Ian Darling

Ian Darling is an awardwinning documentary filmmaker He is Executive Director of Shark Island Institute and Chair of Shark Island Foundation His Director and Producer credits for Shark Island Productions include THE POOL THE TWINS THE FINAL QUARTER PAUL KELLY STORIES OF ME THE OASIS SUZY THE SIMPLE MAN IN THE COMPANY OF ACTORS ALONE ACROSS AUSTRALIA WOODSTOCK FOR CAPITALISTS POLLY ME and THE COMEDIAN He was also a Producer on THE DEPARTMENT LIFE AFTER THE OASIS WALL BOY and STORIES FROM THE INSIDE and an Executive Producer of FLY WASH MY SOUL IN THE RIVERS FLOW PAPER AND GLUE ALLEN V FARROW ON THE RECORD 2040 THE FOURTH ESTATE THE BLEEDING EDGE UNREST INVENTING TOMORROW and HOW TO CHANGE THE WORLD Ian Darling is currently directing and producing the feature documentaries THE POOL and THE VALLEY He cowrote and acted in the awardwinning play THE TWINS a twohander with comedian Greg Fleet In 2021 the play was performed over 75 shows in Adelaide Sydney Kangaroo Valley Canberra and Melbourne His photographs have been finalists in the National Photographic Portrait Prize the Moran Contemporary Photographic Prize the Sydney Life Photography Prize and the Head On Portrait Prize Ian Darling was Chair of The Caledonia Foundation from 2002 to 2022 He was Founder and former Chair of Documentary Australia Foundation and Founder of Good Pitch Australia which funded and helped create 19 social impact documentaries and outreach campaigns He is a Member of the Impact Partners Advisory Board in New York He was a former Chair of Sydney Theatre Company and STC Foundation and a Director of National Institute of Dramatic Art NIDA and The Salvation Army Advisory Board He received the Byron Kennedy Award for innovation and the relentless pursuit of excellence at the 2018 AACTA Awards Ian received the AFIAACTA Award for Best Direction in a Documentary has twice been a Walkley Awards Finalist a winner of two Film Critics Award and nominated for numerous Australian Directors Guild AFIAACTA and IF awards He was named Australias Leading Philanthropist by Philanthropy Australia in 2017 He is a recipient of the Creative Partnerships Australia Business Leadership Award and his homeless film project THE OASIS was named one of Australias Top 50 Philanthropic Gifts of All Time In 2018 Ian Darling was appointed an Officer AO 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 He has an MBA from IMD Switzerland and a BA Acc from the Australian National University