AIDC and Screen Queensland, with the support of Sunshine Coast Council and in association with Sunshine Coast Screen Collective, are proud to reveal Regionality Sunshine Coast documentary and factual industry event, taking place at Maroochy RSL on Friday 7 August 2026.
The inspiring one-day program will provide exclusive insights into crafting compelling feature documentaries, tips for how to thrive in the current financing landscape, expert advice on successful series creation, and how leading nonfiction creators are navigating careers that defy genres and formats. All alongside Regionality’s essential insider access to broadcasters, streamers, funds and distributors via roundtables, structured meetings and networking – providing a fully-rounded program catering to Queensland-based doc and factual practitioners.
Speaking at this year’s even is documentary producer from Regen Studios (the team behind That Sugar Film, 2040, and Future Council), Anna Kaplan. Leading up to Regionality, Nick L’Barrow spoke with Anna about the importance of an event like Regionality, and what fuels her desire to tell untold and important stories through various outlets.
Nick: When did you first realise documentary filmmaking was an impactful avenue to not just tell untold stories, but explore important issues?
Anna Kaplan: I guess it’s sort of been a thread throughout my career. I got into documentary filmmaking through journalism because I wanted to go deeper and because I saw the potential for the platform, obviously, to engage large audiences and get people to have an emotional response to a story. That, you know, was quite evident to me from quite early on in my career, that there was an opportunity there that emotion, whether it was frustration, anger, fear, hope could be harnessed in some way. It’s really kind of been part and parcel of my approach to documentary since I started making films.
And I’ve sort of worked in different thematic spaces, but I guess when I really saw the potential in some of my earlier projects, often the impact was actually for the participants themselves or the communities whose story we were telling. Whereas what I saw with That Sugar Film, which I was the impact producer on that film, we developed that campaign in 2014. The film was released in 2015 and it was a theatrical release with a reasonably well resourced impact campaign that had been really thought out, planned strategically, I saw the potential for reaching mass audiences and really shifting culture, shifting consumer consciousness, shifting policy. It was really That Sugar Film that made me see the real power of the medium that we work with.
Nick: You mentioned the role of an impact producer. When I was reading up about you and looking deeper into what you do, it was actually the first time I’d seen that role credited in something. Are you able to talk through the role of an impact producer and sort of what your process is finding a story within an idea or within a theme?
AK: Yeah, impact producers, you know, they can either be an additional member of the key film team or they can be embedded within it. And how I prefer to work is embedded within the productions. So, I am a producer as well. So, for me, it works best when you are embedded in it from the very beginning. Embedded in the financing model, embedded in the way the stories develop, the way it’s told, the way you work with partners through production rather than kind of bolting it on at the end. Certainly with That Sugar Film, it was a bolt on. Like that film had almost been completed when I came on board. .
But ever since then, I’ve really been drawn to working in the way where you’re completely embedded within the production team. But essentially that role is working with the director and producer, the key creative team to really articulate what are the change goals for the project? What do we actually want from this film or this show or piece of content? How do we want to harness the emotion that if we get it right, and we tell this story really well? What, how are we going to harness that feeling, whatever it is, from the audience and guide the audience into taking action? Actually becoming part of helping to solve the problem the film or the show is exploring.
So, it sort of sits at the nexus of fundraising, project management, and financial management because the impact budget is usually separate to the film budget. The relationships with all those donors and funders and sponsors has to be managed and they have to be reported back to. So there’s also a big evaluation piece of data we’re collecting that shows that this has actually worked or not worked, and how do we tell that story back to the stakeholders, back to the audience in a way that makes them want to do more and get more involved. To see that what they’ve done has actually contributed to some change and therefore they’re going to do that again with another project. It’s really building community around the project and developing educational resources that can be distributed into schools or corporate toolkits or a specific campaign that’s run with one of the partners that has a goal of, you know, maybe shifting policy.
Nick: There are a lot of logistical aspects that have to go into that role, but you mentioned that community aspect and getting people to take action through the emotional core. Are there certain key things you look for in a project that end up becoming the emotional core of the stories you tell?
AK: I mean, the story is king always. You can’t do the rest if you haven’t actually cracked people open in some way. and elicited an emotional response. So, I would say that is number one – making sure that actual created material that is being built is actually good enough At Regen Studios, we sort of focus on future thinking. What’s the next big issue coming down the line that a film could actually, you know, raise awareness. When we were working on That Sugar Film, we saw the success of that film, but we also saw the amount of grunt and just how all consuming it was. You just had to go all in and live and breathe it.
So when we get the chance to do it again, what’s the next issue that we think is the most important to justify going all in on. And for us at the time, it was climate change, you know, the Paris agreement had just been signed. We all had very small children. The scientific community and even policymakers we’re talking about Net Zero in very scientific terms. In a language that actually meant nothing to people in their daily lives. So we saw an opportunity to use screen-based creative storytelling to show what the solutions are that we’re going to get us to those targets that we need to get to, and show what people’s lives would look like if we implemented those solutions. Really creating an evocative vision of what a different future could look like, and then hopefully challenge audiences into supporting the types of solutions, advocating for them, raising their voices, the power, whatever that looked like, depending on who they were and where they had agency. And Regen’s creative approach region was formed off the back of 2040.
Nick: I’m curious to know how you have seen the Australian documentary industry evolve with the addition of something like Regionality? What does this event mean within the industry space?
AK: I think these types of events are incredibly important. Even being in Melbourne, it’s frustrating that you don’t have access to all the people who are in Sydney. So I can’t imagine what it’s like for people in regional areas who have access to no one. So the value of actually being able to get in a room, with the decision makers, to hear what they’re looking for from them directly, to ask them questions, to round tables, and then the opportunity to actually just connect as humans through networking events, all of that is so incredibly valuable. When I first came out of PCA as a new graduate in the industry, trying to get my first film up, AIDC was actually in Byron Bay. and because it was in that kind of regional town everyone pretty much was away from home, and I have very special memories around that. I built really strong connections with other practitioners at that AIDC. So it created a bit of a community of practice for me as well. There are benefits of being connected to others, because this industry is really hard. You deal with a lot of rejection. You work on projects for years and years and years and sometimes they don’t go anywhere and you have to let them go. And having people around you understand that and can support you through that is really important, kind of being sounding boards to lift you up when things are hard. That is incredibly valuable. But also the market intel that comes through having people on the ground. Having those opportunities to really ask questions and pitch your projects directly to the decision makers rather than going through a co-producer who’s got the relationship. It sets you up for your future projects as well.
Nick: Can you pinpoint a documentary or film that inspired you and put you on the trajectory to where you are today?
AK: Oh, that’s a tough one. I mean, I go back to something like, I guess understanding the power of the medium when I was in my early teens, I watched Baraka and the scene with the chickens and that sort of factory farming scene. That imagery had such an impact on me. I became a vegetarian for 15 years after watching that film! I understand personally the power of filmmaking, but over the years, I’ve had revelatory moments with different films. But I think, from an early age, it was that one.
I also think films about exonerated people who have been, you know, unjustly incarcerated or ostracised who are freed, and the communities around them sort of restores your faith that justice actually can be delivered. Obviously there’s the flip side of, you know, people actually being held accountable, but I like to focus on the more positives with stories of people reclaiming their life.
Thank you so much to Anna for her time, and to Regionality and 80/20 PR for organising the interview. Regionality Sunshine Coast takes place Friday 7 August 2026 at Maroochy RSL, Maroochydore, Queensland. Visit aidc.com.au for more information.
