This practice-based research project resulted in the production of the short documentary Unvaccinated, which features interviews with a group of participants who are not vaccinated against COVID-19. The accompanying exegesis explores questions of power in the filmmaker-participant relationship, and develops a theoretical argument specific to the power dynamic in the production of documentary films that represent the lived experience of people who have incurred harm as a result of sharing their views publicly in online and offline settings. Within the social-media and broader offline landscapes of social media misinformation and the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia, the PhD research project calls upon Foucault’s and Gramsci’s theoretical underpinning work on power and subalternity. This PhD sought to find an Open Space New Media Documentary approach to the film’s production practice, informed by these concepts. The research agenda revealed a pathway for a documentary film to explore the beliefs and experiences of participants rendered subaltern in the mainstream media, without contributing further to polarisation. The methodology employs a combination of qualitative and practice-based methods, in order to develop an egalitarian documentary production process. The practice-based methods allowed for the generation of new knowledge through the act of creative practice itself, where making and reflection are each integral to the research process and outcome. The qualitative methods produced research with in-depth interpretations and explorations of people’s experiences, meanings and social contexts, which are also revealed in the PhD’s artefact documentary short film. A key challenge that this research addresses and defines is the environment of “adrenalised discourse” which Weller identifies as a significant theme in the lived experience of those who hesitated to be vaccinated against COVID-19. In both online and offline social spaces, the participants in Unvaccinated experienced vilification and conditions of voicelessness, and these conditions contributed to the participants’ drift away from mainstream media outlets towards alternative media and commentary about the COVID-19 pandemic. This finding was instrumental in developing a novel production approach that could engender trust with participants and prevent further instances of subjugation for sharing their views. Weller develops this approach as a Filmmakers’ Code of Practice for documentaries about controversial topics. The original research process presented in this PhD involved the researcher interviewing participants prior to filming, and subsequently sharing with participants the early qualitative findings from these interviews. Thereafter, participants and the researcher collaboratively co-created the discussion points featured in the film’s on-camera interviews, through a process that enabled participants to fully contribute to the way their stories and views were represented. This egalitarian approach, an advancement on documentary scholar and filmmaker Patricia Zimmerman and filmmaker Helen De Michiel’s Open Space New Media Documentary, employed a reflexive production strategy that involved participants in the co-creation of the production process, as well as the artefact it produced. In using this process, Weller charted a new production pathway specific to polarised topics, that opens the documentary field for deeper engagement with controversial figures in debates where facts are contested. This approach leads to an enhancement of documentary’s role in public debates about controversial issues, and ultimately provides a pathway to a less polarised public debate.