by Natalie Apostolou
Indie producer, writer, innovator Sal Balharrie has launched a new vision and pathway for documentary makers and how to seize global alignments, I See Doco Lab.
I See Doco Lab is a globally focused online incubator designed to fast-track filmmakers to reach project goals. Irrespective of where the story is on its journey to screen, this is a values-led approach that ultimately sets out to align projects with specific philanthropic investment.
The concept of the Lab erupted as Balharrie was decamping to Spain and processing her seven-year journey of making the feature documentary, Like My Brother, which follows the ambitions of four Tiwi Island based Indigenous girls and their dream to be part of the AFLW. Co-directed by Luritja and Warumungu filmmaker Danielle MacLean and premiering at MIFF in 2024, the film was funded by 76 philanthropists and did not attract agency funding.
“This was the film I wanted to make, and I knew that the funding was going to be tough for it. But as soon as we got the story right, I saw what speaking with clarity, passion and persuasion could achieve. You just get nodding heads, and the money flowed,” Balharrie reflects.
The experience was transformative in solidifying her approach to documentary making in the current economic climate and conceived the idea of the Lab to accelerate the careers of documentarians at a time when entrepreneurial approaches to funding are vital.
“I realised that I come to documentary through quite a different lens, which is rather than creating archives of story, it’s actually coming to it from a highly plotted story point of view, which doesn’t mean that it’s hybrid. You’re still an observational documentary if that’s what you so choose, but just getting really, really, really granular with the story before anything else.”
After a pilot program in 2025, the inaugural I See Doco Lab, inclusive of the $20,000 Momentum Award, launched in May this year, taking on six eclectic projects featuring a global mix including an Australian based Colombian, Chinese and Indonesian filmmakers, a Chilean filmmaker and an Australian filmmaker based in Cairns.
Delivered virtually, over 12 weeks via 12 tasks with weekly feedback and monthly catchups, selected participants take part in an immersive community experience that deeply interrogates the motivations behind their idea with mentoring by Balharrie and a growing collective of global screen leaders. During the first lab, guest mentors included Dogwoof Chief Content Officer Oli Hardbottle covering all facets of international distribution and funding strategy insights, and executive producer and fundraising specialist Petrina Dorrington advising on how to navigate philanthropy.
“The focus is ‘spark to screen and everything in between’ – but of course, it’s tailored specifically to the nuance of selected projects. We begin with the spark and the story and the materials. Then we look at production and importantly we get very deep into the values and alignment of philanthropic funding,” Balharrie explains.
At the end of each lab, three projects are selected to pitch for the I See Doco Lab Momentum Award of $20k in funding. The 2026 confirmed judges include the Lab’s founding philanthropist Collis Ta’eed, Ollie Harbottle, and former AIDC CEO and Conference Director, now Screen Australia Investment Manager, Alice Burgin. The first award will be decided on July 30 with the successful project announced August 4.
Balharrie believes that over the next ten years, documentary will surge forward, “because it is the truth, and it is humans telling the truth. It is not AI. It can be AI, by all means. But ultimately, we’re talking about human stories, and this is why it is so important, particularly for young people, young filmmakers, to understand that their passions matter, their values matter. If we lose hold of these values, these truths, we’re screwed.”
With a format outline, she approached one of the main philanthropic investors for Like My Brother, tech entrepreneur Collis Ta’eed, who immediately supported the concept of the incubator community providing enough funding to support four consecutive I See Doco Lab’s Ta’eed is a co-founder of Envato, a Melbourne-based digital assets marketplace which was sold to Shutterstock in 2024 for $US245 million.
“Collis is a game changer, a life changer, and he is somebody that we just need to clone,” Balharrie said.
The nouveau philanthropy global pipeline is an astute breed of young, politically engaged, culturally driven, changemakers, Balharrie says. “They are out there, and they’re younger and they are looking for purpose and they are looking for meaning. I want them to see that there is purpose and meaning in filmmaking.”
Balharrie’s core intent however is anchored in values and finely articulated narrative. “That’s my focus, whilst the lab is very much based in story, it’s profoundly based in values. It’s about trying to tease out from the filmmaker what their values are and then designing that into an irresistible pitch.”
Across the experience of the initial Lab, she has witnessed the “penny dropping aha moment” of alignment. “What I’m really interested in is the emotions behind the spark. They’re the values, the emotions that connected you to the story in the first place, they are the emotional engine and heart of your the story. When a filmmaker actually grasps that, that’s when they can speak with a passion that is infectious. And when they talk with that degree of passion, and we find the philanthropist who share the same values… and philanthropist and filmmaker go on that journey together.”
Ultimately, Balharrie hopes that the I See Doco Lab concept is adapted and licensed into other countries, where the curriculum may be run in other languages and supports emerging filmmaking communities.
“If it sounds too good to be true, that’s kind of lovely. But I want the proof to be in the work.. Success for me is five projects over the next five years that get out into the world, carrying the I See Doco Lab logo as part of their credits. That will be really exciting.”
