A new Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC) initiative aims to guide filmmakers in transforming their documentary projects into interactive or immersive works.
Co-presented with Film Victoria, the program will be hosted by UK creative studio Anagram and open to four teams, who will participate in a series of workshops, 1:1 mentoring sessions and pitch training exercises. The goal is that participants walk away with a ready-to-pitch interactive or immersive blueprint to show to funders, developers, creative tech collaborators and exhibitors.
Anagram specialises in documentary film, animation and interactive game design, with projects including the Tilda Swinton-narrated Goliath: Playing with Reality, winner of the Grand Jury Prize for Best VR Work at the 2021 Venice Film Festival. Other projects include Messages to A Post-Human Earth, A Face to Open Doors and The Collider. The studio has won the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival Storyscapes Award and the 2019 Sandbox Immersive Art Award, part of the Best VR in 2019 at the Venice International Film Festival.
“Anagram is so excited to work alongside AIDC and Film Victoria on this new initiative. With backgrounds in documentary, we’ve spent the past nine years carving a path for ourselves in this innovative field, we’d love to share what we’ve learnt and continue to learn with the selected participants. It’s a great opportunity to get bespoke training,” said Anagram director May Abdalla.
Applications are open to Australian practitioners who are currently completing or have recently completed a documentary or factual project. The deadline to apply is February 6 2022.