MDFF 2025: Soundscape Documentary Film Fest at Nighthawks Koyaanisqatsi

Like many film festivals in Australia, the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival had very humble beginnings. MDFF started off as a small, young, fun, experimental film festival incubated at local art space (to make documentary accessible to everyone) and has gone on to become one of the biggest showcases of documentary and factual filmmaking in Australia via its filmmaking competition. When we started back in 2016 we really wanted to make the genre, modern, progressive, open to everyone and make the genre more broadbased and popular, back in 2016 documentary was considered very geeky, nerdy, bookish, elitist, pretencious and niche with the only documentary series on Australian network TV being Body Hack. 

We really wanted to make documentary, fun, interesting and appealing, particuarly for young people by playing music, video game, true crime, animated cult, mockumentay and sports documentaries. Now, nearly 5 years later documentary is now one of the hottest genres and highest rated draws on television and also at the local cinema (largely due to Netflix). 

Music documentaries play at local bars and clubs around Melbourne, double features play the local cineplex and a real documentary scene has emerged, here in Melbourne (which we have played a small but pivotal role in). Our team work exceptionally hard to support the industry and put in hundreds and hundreds of hours each year to help the local and international documentary sector and are one of the only documentary festivals in the world to raise money for charity.