ACMI Stories & Ideas Folgen

Fire At Sea is a masterly work of documentary filmmaking about the Mediterranean island at the epicentre of the refugee crisis in Europe. Panel discussion by filmmaker and cinematographer Bentley Dean (Tanna) will moderate a discussion with lawyer, filmmaker and President of Liberty Victoria, Jessie Taylor; journalist and editor Michael Green (They Cannot Take the Sky, Behind the Wire); Behind the Wire contributor and former asylum seeker Aran Mylvaganam; and media professional and former Director of Multicultural Arts Victoria (MAV), Fotis Kapetopoulos.

No network – commercial or otherwise – has fully escaped being the centre of some kind of public outrage and disgust over the last few years. But is audience provocation in the factual space really such a bad thing? In the competitive world of television, a parade of “ground-breaking social experiments” are just some of the ways that networks can make their mark. Adrian Swift (Head of Content Production and Development, Nine Network) is no stranger to contentious factual programming. From Married at First Sight’s charges of sneaky producers and “unreality tv” to The Briefcase’s “poverty porn”, he has navigated public outcry and heated debate on more than one occasion. In exclusive one-on-one conversation, Adrian Swift shares with Denise Eriksen his unorthodox approach to creating controversial shows, considering what works, what doesn’t, and how far is too far when trying to capture an audience.

At a time when fake news is said to have helped swing an election result, finding varied and reliable sources of information has never been more important. But with traditional broadcast platforms under siege from a slew of digital competitors expanding at a rate of knots, how do we ensure the integrity of storytelling in our post truth world? With social media posts and audience comment providing a constant feedback loop for the creation of their short form content, organisations like Buzzfeed can quickly rack up global audience numbers that most broadcasters and long form filmmakers can only dream about – think the Standing Rock Protest in the US - and they can also get their material out there far faster than long form filmmakers ever could. The traditionalists might argue that the short form model doesn’t provide for the context and rigorous examination that their subjects require. But are they doing themselves a disservice by ignoring what’s going on in the digital space and missing an opportunity to add vital weapons to their storytelling arsenal? In this session, Nicola Harvey (Managing Editor, Buzzfeed Australia) joins award-winning director Anna Broinowski (Pauline Hanson: Please Explain!) and journalist Matt Davis (Foreign Correspondent) to explore the connection between social media and the political documentary and discuss how important the viral video can be to short AND long form video journalism.