VALE GABRIELLE KELLY AM, FIRST CHAIR OF AIDC

It is with sadness and deep respect that we acknowledge the recent passing of Gabrielle Kelly AM, the first Chair of Australia’s National Documentary Conference in 1987 which in 1997 became the Australian International Documentary Conference.

A former high school teacher, Gabrielle worked in children’s television in the 1970s before turning to documentary and going on to produce and direct such works as Prophets and Loss (1989) with Robert Redford, one of the first major films on climate change, and its follow-up Greenbucks (1993). 

Together with a small group of like-minded documentary enthusiasts, including producer Tom Zubrycki and 2023 AIDC Stanley Hawes Award recipient, the late David Tiley, Gabrielle worked tirelessly to raise funding for the first NDC event at McLaren Vale in South Australia. 

Gabrielle may not have predicted at the time that her efforts would result in an organisation that, for nearly 40 years, has remained a cornerstone of the Australian documentary sector.   

Gabrielle was also a founding board member of the Film Finance Corporation in 1988, which later became Screen Australia, and served on the board of the SAFC from 2006-2011.

Beyond her achievements in the screen sector, Gabrielle was a director of the Adelaide Thinkers in Residence program and founded the SAHMRI Wellbeing and Resilience Centre. She was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2022, while working on a screen project celebrating South Australia’s achievements in renewable energy. 

We at AIDC, alongside every delegate who has attended an AIDC since 1987, owe Gabrielle a debt of gratitude for her tenacity and foresight in helping to establish a lasting forum for Australian documentary creators. 

Gabrielle Kelly AM, 1953 – 2024