It was all go for documentary this week, with the Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC) 2019 bringing more than 750 delegates to Melbourne to learn, pitch, talk and form meaningful partnerships.
Before finishing up with a bang on Wednesday – seeing record numbers for the fourth consecutive year – a strong contingent of local and international broadcasters, buyers, distributors, filmmakers and fans had three full days of inspiring talks, networking and events.
From a full program there were numerous highlights, from Diane Weyerman’s session on producing, to hearing the experts discuss working with the US, a strong Leading Lights program, with 41 emerging, Indigenous and culturally and linguistically diverse practitioners, and fantastic pitching sessions – including the Film Victoria-presented pitching forum The FACTory.
Big congratulations goes to Tess Hutson, who received a FACTory pitch prize for A Place to Stand (Tess Hutson, Jane Robertson), from New Zealand’s Doc Edge. This deeply personal exploration of family violence was also supported by Film Victoria. You can read our blog with Tess here, where she shares her top tips for pitching.
While there were so many pearls of wisdom, here are a few of our favourites: Tea Uglow of Google Creative Lab on creativity and storytelling, and BBC Studios’ Lisa Opie talking the big picture of documentary filmmaking right now.
Tea Uglow, Creative Director at Google Creative Lab
Lisa Opie, Director of Factual for BBC Studios
Well done to AIDC for another great year. We’re proud to be Principal Partner of this incredible conference and a clearly thriving documentary and factual sector.
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