Aust. Int. Documentary Conf. appoints new CEO

The Australian International Documentary Conference has appointed filmmaker Natasha Gadd as its new CEO / Creative Director.

With more than two decades in film production, programming and distribution, she was most recently AIDC’s Partnerships and Industry Development Manager.

AIDC Board Co-Chairs, Kate Pappas and Paul Wiegard, said: “Natasha has a clear vision for AIDC – she has the requisite leadership skills, exceptional industry experience across the sector and a deep understanding of the organisation. Most importantly, Natasha is passionate about the nonfiction sector and AIDC’s role as a leader within it. This is an exciting time for documentary and factual storytelling.”

Natasha Gadd says: “I’m thrilled to be helming AIDC! I look forward to working with our team, board and industry partners to lead the organisation as we emerge from a challenging time for the nonfiction community to create new initiatives that will strengthen our sector, our storytellers and our stories.

“I’d particularly like to acknowledge the incredible achievements of outgoing CEO/Conference Director, Alice Burgin, who has grown AIDC into a robust, innovative and industry-leading documentary event.”

Over the past 20 years, she has attended AIDC as a knowledge seeker, filmmaker and festival programmer and knows first-hand the crucial role the AIDC marketplace, program and networking events play in supporting the nonfiction community.

“I’m committed to creating an AIDC that truly represents the diversity of our documentary and factual sector by creating opportunities that bring these voices to the front to more accurately reflect our diverse lived experiences,” she said.

“While we continue to have an eye on the past, AIDC is firmly looking to the future to elevate nonfiction storytelling, develop a more sustainable and thriving sector, and create opportunities for voices and stories yet to be heard.”

Natasha Gadd’s passion for documentary and factual storytelling spans two decades. In 2005, she co-founded Daybreak Films, a Melbourne based production company committed to creating independent and engaging screen content. Natasha’s debut feature documentary, Words From the City was nominated for five AFI Awards and her follow up feature, Murundak: Songs of Freedom, received the Grand Prix – FIFO, Best Documentary – Valladolid International Film Festival, and the United Nations Association of Australia Media Peace Award. She has also made a number of short documentaries for SBS, ABC and Foxtel, including Anatomy: Muscle, for which she received an Australian Directors Guild Best Director award. Natasha has held leadership positions across a number of leading Australian screen organisations including Cinema Programs and Public Programs Manager at the Australian Center for the Moving Image, Festival Director of the REAL: Life on Film festival and board member of the National Film and Sound Archive