AIDC AWARDS NOMINEES AND STANLEY HAWES AWARD WINNER ANNOUNCED
Image credit: Firestarter – The Story of Bangarra. Photo by Daniel Boud.
The Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC) today announced the nominees for the inaugural AIDC Awards and the 2021 Stanley Hawes Award winner, Michaela Perske. All awards will be presented at closing night ceremonies in each state.
The AIDC Awards have been established to recognise the outstanding completed works of new Australian documentary and factual content. Award nominees represent a broad range of projects – and along with Michaela Perske, the 2021 Stanley Hawes Award recipient – AIDC is excited to celebrate the talents and expertise of Australian practitioners across the non-fiction sector.
“The response to the inaugural AIDC Awards was absolutely overwhelming, demonstrating how important and necessary celebrating completed documentary and factual works really is. We were astounded by how many submissions we had and the incredible quality of works across all six categories. I want to congratulate the twenty nominees, and thank all our generous partners and the indefatigable jury – without whom we could never have done this,” Alice Burgin, CEO/Conference Director, AIDC.
AIDC AWARD NOMINEES
The inaugural awards will be presented at the AIDC Awards Night on Wednesday 3 March 2021, which will be taking place in eight cities across Australia as well as livestreamed to AIDC delegates.
The talent and expertise of Australian practitioners will be recognised across six award categories: Best Feature Documentary, with a $5,000 cash prize presented by Doc Play; Best Documentary/Factual Series; Best Documentary/Factual Single; Best Short-Form Documentary, with a $5,000 cash prize presented by Documentary Australia Foundation; Best Audio Documentary with a $3,000 cash prize presented by AFTRS; and Best Interactive/Immersive Documentary with a $3,000 cash prize co-presented by Jumpgate & Deakin University.
A full list of award nominees is below.
BEST FEATURE DOCUMENTARY
This award is supported by Madman’s DocPlay with a $5,000 cash prize. Rufus Richardson, Documentary Executive at Madman Entertainment said, “AIDC is the annual highlight on the calendar for the Australian documentary sector, and the opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate the success of our talented documentary filmmakers is a fantastic addition to the program. As Australia’s only dedicated documentary streaming service, DocPlay is extremely proud to present the Best Feature Documentary category at the inaugural AIDC Awards.”
The Australian Dream
Daniel Gordon, Good Thing Productions & Passion Pictures, Australia/UK, 2019.
Brazen Hussies
Catherine Dwyer, Philippa Campey, Andrea Foxworthy, Film Camp, Australia, 2020.
Firestarter – The Story of Bangarra
Nel Minchin, Wayne Blair, Ivan O’Mahoney, In Films, Australia, 2020.
The Leunig Fragments
Kasimir Burgess Philippa Campey, Film Camp, Australia, 2019.
BEST DOCUMENTARY/FACTUAL SERIES
Love on the Spectrum
Cian O’Clery, Jenni Wilks, Karina Holden, Northern Pictures Australia, 2019.
Miriam Margolyes Almost Australian
Liz Allen, Ross Wilson, Laurie Critchley, Southern Pictures, Australia, 2020.
Revelation
Nial Fulton and Sarah Ferguson, In Films, Australia, 2020
BEST DOCUMENTARY/FACTUAL SINGLE
FREEMAN
Laurence Billiet in collaboration with Stephen Page, General Strike & Matchbox Pictures, Australia, 2020.
Maralinga Tjarutja
Larissa Behrendt, Darren Dale, Jacob Hickey, Blackfella Films, Australia, 2020
Looky Looky Here Comes Cooky
Steven McGregor, Steven Oliver, Anna Grieve, Danielle McLean, Steve Thomas, Kath Symmons, Tamarind Tree Pictures & Roar Film, Australia, 2020.
BEST SHORT-FORM DOCUMENTARY
This award is supported by Documentary Australia Foundation with a $5,000 cash prize. CEO Mitzi Goldman said, “In an increasingly cluttered marketplace with more and more of our time spent online in virtual worlds, short documentaries are more competitive for our attention. Bite sized, well formed, real world narratives can encapsulate deeply meaningful stories. We need more of them. They’re versatile and can be tremendously powerful. It can be harder to make a great short film than a long one. This is why Documentary Australia Foundation is supporting the award for Best Short Documentary. Go shorter!”
The Fathering Project
Joshua Lee, Alice Wolfe, Australia, 2020.
The Loop
Johanis Lyons-Reid, Lorcan Hopper, Tallstoreez Productionz Pty Ltd & Change Media, Australia, 2020.
My Body Says
Loani Arman, Danielle Redford, Kim Vecera, Mama Bear Productions, Australia, 2020.
Sidelines
Eliya Cohen, Paul Moran, Electric Yak, Australia, 2019
BEST AUDIO DOCUMENTARY
This award is supported by AFTRS, with a $3,000 cash prize. Fyona Smith, Head of Radio, said, “AFTRS is excited about encouraging ideas that have potential to become unmissable audio content and provoke positive change. With more people listening to audio content than ever before, The AIDC Audio Documentary Award provides opportunities for these concepts to come to life.”
The Eleventh
Alex Mann, ABC Audio Studios, Australia, 2020.
Trace: The Informer
Rachael Brown, Josie Taylor, Tim Roxburgh, Martin Peralta, ABC Audio News and Current Affairs, Australia, 2020
Unravel True Crime: Snowball
Ollie Wards, ABC Audio Studios, Australia, 2019
BEST INTERACTIVE/IMMERSIVE DOCUMENTARY
ecosphere
Joseph Purdam, PHORIA, Australia, USA, United Kingdom, 2020.
Mt Resilience
Emma Morris, PHORIA & ABC in partnership with CSIRO & BOM, Australia, 2020
Story Line
Mike Clay, Rebecca Metcalf, John-Paul Marin, The Feed & SBS Creative Labs, Australia, 2020
STANLEY HAWES AWARD 2021
This year’s winner of the Stanley Hawes Award is Michaela Perske, the company director and principal producer of Pursekey Films. Originally trained as a journalist, Michaela has over 20 years of media experience in all areas of radio, print and TV. Since turning her mind to factual content creation, Michaela has produced engaging, challenging and enlightening films including Girls Can’t Surf, Black Divas, After the Apology and Destination Arnold. With this award, AIDC acknowledges her outstanding contribution to the Australian documentary and factual sector.
The Stanley Hawes Award was established in 1997 to honour documentary producer and director Stanley Hawes, Producer-in-Chief of the Australian National Film Board and Commonwealth Film Unit from 1946-1969 – and recognises the significant support he gave independent filmmakers in the documentary sector. Since its inception, 22recipients have been recognised for their outstanding contribution to the documentary and factual sector in the tradition of Stanley Hawes. The recipient receives a $5,000 cash prize.
To learn more about each nominee and the winner of the Stanley Hawes Award, visit the Nominees page.