PUBLISHED22 Aug 2025
CSLA: The Changemakers: Documentary impact from the field
Introducing the speakers on one of the Climate Story Lab Australia panels.
The Changemakers: Documentary impact from the field
Date: Wednesday 27 August
Time: 9.15-10am
Venue: Artspace, Gadigal Lands, Sydney
Following the presentation, Storytelling and Impact: Collaborating with the cultural sector for change, join us for a panel discussion to meet some of the changemakers creating social impact with independent documentary.
Learn from case studies with diverse tactics and strategies to reach target audiences, increase awareness and understanding, shift public discourse, and spark behaviour change and action – all using documentary as a tool for engagement.
The group will also discuss the role of partnerships in documentary impact campaigns, and give examples of effective collaborations with the social and environmental sectors.
Note: this lab is by invitation only.
Moderator: Dr Mitzi Goldman, CEO, Documentary Australia
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.
Speaker: Genevieve Grieves – Power to Country
Genevieve Grieves is a proud Worimi woman and artist, educator, field builder, film director and oral historian. She is internationally recognised as a leader in co-creation and decolonising methodologies. Co-Founder and Creative Director of GARUWA, Genevieve champions projects that place First Nations knowledge and culture at their core. Central to her practice is intercultural and intergenerational knowledge transmission, in which she builds bridges between disparate communities and paves the way for future generations of First Nations storytellers, developing initiatives like the annual First Nations Impact Lab, co-presented with DocSociety. In 2024 Genevieve was awarded the Natalie Miller Fellowship, and she has developed numerous award-winning film and museum experiences including First Peoples at Melbourne Museum, Motherhood in the Colony, Lani’s Story (SBS) and Power to Country (ABC) a short film and impact campaign that saw the successful installation of renewable energy for Mumuthumburru (West Island, NT), enabling the community to return home.
Speaker: Kate Hodges – Frackman
Kate has worked in the Australian film and television industry for over 25 years for some of Australia’s most prestigious current affairs programs, ABC television’s documentary department and as an independent producer.
She was one of the producers of the theatrical documentary Frackman and, with Good Pitch Australia backing, spearheaded the innovative grassroots distribution and impact strategy that drove the box office and outreach success of the film. Off the back of the success of Frackman and motivated by the potential of creating real conversation and community around documentaries, Kate oversaw the release and outreach strategies for a range of social issue films through the Screen Australia-backed enterprise Screen Impact.
She continued her work in the impact sector at Shark Island Institute, managing the Good Pitch Australia slate of 19 feature documentaries and is currently Executive Director of the newly established Shark Island Foundation – the first Australian foundation dedicated to supporting documentary filmmaking in Australia.
Recent producing highlights include feature documentaries Wash My Soul in the River’s Flow (2022), The Department (2021), and she is currently in production on The Valley (2025).
Speaker: Anna Kaplan – 2040, Regenerating Australia
Anna Kaplan is Co-Founder and Head of Impact Production at Regen Studios. With over two decades, of screen industry experience, she has worked across production, distribution and social impact in the UK and Australia, including in-house roles at BBC Documentaries, Granada Productions, VicScreen and Madman Entertainment.
In 2015, she led the impact campaign for Damon Gameau’s breakout feature documentary That Sugar Film, which broke new ground for social impact documentaries in Australia. She then went on to co-produce Damon’s high-impact climate solutions documentary 2040. Both were widely released internationally and still sit in the Top 10 highest-grossing Australian documentaries of all time at the domestic box office.
In 2020, Anna co-founded Regen Studios to focus on storytelling that inspires and activates audiences. Her recent credits as a producer and EP include Regenerating Australia, Rachel’s Farm, The Oyster Gardener, Queens of Concrete and Future Council. Anna is a recipient of the Natalie Miller Fellowship and a Founding Director of Sustainable Screens Australia.
The 3-day lab aims to strengthen climate storytelling and impact campaigns, spur partnerships to mobilise strategic audiences and funding opportunities, and grow confidence in the power of social impact storytelling.
Climate Story Lab Australia is co-hosted by Documentary Australia and Doc Society, and proudly supported by Shark Island Institute, Screen Australia, Screen NSW, Screen Queensland and Screenwest.