A bold, brilliant documentary which takes a local regional story and expands it to reveal a globally significant issue, relevant to us all. The team demonstrates tenacity, creativity and excellence in all aspects of documentary craft, while applying strong journalistic rigour. A gripping, powerful work, and thoroughly compelling for a global audience. 

How To Poison A Planet is an iKandy Films production directed and produced by Katrina McGowan, and produced by Janine Hosking and Mat Cornwell in collaboration with The Sydney Morning Herald journalist Carrie Fellner. The film was commissioned by streaming platform Stan as part of its ‘Revealed’ documentary strand.

There is little doubt that Bruce Pascoe’s Dark Emu captured lightning in a bottle, becoming a phenomenon at a time when Australia is standing at a crossroads in race relations. It challenged Australia to rethink its history and ignited a raging debate.

For Blackfella Films, the challenge was to translate and interpret this trailblazing publication into a documentary with insight and purpose.

In Delikado, three environmental defenders are tested like never before in their battle to save their home, Palawan, an island paradise in the Philippines from the illegal destruction of its forests, fisheries, and mountains.

This documentary marks Bangarra Dance Theatre’s 30th anniversary, interweaving three threads: the history of the company itself, the social-political context, and the personal narrative of the three Aboriginal brothers at the heart of the company’s rise – Stephen, Russell and David Page. The filmmaking team worked hard over three years to gain access to the company and build trust with them, and to tell the story with cultural sensitivity.

Producer Ivan O’Mahoney is the co-founder of In Films, a NSW-based documentary production company. O’Mahoney was a UN peacekeeper and lawyer in Europe before switching careers. A Walkley-winning documentary-maker, he has worked in longform storytelling at CNN, BBC and leading independent production companies.

Writer and director Wayne Blair’s other recent film credits include The Sapphires, Septembers of Shiraz and Top End Wedding. As an actor, his role in television series Mystery Road earned him a 2018 AACTA Award. He co-directed the second season of Mystery Road with Warwick Thornton. 

Nel Minchin is writer, director and co-producer of Firestarter – The Story of Bangarra, her debut feature documentary. Her TV documentaries include AACTA-nominated Matilda and Me, Making Muriel and Capturing Cricket: Steve Waugh in India for the ABC.

Through exclusive access to videos and members of the Rohingya network who risked jail and execution, Evan Williams, Eve Lucas and Georgina Davies were able to prove that violence unleashed by the Myanmar army in late August 2017 was part of a long-standing campaign by the  military to systematically force all of the Rohingya out of the country permanently. They started with videos of civilians wounded and killed by the Myanmar forces as they fled their burning villages. Then they spent six months finding the people in those videos, cross-checking multiple accounts and sources. The documentary is being used as a key reference point by investigators from the US State Department and the UN Fact Finding Mission.

Evan Williams has more than 20 years’ experience as a TV news and current affairs reporter and producer. From 1992 to 1997 he was the ABC’s correspondent in South East Asia and then worked as a reporter on Foreign Correspondent. He reports regularly on SBS Dateline.

Eve Lucas is a freelance producer specialising in international current affairs. She produced a documentary that won a 2014 Emmy Award. In 2013, Lucas filmed and directed for Al Jazeera’s 101 East series in Tajikistan and Sri Lanka. She has worked as a field producer for SBS Dateline throughout Europe.

Georgina Davies has been making longform programs for 20 years. She started as a researcher on Seven’s Today Tonight, worked at BBC Current Affairs in London, and joined SBS Dateline in 2015. She became series producer in 2017 and acting executive producer in October 2018.