AIDC & ACMI ANNOUNCE ‘DOCUMENTED’ SCREENING PROGRAM FOR AIDC 2026
FEATURING 2026 BEST DOCUMENTARY OSCARⓇ-NOMINEE CUTTING THROUGH ROCKS AND THE AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE OF ADAM BHALA LOUGH'S DEEPFAKING SAM ALTMAN
Celebrate the power of documentary storytelling on the big screen with AIDC 2026’s Documented screening program, co-presented with ACMI.
Complementing this year’s AIDC program is the annual Documented screening program, a tightly curated selection of documentaries from around the world, screening to the public at ACMI cinemas in Fed Square, Melbourne / Naarm.
This year, the Documented program is informed by the AIDC 2026 theme, Hold True, and includes the Australian premiere of the irreverent Deepfaking Sam Altman, directed by AIDC 2026 Spotlight speaker Adam Bhala Lough, a free screening of short documentaries from PBS documentary platform POV (Executive Producer Erika Dilday is an AIDC 2026 guest), a special screening of 2026 Oscar®-nominee Cutting Through Rocks, and the Victorian theatrical premiere of the gripping, Oscar®-shortlisted 2000 Metres to Andriivka by previous AIDC guest speaker Mstyslav Chernov.
Natasha Gadd, AIDC CEO / Creative Director, said, “As part of our ongoing partnership with ACMI, we are excited to present another selection of spectacular documentaries inspired by the AIDC 2026 conference program and our theme, Hold True. This year’s Documented screening program features four unmissable screenings, including acclaimed films like 2000 Meters to Andriivka and Cutting Through Rocks that haven’t yet had Australian theatrical runs. Not to mention the Australian premiere of the timely and very funny Deepfaking Sam Altman, and compelling shorts from the always incredible POV. Congratulations to AIDC Programming Manager Alice McShane for putting together this year’s screening program alongside the AIDC 2026 conference sessions.”
All screenings in the Documented film program are open to the public and tickets can be purchased online via the ACMI website [LINK TO BE UPDATED]or in person from the ACMI ticket desk. Please note that while the session of short films presented by POV is free, all attendees will require a ticket to be admitted.
For full session details and links to ticketing, please visit AIDC’s SCREENINGS [LINK TO BE UPDATED] page.
DEEPFAKING SAM ALTMAN
Adam Bhala Lough | USA | 2025 | Unclassified 18+
Nominated for the SXSW 2025 Audience Award, and from the creator of the hit HBO comedy-documentary series Telemarketers, comes the mordantly funny and deeply personal Deepfaking Sam Altman.
Director Adam Bhala Lough sets out to better understand the technology and people at the center of the AI boom. His quest sends him on a path towards the father of AI, OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman.
When Adam can’t get an interview with Altman himself, Adam does what anyone would do – he decides to create a deepfake of Sam Altman to interview instead. Adam travels to India to create an AI version of Altman, who he dubs ‘Sam Bot.’ The deepfake is a new kind of documentary subject and collaborator, who challenges Adam in surprising and hilarious ways.
Together, Adam and Sam Bot explore what it means to be alive, create art, and understand each other in an increasingly artificial world.
TUESDAY 3 MARCH, 6:30pm
PICTURE CREDIT HERE
POV SHORTS
USA | 2022, 2025 | Unclassified 18+
A selection of award-winning short documentaries by independent filmmakers, curated by POV for ACMI and AIDC. These films traverse documentary form and topic, offering perspectives that animate, document, capture and illuminate their participants.
Tessitura
Brit Fryer, Lydia Cornett | 2025 | U.S.A. | 18 min
Tessitura explores the entangled ways that voice, character and gender are continuously reformulated in opera by those who contend with the constraints of the genre.
Your Opinion Please
Marshall Granger | 2025 | U.S.A. | 14 min
Every week between 1997 and 2007, Yellowstone Public Radio aired Your Opinion, Please, an open call for listeners across Montana to pick up the phone and share their views.
My Dudus
Tom Krawczyk | 2022 | U.S.A. | 8 min
A Polish mother with empty nest syndrome finds and raises a baby squirrel as if it were her own.
Classroom 4
Eden Wurmfeld | 2025 U.S.A. | 24 min
Inside a prison classroom, college students and incarcerated individuals come together to study the history of crime and punishment in America—sparking unexpected conversations, hard truths, and a deeper understanding of justice and humanity.
WEDNESDAY 4 MARCH, 3:45pm
PICTURE CREDIT HERE
CUTTING THROUGH ROCKS
Sara Khaki & Mohammadreza Eyni | Iran | 2025 | Unclassified 18+
Join us for a special cinema screening of 2026 Academy Award®-nominated Cutting Through Rocks.
Sara Shahverdi is the first elected councilwoman in her Iranian village, and, what’s more, the only woman in the area who rides a motorbike. She wants to teach other women to ride too, as well as increase their property ownership and help to end child marriage – but her determination is met with considerable resistance from the men in her community.
Iranian-American co-directors Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni deliver a powerful debut feature that is both eye-opening and deeply moving.
Winner of the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary at Sundance 2025 and featuring some of the most unforgettable scenes in documentary this year, the film not only tells Sharverdi’s story – a divorcee and without children, an anomaly in her region – but also showcases her vision for a better future for the next generation.
WEDNESDAY 4 MARCH, 6:30pm
PICTURE CREDIT HERE
2000 METERS TO ANDRIIVKA
Mstyslav Chernov | Ukraine, USA | 2025 | Unclassified 18+
From Oscar®-winning director Mstyslav Chernov (20 Days in Mariupol), 2000 Meters to Andriivka documents the toll of the Russia-Ukraine war from a personal and devastating vantage point. Winner of the Sundance Film Festival 2025 World Cinema Documentary Directing Award, and shortlisted for Best Documentary Feature Film at the 2026 Academy Awards®.
Following his historic account of the civilian toll in Mariupol, Mstyslav Chernov turns his lens towards Ukrainian soldiers—who they are, where they came from, and the impossible decisions they face in the trenches as they fight for every inch of their land.
Amid a failing counteroffensive in 2023, Chernov and his AP colleague Alex Babenko follow a Ukrainian brigade battling through approximately one mile of a heavily fortified forest on their mission to liberate the Russian-occupied village of Andriivka.
Weaving together original footage, intensive Ukrainian Army bodycam video and powerful moments of reflection, 2000 Meters to Andriivka reveals with haunting intimacy, the farther the soldiers advance through their destroyed homeland, the more they realize that, for them, this war may never end.
THURSDAY 5 MARCH, 6:45pm
PICTURE CREDIT HERE
The Documented screening program takes place during AIDC 2026, 2–5 March, ACMI, Melbourne / Naarm. For more information and links to ACMI ticketing, visit our SCREENINGS [LINK TO BE UPDATED] program page.