The Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC) has unveiled the jury members for this year’s AIDC Awards, to be held March 6 at ACMI.
Now in their fourth year, the awards recognise outstanding documentary and factual works across six categories — Best Feature Documentary, Best Documentary/Factual Series; Best Documentary/Factual Single; Best Short-Form Documentary, Best Audio Documentary, and Best Interactive/Immersive Documentary.
This year’s nominees will be announced on February 15, along with the winner of the inaugural AIDC Southern Light Award, a $5,000 prize designed to celebrate luminaries of the Australian documentary and factual industry.
AIDC CEO and creative director Natasha Gadd said the number and quality of submissions had continued to increase each year the awards had been held, reinforcing the importance of the event.
“Creators continue to set the bar high, and in 2024, AIDC has lined up a stellar panel of jurors who bring a wealth of experience and expertise across all categories to honour the contributions of the doc and factual productions from the last year.
“We thank the jury for their contribution to continuing to elevate the AIDC Awards and ensure the very best projects are recognised and lauded for the quality of craft and storytelling across shorts, features, series and singles, audio and interactive.”
AIDC will take place in person in Melbourne at ACMI March 3-6, with an online international marketplace to follow March 7-8.
The 2024 AIDC Awards jurors are as follows:
BEST FEATURE DOCUMENTARY
Erin Casper, editor (Fire of Love, Risk, Becoming) (USA)
Sasha Close, Natalie Miller Fellowship president (AUS)
Dudi Rokach, founder and festival director, Antenna Documentary Film Festival (AUS)
BEST DOCUMENTARY / FACTUAL SERIES
Madeleine Heatherton, co-founder/director/producer, Media Stockade (AUS)
Michael McMahon, executive producer, Big and Little Films (AUS)
Deb Spinocchia, head of unscripted, BBC Studios ANZ (AUS)
BEST DOCUMENTARY / FACTUAL SINGLE
Dean Gibson, company director, Bacon Factory Films (AUS)
Blayke Hoffman, producer, Stranger Than Fiction Films (AUS)
Yukari Misaizu, senior producer, International Programs Department, NHK Enterprises (JPN)
BEST SHORT-FORM DOCUMENTARY
Mia Falstein-Rush, program manager, Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) (AUS)
John Harvey, creative director, Brown Cabs (AUS)
Christine Kecher, senior commissioning editor, New York Times Op-Docs (USA)
BEST AUDIO DOCUMENTARY
Patrick (Pat) Abboud, journalist, director, writer, presenter (AUS)
Rachael Brown, investigative journalist (AUS)
Marcus Costello, senior producer, Audiocraft (AUS)
BEST INTERACTIVE / IMMERSIVE DOCUMENTARY
Seb Chan, CEO/director, ACMI (AUS)
Tom Millen, director, Crossover Labs (UK)
Julia Scott-Stevenson, researcher, producer, curator – immersive & interactive nonfiction media, University of Technology Sydney (AUS)