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Australia's Documentary Conference Turns 40 With First Speakers and a Sydney Return

Jonah VillalbaPublished 4m ago3 min readBased on 2 sources
Australia's Documentary Conference Turns 40 With First Speakers and a Sydney Return
Photo by Orce Wiki / CC BY-SA 4.0

The Australian International Documentary Conference, known as AIDC, will hold its 40th edition in Sydney from March 8 to 11, 2027. Deadline reported the first speakers on 10 November 2026.

The event is the first held in the capital of New South Wales in more than 30 years, according to Deadline. Organisers call the 2027 edition AIDC 2027, and the conference's theme for that year is "Reframed."

The first names are a mix of filmmakers, festival programmers and industry organisers. Poh Si Teng is director of American Doctor and founder of Tiny Boxer Films. Tamara Kotevska directed Honeyland. Basil Tsiokos is a senior programmer at the Sundance Film Festival, the event that decides which documentaries get shown to American audiences each year.

Rachel Antell, Mandy Chang and Darren Dale were also named as early speakers. According to AIDC's website, Antell is co-founder of the Archival Producers Alliance, Chang is CEO of the Doc Film Council, and Dale is managing director of Blackfella Films. Natasha Gadd is CEO and creative director of the conference.

AIDC's website lists the decision makers expected at the 2027 edition. They include BBC Storyville, Cat&Docs, the Sundance Film Festival, the Whicker Awards, TVF International, Foxtel and Binge, bilibili, NHK World Japan, Madman Films and ESPN. A decision maker, in this context, is a person or company that can commission, fund or buy a film.

Filmmakers pitch projects to these buyers and funders. The conference offers several pitching routes, and AIDC's website lists the following for 2027:

  • The Shark Foundation Feature Docs Pitch, with up to $100,000 in funding, plus a development lab called the Shark Island Kangaroo Valley Doco Lab.
  • The Post Lounge Group Doc Pitch, which offers a share of up to $35,000 in equity investment. Equity means money given in return for a share of ownership.
  • The DocPlay Indie Booster, which provides up to $10,000 per project to support theatrical campaigns for two independent features. A theatrical campaign is the marketing push that gets a film into cinemas.
  • The 12th FACTory International Pitching Forum, presented by Screen NSW.

Screen NSW is the conference's Principal Partner. Screen Australia is its Presenting Partner. ABC Australia and SBS Australia are Major Partners.

Deadline reports that an online marketplace will run on March 23 and 24, 2027, straight after the Sydney sessions. A marketplace is where sellers and buyers meet to look at projects and make deals, often long after the event itself.

AIDC's website names the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the State Library of New South Wales and Botanic Sydney as 2027 venues. Those sites will host sessions and events across the four days.

The 40th edition is also the first to be held under the AIDC 2027 name. Whether the new venues and the online marketplace change how the conference runs will show up only once the March programme is published.

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