AIDC Ends Year With $200,000 Unlocked in Funding, Prizes & Support for AIDC 2025 Documentary & Factual Projects & Practitioners, with more to come
CONTINUING OUR WORK TO GENERATE REAL OPPORTUNITIES AND OUTCOMES FOR AIDC DELEGATES
As 2024 comes to a close, we are delighted to reveal that as a result of our marketplace and industry development initiatives with key partners, AIDC 2025 has so far unlocked $200,000 in awards, prizes and project and professional development opportunities for documentary and factual content and practitioners.
Contributors include pitch partners Shark Island Foundation and The Post Lounge, Awards partnerships with Film Finances and AFTRS, international FACTory pitch prize partners, and Leading Lights industry donors.
Our marketplace and industry development programs are the foundation of AIDC’s mission to support and elevate nonfiction storytelling, by actively generating new work, fostering new talent, and establishing new pathways for industry growth.
Attending AIDC 2025 will give those working in documentary and factual an array of concrete opportunities to move projects forward, skill up, and expand their professional connections.
AIDC INDUSTRY & PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
In 2025, AIDC’s industry development program will host high-profile, targeted, and partnered pitching opportunities, including:
> The Shark Island Foundation Feature Docs Pitch, for feature documentaries aimed at shifting thinking and bringing about social change, up to $100,000 in development grants available.
> The Post Lounge Doc Pitch for documentary features, one-offs or series across any genre, with up to $30,000 worth of development investment through post-production available, to be used for a sizzle, teaser or pilot.
AIDC’s professional development programs continue to provide career-defining opportunities for diverse voices and perspectives in the nonfiction sector. This year AIDC is proud to offer:
> The Leading Lights Program for emerging, Indigenous, LGBTQIA+, d/Deaf, disabled or neurodiverse, and/or culturally and linguistically diverse screen creatives, and/or regional or remote practitioners, providing a donor-funded pathway into the Australian nonfiction screen sector via first-time attendance at AIDC.
> The Indigenous Creators Program, a dedicated strand of sessions and marketplace activities designed by and for First Nations practitioners to come together and elevate the craft and business of First Nations stories.
Access to the full scope of professional development opportunities provided by AIDC is supported by subsidised passes for particular participants, including Leading Lights, and state and territory screen agency travel support programs such as those provided by Screen Queensland, Screenwest, Screen Territory, VicScreen and Screen Tasmania.
AIDC AWARDS
The fifth annual AIDC Awards, to be held on the closing night of AIDC 2025 (5 March), will see cash prizes provided across three categories, acknowledging the outstanding work of Australian nonfiction creators.
These include a $5,000 cash prize presented by Film Finances for Best Feature Documentary, a $3,000 cash prize presented by AFTRS for Best Short-Form Documentary, and, for the second time, the $5,000 Southern Light Award, presented by AIDC to an Australian industry professional for their outstanding contribution to nonfiction screen, digital and/or audio media.
AIDC MARKETPLACE
AIDC’s industry and professional development opportunities complement the potential commissions, development and sales deals that result from AIDC’s marketplace pitching showcases and curated meetings.
Our marketplace programs provide the opportunity to meet the large contingent of national and international decision makers set to participate in AIDC 2025, both in-person and online. Over 70 commissioners, buyers, funders and distributors have already been announced, including representatives from BBC Storyville (UK), American Documentary | POV (USA), Autlook Filmsales (Austria), Paramount (Australia), bilibili (China) CBC (Canada), Channel 4 (UK), Prime Video (Australia), Cat&Docs (France), Sundance Film Festival (USA), Hulu (USA), France Televisions (France), NHK (Japan), Love Nature / Blue Ant Media (Canada), EBS (Korea), Catapult Film Fund (USA), Stan (Australia), TVO (Canada) and others, with many more to be announced.
Our main marketplace programs include:
> The FACTory International Pitching Showcase, presented by VicScreen. The FACTory provides high profile exposure for projects selected to participate in its Central, New Talent, and Rough Cut Showcases, held at The Edge auditorium, Fed Square and ACMI during AIDC. Plus, pitching in the The FACTory provides practitioners with the chance to take their projects to international marketplaces via prizes provided by Germany’s DOK Leipzig, Indonesia’s Docs by the Sea, New Zealand’s Doc Edge, Switzerland’s Visions du Réel, the UK’s Sheffield DocFest, South Korea’s DMZ Docs, and France’s Sunny Side of the Doc.
> AIDC’s curated pitch meetings marketplace, Cut to the Chase, which efficiently matches producers and decision makers for productive meetings. Over 500 Cut to the Chase meetings scheduled each year, in Australia’s largest dedicated documentary and factual market.
> AIDC 2025 also sees the return of The Showroom, a slate-pitching opportunity for established Australian production companies with multiple documentary and/or factual projects in development. The inaugural Showroom saw companies of the calibre of WildBear Entertainment, Northern Pictures, GoodThing Productions, and Media Stockade take part.
> AIDC 2025 will also welcome a very special Canadian Delegation of producers looking for collaboration opportunities, and an Australian x Canadian Co-Production Market to help make those connections happen. Presented by the Consulate General of Canada in Sydney with the support of Telefilm and the Indigenous Screen Office (ISO).
Delegates must be registered with a Business Pass or All Access Pass to participate in the marketplace and pitch projects. Showroom applications close Friday 20 December 2024, Australian x Canadian Co-Production Market EOIs close 17 January 2025, and Cut to the Chase project submissions close Friday 31 January 2025.
AIDC 2025 PROGRAM
Completing the AIDC offering is the full schedule of AIDC 2025 sessions, panels, and networking events – including the third Documented public screening program of documentaries and Q&As presented in partnership with ACMI – to be announced on Tuesday 28 January 2025.
Spotlight speaking guests already revealed include award-winning producer Shane Boris (USA, Navalny, Fire of Love), journalist and filmmaker Shiori Ito (Japan, Black Box Diaries), producer and transmedia artist Gabriel Shipton (Australia, Ithaka), and prolific visual researcher / archive producer Elizabeth Klinck (Canada, Stories We Tell, Amanda Knox), with many more to be announced.
A variety of pass types covering access to the marketplace, networking opportunities and the session program are available now.
AIDC initiatives are made possible through the support of Principal Partner VicScreen and Presenting Partners ACMI and Screen Australia.
Main Image: AIDC delegates | Photo by Melissa Butters