Forging new pathways to audience: Reflections From AIDC 2025 - part 1
Australian documentarians share their advice and learnings from this year’s AIDC.
L-R: Kauthar Abdulalim, Luke Clark (New Mac), Shontell Leah Ketchell
Held annually in March, the Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC) is a fixture in the Australian non-fiction calendar. This year’s theme Future Telling: New Horizons in Documentary & Factual Storytelling invited attendees to imagine possible and alternative paths for the sector. After the energetic, on-the-ground pace subsided, filmmakers and producers had time to deeply reflect on some of the key learnings from the conference.
We asked a few what they’re still thinking about, and their advice for how to embrace technology, audiences, and authenticity in your own creative practice. Stay tuned for part 2 from AIDC 2025.
KAUTHAR ABDULALIM
Kauthar Abdulalim is an Australian Muslim filmmaker and producer. Her credits include the award-winning short film The Ninth Tower, TikTok rom-com series #MATCHED and YouTube comedy series Salma’s Season. She was also Impact Producer in ABC’s You See Monsters . In 2023 her independent production company Blacksand Pictures received Screen Enterprise Business funding from Screen Australia, and was selected as an AIDC Leading Light in 2023.
This year’s AIDC was an opportunity to engage with both local and international distributors which not only provided critical insights into specific market demands but also allowed me to introduce the broader Blacksand Pictures slate. In particular, I was keen to explore the appetite for content within the MENA and SSA regions, highlighting the range of stories we are developing and our vision as an Australian production company with an international outlook.
ALWAYS GO TO MARKET with a diverse slate
- Attending AIDC year after year has reinforced the importance of having multiple projects ready to pitch. With an ever-expanding content landscape, going in with just one project means potentially missing out on opportunities that might be a better fit for another idea. And listening to the market is just as critical as pitching to it. Successful pitches are those that balance creative ambition with market realities. Not every project will be right for every platform, or even for the current moment, and flexibility doesn’t mean compromising creative integrity, it means making informed decisions about what’s currently viable.
Global politics is relevant, but the approach to storytelling is key
- In today’s political climate, there’s no shortage of urgent stories to tell, and the demand for documentaries that explore global issues is strong. However, how these stories are told matters just as much as the subject itself, especially the emphasis on the Australian context and relevance to these global events. Understanding the differing approaches is crucial in finding the right home for a story; one that stays true to its purpose while resonating with the right audience.
Local broadcasters want to be surprised by innovation
- There’s a growing openness to creative approaches, with broadcasters eager to see stories told in innovative ways; whether through stylistic experimentation or blending formats. The use of scripted narrative elements to convey factual information, for example, is increasingly seen as a tool to enhance engagement, opening fresh opportunities to rethink traditional storytelling and push the boundaries of how factual content is presented.
NEW MAC/NEVER TOO SMALL
New Mac are an award-winning, Melbourne-based video production company specialising in documentaries and original content, and is home of the hit YouTube channel Never Too Small. Never Too Small has grown into a modern media company, inspiring a global audience of more than 2.9 million subscribers with its hit YouTube series, a limited documentary series, multiple broadcast television series, including Wonderful Waste and Small Footprint, multiple books, a series of digital guides, and now a quarterly magazine.
For the New Mac team, AIDC is the best place to connect with the industry and talk about what’s next, whether that be our next project, or how our industry will change over the next decade. It’s a place for us to think deeply about our work, and talk to others doing the same.
Local stories can IMPACT globaLlY with the right market partner
- International co-productions are becoming more common, unofficial or official, and there’s a pathway here for content to reach a broader audience. Even if at face value it seems to represent an Australian issue, international co-pros can elevate global impact campaigns and the potential for international formatting. Challenges remain, however, in incorporating hosts and content to meet the criteria of other markets.
Multiplatform can close the finance gap
- With global broadcast distribution still under significant pressure, financing for series is facing similar challenges that documentary features have been dealing with for quite some time. It’s becoming more common for license fees and commissions to not make up 100% of a series budget and for producers to need to bring in investment beyond the offset or Screen Agency funding. But there’s also an opportunity here for this to drive more multiplatform approaches and for returns to be made via AVOD and FAST through audiences more engaged than before.
SHONTELL LEAH KETCHELL
Shontell Leah Ketchell is an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander filmmaker and the director of Pandamonium Films – a First Nations, female-led, production company focused on First Nations representation and storytelling from their diverse perspectives. Shontell has written and produced for ABC, NITV, SBS, CBS, and BBC, both in the factual and scripted space, with credits including Barrumbi Kids, Gold Diggers and the upcoming series Ghosts.
Shontell’s latest project Marliya, developed alongside Director Stephen Page and Producer Ewan Cutler, received $20,000 in development funding as part of AIDC’s Shark Island Foundation Feature Docs Pitch at AIDC 2025.
One of the standout experiences for me at AIDC 2025 was the First Nations program, which created space for Blak filmmakers to centre our voices, speak our truths, and shape the future of documentary storytelling. My team and I had the honour of pitching Marliya at the inaugural Indigenous Creators Pitch. It was an incredible moment to see our story celebrated, and taking out the Shark Island Prize through that session was an affirming milestone, a testament to the power and potential of First Nations-led storytelling on the national and global stage.
Self-determination is vital
- The session "Indigenous Creators Program: Our Craft, Our Way" was deeply impactful. It explored the emotional and cultural labour First Nations creators undertake to share stories of trauma, resistance and identity. The discussion raised a critical question: when the responsibility of truth-telling is placed on those most affected by injustice, is that the only way to inspire change? Stories authored from a First Nations perspective have a unique power to shift minds, move hearts, and challenge dominant narratives, but this comes with deep responsibility. We carry it long after we hear “cut” on set or the festival lights fade.
- Audiences, here and globally, are craving stories grounded in truth, accountability and cultural integrity. As a First Nations writer and producer, it’s clear that industry is beginning to recognise the value of not just inclusion, but self-determination. There’s a shift happening where Blak voices are no longer being invited to the table, we’re building our own. The challenge now is to ensure that funding models, partnerships, and market opportunities keep up with that momentum. Programs like the First Nations Program at AIDC are crucial, but we need continued investment and systemic change to ensure our storytelling sovereignty is sustainable, not just spotlighted.
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