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Documentary Australia and Doc Society announce seven documentaries participating in the inaugural Climate Story Lab Australia

eckfactor/Documentary Australia & Doc Society

Documentary Australia and Doc Society have today announced the seven documentaries selected to participate in the inaugural Climate Story Lab Australia, to be held from 26-28 August, 2025 at Artspace on Gadigal Land, Sydney.

 

Over three days, the two organisations will bring together climate documentary makers with climate experts, First Nations leaders, impact strategists, political consultants, community organisers, advocates and philanthropists to workshop strategic climate storytelling. 

 

The selected projects include documentary podcast Connected to Country, which centres the wisdom of First Nations Elders on climate action, cultural survival and environmental stewardship; feature documentary Testimony, which follows Torres Strait Islanders suing the Australian Government for failing to protect them from rising sea levels; feature documentary Floodland, which centres on Lismore residents during and in the aftermath of the 2022 floods; and documentary series Saltwater Cowboys of Shark Bay, which follows an Indigenous enterprise restoring Guthaaguda's (Shark Bay's) ecosystem and reviving Australia’s sea cucumber trade.

 

Documentary podcast Austinmer 2515 follows a town’s journey to electrification, feature documentary Moblands follows First Nations cowboys utilising traditional practices to care for Country, and feature documentary Confidential Gas Project uncovers the global supply chain and impacts of the gas industry.

Projects were reviewed by Documentary Australia, Doc Society and external reviewer and filmmaker Douglas Watkin.

  

The lab aims to strengthen climate storytelling projects and impact campaigns, spur partnerships to mobilise strategic audiences and funding opportunities, and grow confidence in the power of social impact storytelling.

 

Participants will receive impact and pitch training, have the opportunity to present their projects during the three-day lab, and where relevant, will receive support for interstate travel. 

 

Documentary Australia Impact Director and initiative lead Stephanie King says, “We could not be more passionate about supporting these independent climate documentary projects characterised by their interrogation of power, their elevation of research and lived experience, and their visions of climate just futures. As a committee we deliberated at length on the 55 projects submitted, and are proud that this selection reflects both the quality of storytelling in this region, and the strategic opportunities for documentary to advance climate action and justice.”

 

Doc Society Director of Special Projects and initiative lead Hollie Fifer says, “We are so excited to bring the Climate Story Lab model to Australia for the first time alongside Documentary Australia as co-hosts. Over three days, we will bring change-makers across the country including First Nations leaders, climate experts, storytellers, funders and the documentary industry to exchange knowledge, lived experience, movement strategies and the power of documentaries to shift Australia's understanding of climate justice. This is an essential moment in Australian climate communications.” 

 

The innovative Climate Story Lab model was first piloted by Doc Society and Exposure Labs in New York in 2019, and has since been successfully rolled out with 33 events around the world – from the Brazilian Amazon to East and West Africa, South Asia, the Middle East and Europe – sparking high-quality new productions, collaborations and pathways to audience.  

 

Climate Story Lab Australia is co-hosted by Documentary Australia and Doc Society, and proudly supported by Shark Island Foundation, Screen Australia, Screen NSW, Screen Queensland and Screenwest.

 

Shark Island Foundation Executive Director Kate Hodges says, “What an exciting lineup of climate stories! We’re so pleased to be part of this gathering, bringing together powerful storytellers and change-makers to ignite the bold, justice-driven climate narratives the world needs now.”

 

Screen Australia Head of Documentary Richard Huddleston says, “Screen Australia is delighted to be in this initiative which supports screen practitioners to develop story skills, grow stakeholder connections and increase their impact on the important issue of climate change.”

 

Head of Screen NSW Kyas Hepworth says, “Screen NSW is thrilled to be supporting Climate Story Lab Australia, a groundbreaking initiative that highlights the significant role that screen creatives and storytelling play in tackling this important issue and elevating critical stories.”

 

Screen Queensland CEO Jacqui Feeney says, "Screen Queensland is proud to support Climate Story Lab Australia in encouraging storytelling that creates real impact by addressing the urgent issues of our times. We applaud the seven documentary projects selected for this inaugural lab, each with power to move, inspire and contribute to a more sustainable future.”

 

Screenwest Documentary Executive Melissa Hayward says, “Climate Story Lab Australia is an exciting opportunity for documentary makers, combining storytelling and strategy to drive real-world change. Screenwest is proud to support WA’s participation in this national initiative, with Saltwater Cowboys of Shark Bay exemplifying the kind of distinctive, compelling, and locally grounded story needed on the climate front.”

 

About the documentaries

Austinmer 2515

Documentary podcast 

Director: Kellie Riordan 

Producer: Sarah Dabro
 

Austinmer 2515 is a 10-part narrative documentary podcast which follows one town’s quest and one crazed entrepreneur’s dream to electrify a town. Can this beachside village illuminate our path to a fossil-fuel-free future? 

 

Connected to Country
Documentary podcast

Director: Genevieve Grieves 

Producer: Laurrie Mansfield and Kate Montague

 
Connected to Country is an immersive listening experience that amplifies the wisdom of Australian First Nations Elders, custodians of the world’s oldest living culture. Through intergenerational storytelling, young people will preserve oral traditions while confronting the urgent and connected challenges of climate action, cultural survival and environmental stewardship.  

 

Floodland 

Feature documentary
Director and Writer: Jordan Giusti

Producer: Gal Greenspan and Rachel Forbes 

Writers: Dr Carlie Atkinson and Joseph Nizeti
 

Lismore is Australia’s flood capital, priding itself on historic resilience in the face of immeasurable deluge. But as the climate crisis rises tides, uncomfortable truths boil to the surface, leaving residents wondering if their precarious way of life can survive a changing world. 

 

Confidential Gas Project

Feature documentary - further details of this project are currently embargoed.

Moblands 

Feature documentary 

Director and Producer: Yale MacGillivray  

 
Three renegade cowboys ride to protect a world most have forgotten. As they train for the rodeo of their lives, they’re armed with 80,000 years of unbroken knowledge to defend their Country — and pulled into a fierce reckoning with the forces erasing land, memory, and future. Against the backdrop of colonisation, they ride with fury, loyalty, and joy.

Saltwater Cowboys of Shark Bay

Documentary series 

Director: Karla Hart

Producer: Renée Kennedy

Executive Producers: Renée Kennedy, Nathan Gibbs and Karla Hart
 

Malgana entrepreneur Michael Wear and his Indigenous startup, Tidal Moon, revive Australia’s sea cucumber trade and restore Shark Bay's / Guthaaguda's seagrass, battling shark-infested waters, regulatory barriers, and local tensions while trying to grow their business, empower their community and combat climate change.

 

Testimony  
Feature documentary 

Director: Maya Newell 

Executive Producers: McRose Elu and Deanne Weir

Producers: Barbara Ibuai, Larissa Behrendt AO, Sophie Hyde, Alex Kelly and Lisa Sherrard

As the climate emergency rises before them, Torres Strait Islanders rise up too and sue the Australian Government for failing to protect them. We walk with witnesses and dance with story-holder Sedrick as he gathers his people to remember, brace and dream of possible futures. This film is their testimony.

 

About us:

Documentary Australia is a unique not-for-profit organisation committed to fostering social impact through documentary storytelling. By offering tax deductibility to donors to support films, Documentary Australia enables social impact documentaries to be made and seen. Through our impact programs and capacity-building activities, Documentary Australia supports film teams and impact partners to place documentaries at the heart of social impact campaigns, engaging broad audiences in initiatives for positive social change. We continue to advocate for the documentary sector on issues relating to the recognition and support of documentary filmmaking in Australia.

Doc Society is a global non-profit working with the boldest and most impactful filmmakers all over the world. Doc Society is committed to backing the independence and impact of storytelling, providing grants, filmmaker support and building the field for a more justice-centred, impactful media ecosystem. Beyond the right to self-expression we are focused on the right of all citizens to access media in the public interest – and building the global ecosystem that makes that possible.

Contact details:

Karen Eck, eckfactor 
[email protected] | 0438 532 569

Emily Carstairs, Documentary Australia 

[email protected]