STAFF & BOARD

With a passion for documentary and factual storytelling spanning two decades, Natasha Gadd is the CEO/Creative Director of the Australian International Documentary Conference. Prior to this role, she was AIDC’s Partnerships and Industry Development Manager, where she oversaw the industry development program which has since unlocked over $2 million in project and professional development funding for AIDC delegates from 2019 to 2024. In 2005, she co-founded Daybreak Films, a Melbourne based production company committed to creating independent and engaging screen content. Natasha’s debut feature documentary, Words From the City was nominated for five AFI Awards and her follow up feature, Murundak: Songs of Freedom, received the Grand Prix – FIFO, Best Documentary – Valladolid International Film Festival, and the United Nations Association of Australia Media Peace Award. She has also made a number of short documentaries for SBS, ABC and Foxtel, including Anatomy: Muscle, for which she received an Australian Directors Guild Best Director award. Natasha has held leadership positions across a number of leading Australian screen organisations including Cinema Programs and Public Programs Manager at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), Festival Director of the REAL: Life on Film festival and board member of the National Film and Sound Archive.

Alex has worked in Program, Event, Marketing and General Manager roles with Open Channel Melbourne International Film Festival, Twentieth Century Fox, Cinema Nova, Lumiere Cinemas, and most recently, Palace Cinemas. He is the founder of Melbourne Filmoteca: Spanish, Latin American & Portuguese Film Group; as well as the Melbourne Latin American Film Festival (2004-2007).

At Open Channel he developed a suite of professional and project development programs for emerging screen practitioners including the inaugural Generation Next Documentary Conference, regular discussion panels and networking sessions; and production initiatives delivered in collaboration with Screen Australia, Film Victoria, local government, philanthropic and other partners.

A Canberra native, Alex completed a Bachelor of Arts (Art History & Curatorship) at the Australian National University, before moving to Melbourne and completing Honours in Cinema Studies at La Trobe University.

Chris is a media, communications and marketing professional with extensive experience in the media, arts and not-for-profit sectors. As Marketing & Communications Manager for AIDC, he is responsible for brand management, audience development, market positioning, communications strategy and APAC region engagement. He has also worked as Industry Programmer and CrossCurrents International Fund assessor for the Hot Docs Industry conference in Toronto, Canada, and has research interests in documentary marketplace and pitching forum dynamics. His prior experience includes three years as Marketing Manager for the Melbourne Fringe Festival, a tenure that included the event’s most successful staging in 30 years in 2014, teaching in arts and creative management for the University of Melbourne, editing a weekly music, arts, and film magazine, and freelancing in music and entertainment marketing. He studied screen production and writing at Griffith University and QUT – resulting in a short documentary about the auto towing industry and a Channel [V] Clip of the Week music video – and holds a Master of Global Media Communication degree from the University of Melbourne.

Alice McShane is a seasoned film curator who returns to AIDC after serving on the screen programming team for SXSW Sydney 2024.  She is also a film critic who presents on 3RRR’s screen show Primal Screen. She came to AIDC from the Human Rights Arts & Film Festival (HRAFF), where she was Program Manager from 2019 until 2022. She has worked as a grant assessor with the International Documentary Association (IDA), and a guest manager and film panellist the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF). She has worked with organisations like the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), Common Room Productions, Moving Story Entertainment, Palace Cinemas, and more. She is also currently a board member of the Melbourne Women in Film Festival (MWFF).

Alice has a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Screen Studies from the University of Melbourne, and is an occasional guest lecturer there. She is a passionate advocate for the power of nonfiction storytelling and ethical filmmaking, and is thrilled to be returning to the AIDC team as Conference Programmer. She is excited to be collaborating with industry leaders to champion the sector, celebrate craft, and pay tribute to the change-making power of storytelling.

Developer, facilitator and producer for the screen arts, Laurrie Mansfield returns for a third year as First Nations Producer at AIDC 2025. Laurrie is a proud Aboriginal-Filipino-Irish and Bi+ / Gender Queer individual who has worked with leading organisations both locally and globally, including Screen Australia (First Nations, Enterprise, Content, Online), Netflix (Production and ANZ Grow Creative), Australians in Film (AiF), Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC), Arts Cultural Exchange (A.C.E.), Screen NSW, Curious Works, Screenworks and Sydney Film Festival. Presently, Laurrie splits their time between producing at GARUWA, the 100% Aboriginal-owned, multidisciplinary creative agency, and freelancing as an assessor, developer, facilitator, mentor and programmer.

Lucie McMahon is a film practitioner based in Melbourne. Lucie is currently undertaking a PhD at RMIT University, where she also lectures and tutors in cinema and media studies. Lucie’s research looks at queer documentary and queer history in Melbourne. Lucie also works as a freelance producer. Notable projects include Things Will Be Different (Lucie McMahon, 2024) which was developed through AIDC’s Leading Light Initiative, supported by Screen Australia and released in cinemas across Australia; Jeanette is the Dog (Pat Mooney, 2019) which screened at Melbourne International Film Festival and No Budge Film Festival and Mercury (Alena Lodkina, 2019) which was developed for Prototype Art TV. Lucie has produced commercials for Readings and Swartz Media with COCO and MAXIMILIAN. Lucie also worked as the distribution coordinator with Arena Media on the release of Because We Have Each Other (Sari Braithwaite, 2022) and Petrol (Alena Lodkina, 2022).

Jessa Shields has over a decade of experience in film exhibition, distribution and festivals. She has worked in various programming, marketing and communications roles across Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF), Golden Age Cinema, Roadshow Films, Hear My Eyes and Moving Story Entertainment. She is a freelance copywriter and editor for ACMI, and her writing has previously appeared in Four&Sons magazine, Inside Film, RUSSH and more.

Tahlia is delighted to be joining the AIDC team for a fourth time in 2025, as Production Coordinator. Drawn towards arts based industries, Tahlia’s strong interpersonal and organisational skills offer a prime foundation for collaborative work. Tahlia has twice held production roles with Melbourne Fashion Week’s Pop Up Runway program as well as with The Carey Theater Department Summer Show Season. Tahlia traces her affection for the arts back to high school, where she produced live events on behalf of The Preshil Arts Department. Through her contributions to Creative Art Therapy Australia, Tahlia has developed an understanding for the influence of creative media and hopes to develop this awareness through her work at the AIDC.