Brendan Bellomo was the recipient of a 2009 Student Academy Award® for Live Action Narrative. Bellomo’s passion for storytelling was first sparked when he was a child. Beginning his career in visual effects, he supervised the 2012 Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner and Oscar® nominee for Best Picture ‘Beasts of the Southern Wild’ (Fox Searchlight). Most recently, Bellomo was the executive producer on the Netflix Original Chupa. Bellomo worked closely with Annie Leibovitz on the global exhibit ‘Women: New Portraits’ and designed the curriculum for the first visual effects course at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, which led him on the path to eventually pair with his directing partner, Slava Leontyev.

As a commissioning editor for ABC Documentary + Specialist, Kalita is passionate about finding ways to make Australian stories – history / true crime / arts – entertaining and informative, and is looking to commission new factual formats and feature documentaries. After graduating from Byron Bay High School, Kalita moved to London spending 10 years learning from the best in the business at Channel 4 and BBC. Recent commissions include Eat The Invaders, Headliners, Stuff The British Stole and This Is Going To Be Big.

Cieron Cody joined NITV in 2024 as Senior Commissioning Editor. Cieron is a development and production executive with experience in Agency and Broadcast settings. With a focus on project and slate management Cieron has overseen the development, finance, production and completion of over 100 titles across animation, children’s content, games, VR, shorts, feature films, and limited and return series in documentary, fiction and factual entertainment. Cieron has supported a range of award-winning and record-breaking productions with some of Australia’s and the world’s most recognised market players and talent. 

Veronica Fury’s award-winning screen content has reached audiences around the world. With over 85 commissioned television series and feature documentaries to her name, Veronica works with the major television Australian broadcasters as well as key international broadcasters and streamers, including ZDF, Nat Geo, Disney +, Netflix, BBC, TG4, France 5, and Arte. Her work is represented globally via a broad range of leading distributors. Some of her prominent feature credits include the 2025 Sydney Film Festival World Premiere Joh: The Last King of Queensland, the AACTA-nominated Brock: Over the Top (Universal Pictures), Iron Fists & Kung Fu Kicks (Netflix), and Hating Peter Tatchell, executive produced by Elton John (Netflix). Her television credits include Gem Hunters Down Under (7mate), Wildlife ER (Blue Ant Media), And We Danced (ABC), Aussie Mega Mechanics and Demolition Down Under (Discovery).

Barbara Ibuai, of the Saibai Koedal Clan, was raised on Saibai. Her diverse career spans government roles in Torres Strait, Canberra & the Pacific. Barbara believes her true calling is advocacy for her people, culture and language. She is a fluent speaker of her mother tongue and has a particular interest in climate advocacy. In 2023, she joined the film project to extend her interest to include grassroots truth-telling, filmmaking, and social organising. ‘Testimony’ marks her debut in filmmaking.

John is an acclaimed writer, director and producer across film and theatre and the Creative Director of Brown Cabs. In film, he has written and directed: Still We Rise (2023 AIDC Best Documentary / Factual Single, 2023 ADG Award for Best Direction); Off Country (2022 ADG Award for Best Direction, MIFF); Kutcha’s Koorioke (NITV); Katele (2023 Flickerfest – Best Australian Short Film, Melbourne International Film Festival – Best Australian Short Film), Water (Adelaide FF, MIFF), Out of Range (MIFF). He produced Spear (TIFF) and the chapter Sand for The Turning (MIFF, Berlinale) and The Warriors (ABC). His theatre writing credits include The Return (2023 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Drama), Heart is a Wasteland and Black Ties. John received an ACMI (Australian Centre for Moving Image) Commission to create multi-channel installation Canopy.  John is also a Board Director of Bangarra Dance Theatre.

As an AFTRS graduate and queer, neurodivergent, award-winning writer and director, Jo-Anne brings bold stories to life on both the big and small screen. Named “Young Filmmaker of the Year” at Cockatoo Island Film Festival, one of Screen Queensland’s HOTSHOTS in 2024 and one of QLD’s 40 Under 40 Young Business Leaders the same year, Jo-Anne’s work has played on Netflix, Amazon Prime, iTunes, Hallmark, SONY-Great American Channel, ABC, SBS and has screened at film festivals across Australia and around the world, including GBiennale21, MIFF, CinefestOz, Byron Bay, Gold Coast Film Fest and in competition at the Academy-Accredited Flickerfest. Jo-Anne’s latest docuseries, Miss Ink, was funded by Screen Australia and all six episodes are now available to binge on Youtube’s PRIDE CENTRAL. 

Danielle Ah Boo is a proud Torres Strait Islander woman, born and raised on Thursday Island. Ms Ah Boo is Head of Screen Queensland’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Unit, a leadership role to uplift First Nations voices across the state’s screen industry. Ms Ah Boo has previously worked in production for First Nations-founded agency Carbon Creative and more recently as a financial accountant with Arrow Energy. She also serves as Treasurer of Reconciliation Queensland. Her role at Screen Queensland is to elevate awareness of the cultural significance of First Nations storytelling and amplifying First Nations voices in the screen industry, as truth-telling holds immense significance in shaping our nations’s history.

Ian is an experienced producer, director, and manager of teams in the creative production of network broadcast, online, and streaming content. He joined Screen Queensland after a career in the UK, as well as working on projects for US and Australian broadcasters. His Australian credits include the ABC’s Foreign Correspondent and Four Corners, as well as work for SBS and Audible Australia. His international credits include the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, ITN, Sky, Discovery, National Geographic, PBS and HGTV. At Screen Queensland, Ian has supported feature documentaries including WildBear’s upcoming Joh: The Last King of Queensland, Glass Engine’s Hinckley: I Shot The President and Wes Greene’s The Gold; as well as factual series Onion TV’s The Rise of the Dolphins: Season 2025,  Seven’s Treasure Hunters Down Under and Aussie Truck Rehab.

With a passion for documentary and factual storytelling spanning two decades, Natasha Gadd is the CEO/Creative Director of the Australian International Documentary Conference. Prior to this role, she was AIDC’s Partnerships and Industry Development Manager, where she oversaw the industry development program which has since unlocked over 2 million in project and professional development funding for AIDC delegates from 2019 to 2023. In 2005, she co-founded Daybreak Films, a Melbourne based production company committed to creating independent and engaging screen content. Natasha’s debut feature documentary, Words From the City was nominated for five AFI Awards and her follow up feature, Murundak: Songs of Freedom, received the Grand Prix – FIFO, Best Documentary – Valladolid International Film Festival, and the United Nations Association of Australia Media Peace Award. She has also made a number of short documentaries for SBS, ABC and Foxtel, including Anatomy: Muscle, for which she received an Australian Directors Guild Best Director award. Natasha has held leadership positions across a number of leading Australian screen organisations including Cinema Programs and Public Programs Manager at the Australian Center for the Moving Image, Festival Director of the REAL: Life on Film festival and board member of the National Film and Sound Archive.

Lauren is an avid non-fiction fan and film industry professional with extensive experience across programming, international sales and distribution both within Australia and overseas. Beginning her career in film festival programming, Lauren most notably held the role of Program Director at the Human Rights Arts & Film Festival. She then moved to Copenhagen, Denmark to work with International Sales Agent LevelK as their Sales & Acquisitions Manager, handling both world sales for their slate and specialising in documentary acquisitions. During her time in the Nordics, Lauren was a tutor for the prestigious international documentary program Dok.incubator, selected as part of the ‘Rising Stars of Nordic Sales and Distributors’ for the Helsinki International Film Festival and was a member of the Danish Film Academy. Upon her return to Australia, Lauren worked in distribution for Umbrella Entertainment, handling both the monthly digital releases and world sales of classic Australian cinema. Lauren was the former Conference Programmer of AIDC in 2022 before embarking on her current role as Industry Manager, continuing her work supporting the development of dynamic Australian non-fiction stories and bringing them to global audiences.