Ian Darling
Ian Darling is a documentary film director and producer based in Sydney, Australia.[1][2]
He is Executive Director of Shark Island Productions a documentary company which creates extensive outreach, education and community engagement campaigns with their films, Executive Director of Shark Island Institute and Chair of GoodPitch2 Australia.[3]
His credits as a producer and director include Paul Kelly - Stories of Me, The Oasis, Polly and Me, The Soldier, In The Company of Actors, Alone Across Australia and Woodstock for Capitalists.
Biography
Darling’s first documentary in 2001 Woodstock for Capitalists [4] 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.[5] 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 2 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.[6] The Oasis became the inspiration to Darling filming two docu-dramas Polly and Me (a harrowing tale of child abuse and neglect, seen through the eyes of an 8-year-old girl), and Wall Boy (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[7] who featured in The Oasis, the film garnered a 'Special Mention' at the Antenna Documentary Film Festival.[8] 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 and Our Little Garden a film about environmental sustainability and survival in a remote country community is currently in production.
Darling is the founder and patron of the Documentary Australia Foundation (DAF), 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.[9][10] He was Chair of the Documentary Australia Foundation from 2006 to 2011. Ian Darling is Chair of Good Pitch2 Australia, a not-for-profit event being hosted in Australia by Shark Island Institute and Documentary Australia.[11] Ian Darling is Chair of The Caledonia Foundation (since 2001), 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 Patron of the Kangaroo Valley Upper River Hall Arts Festival, a member of the Advisory Board of the Centre for Social Impact, a member of Impact Partners New York,[12] Ambassador of Antenna Documentary Film Festival[13] and Patron of Human Rights Arts Film Festival (HRAFF). Ian Darling was Chair of the Sydney Theatre Company (STC) and STC Foundation from 2006-2010. He appointed Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton as Co-Artistic Directors in 2008[14] and after leaving STC as Chairman, his position was replaced by David Gonski.[15] He has been a member of the Advisory Board of The Salvation Army[16] and Chair of The Oasis Youth Support Network, and a Director of the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA).
Ian Darling holds an MBA from the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Switzerland, a BA from the Australian National University and has studied at the New York Film Academy.[17]
Filmography
- 2015 Our Little Garden Director, Producer
- 2013 Stories From the Inside Producer
- 2012 Paul Kelly - Stories of Me Director, Producer
- 2011 The Soldier Director, Producer
- 2009 Wallboy Producer
- 2009 Polly and Me Director, Producer
- 2008 The Oasis Director, Producer
- 2007 In The Company of Actors Director, Producer
- 2004 Alone Across Australia Director, Producer
- 2001 Woodstock for Capitalists Director, Producer
Awards
- 2013 Best Documentary Feature, Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards: Paul Kelly - Stories of Me
- 2013 Best Documentary Feature nomination, Australian Directors Guild Awards: Paul Kelly - Stories of Me
- 2008 Best Direction in a Documentary, Australian Film Institute Awards: The Oasis
- 2008 Best Documentary nomination, Australian Film Institute Awards: The Oasis
- 2008 Finalist, Walkley Awards: The Oasis
- 2009 Best Documentary Finalist, Logie Awards: The Oasis
- 2008 Best Documentary FIFO Special Jury Prize: The Oasis
- 2008 Best Direction nomination, Australian Directors Guild Awards: The Oasis
- 2008 Best Documentary, Inside Film Awards nomination: The Oasis
- 2005 Documentary, CINE Golden Eagle Award: Alone Across Australia
- 2004 Documentary, Crystal Heart Award: Alone Across Australia
- 2001 Documentary, CINE Golden Eagle Award: Woodstock For Capitalists
Recipient of the AbaF Business Arts Leadership Award in 2008.[18] 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 is represented in the permanent collection at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra.[19]
References
- ↑ "John Edwards AFTRS 2011 honorary degree recipient". AFTRS. 9 Dec 2011.
- ↑ "Shark Island".
- ↑ "Good Pitch coming to Australia in 2014". Inside Film Magazine.
- ↑ Krinsky,Tamara. "Documentary Member news". Documentary Magazine.
- ↑ "ShAFF Presents Coast To Coast and Alone Across Australia". Sheffield Adventure Film Festival.
- ↑ "Media Release NYC Report" (PDF). Salvos.org.au. 8 April 2008.
- ↑ "Media Release NYC report" (PDF). Screen Australia.
- ↑ "Antenna Documentary Festival". Moviemag.org.
- ↑ "Stanley Hawes Award". AIDC.
- ↑ "Feature interview: Ian Darling" (PDF). Philanthropy Australia.
- ↑ "goodpitch.org".
- ↑ "Antenna Documentary Film Festival".
- ↑ "Antenna Documentary Film Festival Staff".
- ↑ Bennie, Angela (11 Nov 2006), Blanchett: Theatre job 'no dalliance', Sydney Morning Herald
- ↑ David Gonski to replace Ian Darling as Chair of the Sydney Theatre Company, Australian Stage, 16 Dec 2009
- ↑ "The Centre for Social Impact issue 69".
- ↑ "Tribute to Ian Darling".
- ↑ "AbaF Councillors".
- ↑ "National Photographic Portrait Prize". The Daily Telegraph.
External links
- Ian Darling Yakety Yak Interview
- Ian Darling at the Internet Movie Database
- Shark Island Productions
- Good Pitch2 Australia