2024 AIDC Awards nominees & Southern Light Award winner announced

The Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC) reveal the exceptional nominees for the 4th annual AIDC Awards, and also to announce the winner of the inaugural AIDC Southern Light Award for outstanding contribution to nonfiction screen, digital and/or audio media.

The AIDC Awards recognise outstanding works of new Australian documentary and factual content across six categories: Best Feature Documentary, with a $5,000 cash prize presented by Film Finances; Best Documentary / Factual Series; Best Documentary / Factual Single; Best Audio Documentary, with a $3,000 cash prize presented by AFTRS; Best Short-Form Documentary; and Best Interactive/Immersive Documentary, with a $3,000 cash prize presented by Deakin Motion Lab.

In 2024, the AIDC Awards are complemented by the debut of the AIDC Southern Light Award, with award-winning producer and factual television trailblazer Karina Holden announced as the inaugural winner of the $5,000 cash prize, presented by AIDC. As winner, Karina will be invited to speak at the 2024 AIDC Awards Presentation, held Wednesday 6 March at ACMI in Melbourne / Naarm.

Natasha Gadd, AIDC CEO / Creative Director, said: “With a record number of entries to the 2024 AIDC Awards, our jurors found it particularly challenging to select this year’s nominees from such a bumper crop of projects. Congratulations to all nominees across each of the six categories and enormous gratitude to the Awards jurors for helping to select this incredible line-up.

“On behalf of the AIDC Board, we are extremely proud to present the inaugural AIDC Southern Light Award to Katrina Holden. Katrina is an absolute factual force who has been at the forefront of change; always championing new voices, testing new ground and shaping a more inclusive documentary sector.

“And of course, thank you to our AIDC Awards sponsors – Film Finances, AFTRS and Deakin Motion Lab for their generous cash prizes.”

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2024 AIDC Award Nominees

BEST FEATURE DOCUMENTARY

This award is supported by completion guarantor Film Finances with a $5,000 cash prize.

The Dark Emu Story

2023 | Blackfella Films

Darren Dale, Belinda Mravicic, Jacob Hickey, Allan Clarke

The Giants

2023 | General Strike & Matchbox Pictures Rachael Antony, Laurence Billiet

This is Going to be Big

2023 | Truce Films & Fremantle Media

Jim Wright, Josie Mason-Campbell, Catherine Bradbury, Thomas Hyland

The Last Daughter

Gravity Films

Brendon Skinner, Simon Williams, Brenda Matthews, Nathaniel Schmidt

Dan Read, Film Finances CEO, said, “We are proud of our commitment to documentary filmmakers and are thrilled to present the Best Feature Documentary award again this year at the 2024 AIDC Awards.”

BEST DOCUMENTARY / FACTUAL SERIES

Folau

In Films

Vanilla Tupu, Nel Minchin, Ivan O’Mahoney

Never Let Him Go

2023 | Blackfella Films & Show of Force

Darren Dale, Jacob Hickey, Jeff Dupre, Saralena Weinfield

Queerstralia

2023 | Guesswork Television

Jon Casimir, Kevin Whyte, Plum Stubbings, Zoë Coombs Marr, Stamatia Maroupas

Who The Bloody Hell Are We?

2023 | Chemical Media

Tony Jackson, David Collins, Nick McInerney

BEST DOCUMENTARY / FACTUAL SINGLE

Keeping Hope

Joined Up Films

Jacqueline Willinge, Tyson Mowarin, Dan Brown, Mark Coles Smith

Rebel wIth a Cause: Neville Bonner

Inkey Media

Douglas Watkin, Citt Williams

Rebel wIth a Cause: Oodgeroo Noonuccal

2023 | Inkey Media

Sio F Tusa, Citt Williams

The Platypus Guardian

2023 | WildBear & Tetrapod

Fraser Johnston, Nick Hayward, Chadden Hunter

BEST SHORT-FORM DOCUMENTARY

Compass – Lottery of Life

2023 | ABC TV Compass

Amanda Collinge, Kylie Grey

Marungka tjalatjunu (Dipped in black)

2023 | Other Pictures & Switch Productions

Matthew Thorne, Derik Lynch

Patricia in the Dark

2023 | One Dark Horse Race Laura Hartley

Tee Ken Ng

2023 | Kirri Media

Shari Hutchison, Ella Wright

BEST AUDIO DOCUMENTARY

This award is supported by AFTRS, with a $3,000 cash prize.

House of Skulls

2023 | Sony & Audible

Marc Fennell, Pallavi Kottamasu, Paul Horan

Nobody Dies Here

2023 | Alongside Radio

Michelle Ransom-Hughes

Secrets We Keep: Shame, Lies and Family

LiSTNR

Amelia Oberhardt, Ellen Leabeater, Jake Morcom, Nial Fernandes

Robbie Miles, the Australian Film Television and Radio School’s Head of Industry and

Alumni, said, “AFTRS is delighted to continue supporting the Best Audio Documentary Prize at AIDC. Audio documentaries play a crucial role in our radio and podcasting education, providing a powerful platform to share compelling stories with diverse audiences.”

BEST INTERACTIVE / IMMERSIVE DOCUMENTARY

This award is supported by research centre Deakin Motion Lab (DML), with a $3,000 cash prize.

The Earth Above: a deep time view of Australia’s epic history

The ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage & Deakin Motion Lab

Martin Potter, Lorraine Williams, Annie Risk, Russell Mullett, Kenneth McLean, Lowell Hunter, Willandra

Lakes Region First Peoples’ Consultative Group, Scott Jackson, Charlie Hill-Smith, Will McCallum

Turbulence: Jamais Vu

2023 | Pernickety Split

Ben Joseph Andrews, Emma Roberts

Yalinguth by the Birrarung

2023 | Storyscape

Yalinguth Working Group

Stefan Greuter, Co-Director of Deakin Motion Lab, said, “Deakin Motion Lab is an interdisciplinary research and knowledge community focused on pioneering screen experiences. We are passionate about creative applications of technology, and the AIDC Best Interactive / Immersive Documentary Award recognises outstanding work and encourages new voices and experiences to emerge.”

2024 AIDC Southern Light Award

The winner of the inaugural AIDC Southern Light Award for outstanding contribution to nonfiction screen, digital and/or audio media, is producer Karina Holden, Head of Factual at Northern Pictures.

Karina has been a trailblazer in the field of factual television for over two decades. She has overseen more than 20 factual series, including See What You Made Me Do (SBS), called ‘one of the most important documentaries you’ll ever watch’; Employable Me (ABC), which gave people with disabilities their first opportunity to participate in the workforce; and the globally successful Love on the Spectrum (ABC, Netflix), winner of four Emmy® Awards. Along with series co-creator Cian O’Clery, Karina has been recognised by the Producers Guild of America for advancing the portrayal and employment of disabilities in media.

In 2021, Karina was named the UNESCO Sydney City of Film, Filmmaker of the Year, and in 2023 her broad slate of programs was awarded the prestigious Human Rights Award for Media and Creative Industries. The crux of her work is to create change, truth-tell, and find unlikely heroes who challenge our perceptions.

Karina Holden, said, “It is a thrill to be recognised by AIDC with the inaugural Southern Light Award. I consider the most important work we do as documentary filmmakers is to shine a light into places where we reveal new truths and illuminate unheard stories. And so this award feels like a beacon. It reminds me that empathy, understanding, and ultimately, change,often begin with a single story seen, a single voice amplified. Thank you, AIDC, for recognising the power of that light in my work, and for encouraging us all to keep shining ever brighter.”

The AIDC Southern Light Award was established in 2024 to celebrate the luminaries of the Australian documentary and factual industry. It expands the scope of the preceding Stanley Hawes Award, presented from 1997-2023, to now include nonfiction screen, digital and/or audio media contributions. The winner receives a $5,000 cash prize from AIDC and is invited to speak at the AIDC Awards Presentation.