SFF 2025: Reflections from our emerging impact producers

This June saw the Sydney Film Festival (SFF) showcase over 200 films from 70 countries in theatres across Sydney. Ten of those were up for the Documentary Australia Award, acknowledging excellence in Australian documentary production with a $20,000 cash prize and Academy Award eligibility. It also marked three months since Jess Hamilton and Matisse Walkden-Brown began the Impact Producer Program with Documentary Australia.  

Jess and Matisse share their thoughts on stepping out of the classroom and into cinemas to immerse themselves in some of this year’s best Australian storytelling.  

We ducked through one of Chinatown’s busy lanes for ramen before our first documentary, sharing a table with a woman who gave us her highlights from a schedule of over twenty films. Tables around us discussed plotlines, productions, and protagonists of films, a sign that the festival had seeped beyond the confines of venues and temporarily become part of the heartbeat of Sydney.  

Half an hour later, we were immersed in the winds of the Gobi Desert and the lives of Mongolian herders Davaa and Zaya Dagvasuren as they made the heartbreaking, climate-driven decision to relocate to the city in the cinematic docufiction The Wolves Always Come at Night. It was the perfect start to what would be an exciting fortnight.  

From there we were transported on hand-crafted rafts across the Pacific, via archived 16mm film The Raftsman. Then, to a Scottish porridge making competition in The Golden Spurtle, reminding us of the power of community. In Journey Home, David Gulpilil we travelled via planes, helicopters, boats, excavators, and through the fluctuating environment of Arnhem Land, accompanying the body and spirit of renowned actor David Gulpilil as he found his final resting place in his homeland.  

Each night, a buzzing bottleneck of filmmakers and industry friends crowded the entrance to cinemas, sharing hugs, schedules and stories. We were reminded that the nucleus of the documentary industry is deep relationships and a weave of creative and committed human beings.   

We both come from professional backgrounds at the intersection of storytelling and advocacy, but observing a film festival through an impact lens is a new experience for us. We listened to post-screening Q&As where energised, angered or motivated audiences asked, ‘What can we do?’, a feeling we’re both familiar with. The difference now is that we can see the vast opportunities these key moments hold for documentary film impact campaigns to make a difference.

For the past four months we’ve been rigorously studying modules, analysing case studies and reviewing toolkits of impact resources. We now know the importance of seizing key distribution moments to direct audiences to considered and strategic action. We’re learning about impact partnerships that can be forged behind the scenes and how films can supercharge existing and burgeoning social change movements. 

We’ve learnt about the opportunities for harnessing audience energy into impact and that forward planning goes a long way, such as ensuring websites, socials and the verbal words shared with an audience during a Q&A all support clear, effective action. Crucially, we know that the audience’s access to these unique worlds, stories and lives resides with the voices at the heart of the film. They are the custodians of their story and impact campaigns must be guided by or planned in genuine collaboration, with safety and respect.  

As Matisse’s first film festival, having the subjects step off screen and onto stage was a new and thrilling experience. Hearing from The Golden Spurtle’s Toby in real life, after meeting him digitally 90 minutes earlier (in his garden in socks and slippers), brought the story to life. Learning from The Raftsmen’s Chadden Hunter on the art of working with archive footage and being graciously welcomed to Gadigal Country by Uncle Allen Madden ahead of Journey Home, David Gulpilil deepened the relationship with each of the stories. These moments added so much opportunity for interpersonal connection to morph itself into tangible action. We ended the festival full of inspiration, motivation and freshly made popcorn.  

Of the ten films selected for the Documentary Australia’s Award another standout for both of us was Yurlu | Country, a heartbreaking, beautiful portrait of Banjima Elder Maitland Parker and his community’s fight to gain access to and heal their Country, currently deemed the most contaminated area in the Southern hemisphere due to a history of asbestos mining. Having had the opportunity to preview the film prior as part of Documentary Australia’s Environmental Accelerator Program, we’re eager to follow films like Yurlu | Country throughout their impact campaigns and apply what we’ve learnt throughout the second half of the program.  

 The winning film of the Documentary Australia Award, Songs Inside, follows Barkindji singer-songwriter Nancy Bates for four months working on a music-led rehab program at the Adelaide Women’s Prison. The film is leading a social impact campaign to ‘challenge societal attitudes about incarcerated women and advocate for systemic change within Australia’s justice system’. 

Read more about the Impact Producer Program and 2025 participants Jessica Hamilton and Matisse Walkden-Brown here.

Feature image (L-R): Matisse Walkden-Brown & Jessica Hamilton at Sydney Film Festival