services. It was formed in April ...

and

Fox Studios Australia Disney Studios Australia (formerly known as Fox Studios Australia) is a Film, 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 ...

, 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

and Victoria Treole, and administered by the AIDC. The first fellowship was awarded in June 2011, to producer

Jennifer Peedom Jennifer Peedom is an Australian filmmaker, known for her 2015 feature-length documentary film ''Sherpa (film), Sherpa''. She is a BAFTA and EMMY nominated writer, director and producer. Early life and education Jennifer Peedom was born in Can ...

. In 2015, the fellowship was worth , and became biennial at the same time as transferring its management to the Documentary Australia Foundation. Other recipients have included Matthew Bate, 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 documentary film, documentaries and other films. Early life, education and family Glynn was born in 1964. She is the daughter of photogra ...

(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

History

Description

List of Conferences

The Stanley Hawes Award

Previous winners

The Southern Light Award

Previous winners

AIDC Awards

David and Joan Williams Documentary Fellowship

References

Further reading

External links