Ian Darling


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. A documentary company which creates extensive outreach, education and community engagement campaigns with their films.
His documentary producer and director credits include 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, Alone Across Australia, Woodstock for Capitalists. He is an executive producer of On the Record, 2040, The Fourth Estate, The Bleeding Edge, Inventing Tomorrow, Unrest, Inventing Tomorrow and How to Change the World.
He is currently directing the feature documentary The Fires and is a producer of The Department.
He was founder of GoodPitch2 Australia helping to create 19 social impact documentaries and outreach campaigns, including 2040, The Hunting Ground, That Sugar Film, Gayby Baby, Prison Songs, Frackman, Zach's Ceremony, The Opposition, Ghosthunter, Whiteley, and Blue.
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 of the Documentary Australia Foundation, and Patron of the ArtsLab, Kangaroo Valley.
He was chair of the Sydney Theatre Company and the STC Foundation, from 2006-2010. He has been a director of the National Institute of Dramatic Art, 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.
In 2018 Shark Island Institute introduced The Labs - supporting five Australian documentary films in development.

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 strong 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, and Wall Boy. 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.
The Final Quarter re-examines the final three years of Sydney Swans footballer Adam Goodes’ playing career. Made entirely from archival footage, photos and interviews sourced from television, radio and newspapers, the film reviews the national conversation that took place over this period. Darling directed the music clip video for the end credit song by Paul Kelly "Every Day My Mother's Voice" released for Mother's Day 2019.
Darling is the founder and patron of the Documentary Australia Foundation, a not for profit organisation which encourages collaboration between philanthropic grant makers, charities and documentary filmmakers and winner of the Stanley Hawes Award in 2013. He was Chair of the Documentary Australia Foundation from 2006 to 2011. Darling is Chair of Good Pitch2 Australia, a not-for-profit event hosted in Australia by Shark Island Institute and Documentary Australia. The three Good Pitch events raised more than $14 million in philanthropic grants for the funding of 19 social impact documentaries and their impact campaigns.
Darling is chair of The Caledonia Foundation, a private foundation focusing on the education, training and welfare of disadvantaged young Australians. He was the founder and Managing Director of the Caledonia Investments group from 1992 to 2003.
He is an active supporter of the Arts, he is patron of the Kangaroo Valley Upper River Hall ArtsLab, a member of the Advisory Board of the Centre for Social Impact, a member of Impact Partners New York, Ambassador of Antenna Documentary Film Festival and has been a Patron of Human Rights Arts Film Festival, he is also a Foundation Donor for the Marriage Equality Campaign.
Darling was Chair of the Sydney Theatre Company and STC Foundation from 2006-2010. He appointed Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton as Co-Artistic Directors in 2008 and after leaving STC as Chairman, his position was replaced by David Gonski. He has been a member of the Advisory Board of The Salvation Army and Chair of The Oasis Youth Support Network, and a Director of the National Institute of Dramatic Art.
Darling was recipient of the 2007 Creative Partnerships Australia Business Leadership Award, and recipient of Australia's Leading Philanthropist Award from Philanthropy Australia in 2017. In 2018 Ian Darling was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for "distinguished service to documentary film production, to the performing arts, education and community engagement, and to social welfare organisations through philanthropic endeavours". Also in 2018, Darling was the recipient of the Byron Kennedy Award, presented by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts. He was recently named Australian National University’s 2020 Alumnus of the Year.
Darling holds an MBA from the International Institute for Management Development in Switzerland, a BA from the Australian National University and has studied at the New York Film Academy.

Filmography

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, On Richard's Side, Whiteley, 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

His 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.