Presented by Documentary Australia and supported by Screen NSW

Join us for our Documentary Distribution & Audience Pathways for Social Impact. Hosted by Dr Mitzi Goldman, CEO of Documentary Australia, and featuring Chris Kamen, producer of Franklin and Iron Winter, this online masterclass will focus on distribution for documentary films, including how to get a film seen and used for social impact.

Using detailed case studies, including Chris’s earlier self-distributed projects, the masterclass draws practical lessons from real‑world releases. Mitzi and Chris will discuss the current distribution environment, addressing the decline of traditional models and opportunities for new pathways to audience, including festivals and Q&A screenings, self-distribution and impact strategies to connect with and find new and niche audiences.

The session will cover financing, rights, and licensing decisions that can be critical to shaping how your documentary reaches audiences. Drawing on Chris’s expertise in legal and commercial frameworks, we will demystify terms such as “rights windows”, “exclusivity”, and “holdbacks”. We will also discuss common contractual pitfalls and the value of retaining non-theatrical distribution rights and licensing.

Finally, we will look at how to align distribution with documentary impact goals by designing impact distribution strategies. These impact distribution strategies focus on the social change a film aims to create through festival, community, education, and partner-led screenings, which can extend its life beyond traditional distribution.

Register now for the online event which will be held live via Zoom.

Note: This event will be recorded. If you can not make it to the live event, please register for the event to receive the follow-up correspondence with the link to the recording.

About the speakers

Chris Kamen has a broad skill set spanning film and TV production, distribution, marketing, impact, business affairs, and legals. He is a producer and business affairs manager at Media Stockade, a leading Australian production company. He recently produced Iron Winter (2025), which has won multiple awards at international festivals, including the Golden Frog at CamerImage in Poland and the Grand Prize at Banff in Canada. His previous documentary, Franklin (2022), was the second-highest-grossing Australian theatrical documentary for the year. Previously, Chris has pioneered crowdfunding and self-distribution for a number of feature-length documentaries, including Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (2011), Small is Beautiful (2015), and Vitamania (2018).

Dr Mitzi Goldman is co-founder and CEO of Documentary Australia, a not-for-profit organisation enabling social impact documentaries to be funded and screened to inspire social change. With over 35 years’ experience as a documentary director, producer and editor through her production company Looking Glass Pictures, Mitzi has created many award-winning international documentaries. Mitzi’s credits include as Producer – KaChing! Pokie Nation, Night Parrot Stories, Memoirs of a Plague, End of the Rainbow; as Director – Jez: A Letter for Life, A Common Purpose, Chinese Take Away, Hatred; and as Executive Producer – Incarceration Nation, Backtrack Boys, Undermined: Tales of the Kimberley, Leunig Fragments, Zach’s Ceremony, Constance on the Edge, I Am a Girl, Surgery Ship. From 2002 to 2008 Mitzi was Co-Head of Documentary at Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS). She was also Co-Chair of the Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC), and co-founded OzDox. Mitzi holds a BA from the University of Sydney and a PhD in Cultural Studies and Political Philosophy.

Documentary Distribution & Audience Pathways for Social Impact is presented by Documentary Australia and supported by Screen NSW.