Ian David Darling is a documentary film director and producer.
He is the executive director of Shark Island Institute and its production arm, Shark Island Productions in Sydney, Australia.
His documentary producer and director credits include The Pool, The Twins, The Department, The Final Quarter, Paul Kelly - Stories of Me, The Oasis, Suzy & The Simple Man, Life After The Oasis, Polly and Me, The Soldier, In The Company of Actors, and Alone Across Australia. He is an executive producer of Wash My Soul in the River's Flow, Paper and Glue, On the Record, Woodstock for Capitalists, 2040, The Fourth Estate, The Bleeding Edge, Unrest, Inventing Tomorrow and How to Change the World.
He was founder of GoodPitch2 Australia which funded 19 films, including 2040, The Hunting Ground, That Sugar Film, Gayby Baby, Prison Songs, Frackman, Zach's Ceremony, The Opposition, Ghosthunter, Whiteley, Blue, The Leadership, and In My Blood It Runs.
Darling has been chair of The Caledonia Foundation since 2001, and was co-founder and managing director of the Caledonia Investments group from 1992 to 2004.
He is a member of the Impact Partners Advisory Board in New York, founder and patron (and former chair) of Documentary Australia, and Patron of the ArtsLab, Kangaroo Valley.
He was chair of the Sydney Theatre Company and the STC Foundation, from 2006 to 2010. He has been a director of the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), chair of The Oasis Youth Support Network, and member of The Salvation Army Advisory Board.
Darling received the Byron Kennedy Award for innovation and the relentless pursuit of excellence at the 2018 AACTA Awards.
Darling's photographs have been finalists in the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize, the National Photographic Portrait Prize, the Sydney Life Photography Prize and his portrait of Jon Muir was hung in "The Look" in 2019 and is now part of the permanent collection at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra.
In 2021 Darling co-wrote and acted in The Twins with comedian Greg Fleet. The play opened at the 2021 Adelaide Fringe Festival and won the Mental Health Awareness Award. It went on to tour to Sydney, Kangaroo Valley, Canberra and Melbourne.
Contents
Biography
Darling's first documentary in 2001 Woodstock for Capitalists was a film featuring investors and philanthropists Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger and won the CINE Golden Eagle Award. His next film in 2004 Alone Across Australia about extreme adventurer Jon Muir was voted one of the "20 best adventure films of all time" by Men's Journal Magazine and won over 32 international awards.
In The Company of Actors was a 2007 film that followed the journey of the Sydney Theatre Company cast of Hedda Gabler from rehearsal room in Sydney through to opening night in New York. The cast featured Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving and Robyn Nevin.
The Oasis was a multi-award-winning documentary that was filmed over two years about Australia's homeless youth. The film had a social and education outreach campaign which led to the most significant national inquiry into youth homelessness in 20 years. The Oasis was named one of "Australia's Top 50 Philanthropic Gifts of All Time". The Oasis became the inspiration to Darling filming two docu-dramas Polly and Me (a tale of child abuse and neglect, seen through the eyes of an 8-year-old girl), and Wall Boy (about a runaway forced into teenage prostitution and the courageous outreach worker who attempts to rescue him).
The Soldier was a documentary on Ken Depena, a devotee of the Salvation Army since 1949 who featured in The Oasis, the film garnered a 'Special Mention' at the Antenna Documentary Film Festival.
Paul Kelly - Stories of Me based on prominent Australian singer songwriter Paul Kelly opened at the Melbourne International Film Festival in 2012 and won the Film Critics Circle of Australia Best Documentary Award.
Stories From the Inside looked into a group of young first time offenders in Port Philip Prison. Suzy & The Simple Man an environmental love story featuring Suzy and Jon Muir, discusses sustainability and survival in a remote country community. The film premiered in 2016 at the Sydney Film Festival and had sold out screenings at Melbourne International Film Festival. Life After The Oasis re-connected with original participants from The Oasis ten years later, premiering in the Sydney Film Festival in 2019.
Filmography
2001 Woodstock for Capitalists Director, Producer
2004 Alone Across Australia Director, Producer
2007 In The Company of Actors Director, Producer
2008 The Oasis Director, Producer
2009 Wall Boy producer
2009 Polly and Me Director, Producer
2011 The Soldier Director, Producer
2012 Paul Kelly - Stories of Me Director, Producer
2013 Stories From the Inside Producer
2015 How to Change the World Executive Producer
2015 Last Cab to Darwin Executive Producer
2015 The Hunting Ground Executive Producer produced in association with Shark Island Institute
2016 Suzy & The Simple Man Director, Producer
2017 Unrest Executive Producer
2018 The Fourth Estate Executive Producer produced in association with Shark Island Productions
2018 Inventing Tomorrow Executive Producer produced in association with Shark Island Productions
2019 Life After The Oasis Producer (premiering Sydney Film Festival in June 2019
Awards
2001 CINE Golden Eagle Film and Video Competition (winner) CINE: Woodstock for Capitalists
2004 Crystal Heart Award (winner) Heartland Film Festival: Alone Across Australia
2005 Telecast-Professional Non-Fiction Division: People and Places (winner) CINE: Alone Across Australia
2008 Best Documentary (Nominee) Inside Film Awards: The Oasis
2008 Best Direction in a Documentary, (winner) Australian Film Institute Awards: The Oasis
2008 Best Documentary (Nominee) Australian Film Institute Awards: The Oasis
2008 Best Multimodal Production (winner) ATOM Awards: The Oasis
2008 Best Tertiary Education Resource (winner) ATOM Awards: The Oasis
2008 Best Education Multimodal Production (Nominee) ATOM Awards: The Oasis
2008 Best Documentary Social and Political Issues (Nominee) ATOM Awards: The Oasis
2008 Best Documentary Human Story (Nominee) ATOM Awards: The Oasis
2008 Best Documentary General (Nominee) ATOM Awards: The Oasis
2008 Best Documentary Film (Nominee) Santa Barbara International Film Festival: In The Company of Actors
2008 Best Direction (Nominee), Australian Directors' Guild: The Oasis
Good Pitch Australia
Shark Island Institute and Documentary Australia Foundation host Good Pitch2 Australia, and brought the first of these events to Sydney in October 2014. The 2015 event was held in September and the last in a trilogy of events was held at the Sydney Opera House in November 2016. The community partners for the event are Philanthropy Australia and Pro Bono Australia.
Since 2014, more than $14 million has been raised in philanthropic grants for the funding of 19 social impact documentaries and their impact campaigns, forging priceless pro bono support and 300+ powerful strategic partnerships between community groups, the corporate sector, NGOs and policy makers.
Supported documentaries include: That Sugar Film, Frackman, Gayby Baby, Zach's Ceremony, Call Me Dad, Constance On The Edge, Blue, Happy Sad Man, The Hunting Ground, Prison Songs, The Opposition, On Richard's Side, Whiteley (about Australian artist Brett Whiteley), Guilty, 2040, Ghosthunter, Dying to Live, In My Blood It Runs, The Leadership.
Good Pitch is a BRITDOC project in partnership with Ford Foundation and the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program.
Honours
2007 Recipient of the Creative Partnerships Australia (Formerly AbaF) Business Arts Leadership Award.
2008 one of the AFR Magazine Influential Australians.
2017 Recipient of Australia's Leading Philanthropist Award from Philanthropy Australia.
2018 Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for "distinguished service to documentary film production, to the performing arts, education and community engagement, and to social welfare organisations through philanthropic endeavours".
2018 Recipient of the AACTA Byron Kennedy Award for brave, innovative and wide-ranging pursuit of excellence.
2020 Australian National University Alumnus of the Year