Debating Australian Documentary Production Policy: Some Practitioner Perspectives

Abstract

On July1 2008 Screen Australia commenced operation as the main Australian Government agency supporting the screen production industry. This article considers some of the policy issues and challenges identified by the 'community of practitioners' as facing Australian documentary production at the time of the formation of that 'superagency' from the merger of its three predecessor organisations - the Australian Film Commission, the Film Finance Corporation and Film Australia. The article proceeds by sketching the history of documentary production in Australia and identifying the bases of its financial and regulatory supports. It also surveys recent debate in the documentary sector and attempts to contextualise the themes of those discussions within the history of the Australian documentary.