AIDC Awards 2024: nominees

The Australian International Documentary Conference, to be held March 3-6 in Melbourne, this week its nominees for the 2024 AIDC Awards.

It also announced Karina Holden (pictured), Head of Factual at Northern Pictures as winner of the inaugural AIDC Southern Light Award for outstanding contribution to nonfiction screen, digital and / or audio media.

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.”

The 2024 AIDC Awards Presentation will be held at ACMI in Melbourne / Naarm on Wednesday 6 March 2024.

Best Feature Documentary
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
2022 | Gravity Films
Brendon Skinner, Simon Williams, Brenda Matthews, Nathaniel Schmidt

Best Documentary / Factual Series
Folau
2023 | 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
2022 | Joined Up Films
Jacqueline Willinge, Tyson Mowarin, Dan Brown, Mark Coles Smith

Rebel wIth a Cause: Neville Bonner
2023 | 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

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.