Biography

Ian Darling is an award-winning documentary filmmaker. He is Executive Director of Shark Island Institute and its production arm Shark Island Productions in Sydney.

His Director and Producer credits include The Pool (2024), The Final Quarter (2019), The Oasis: Ten Years Later (2019), Paul Kelly - Stories of Me (2012), The Oasis (2008), Suzy & the Simple Man (2016), In the Company of Actors (2007), Alone Across Australia (2004), Woodstock for Capitalists (2001), Polly and Me (2009), and The Soldier (2011). He is an Executive Producer of On the Record (2020), The Fourth Estate (2018), 2040 (2019), The Bleeding Edge (2018), Unrest (2017), Inventing Tomorrow (2018) and How to Change the World (2015).

He was Founder of Good Pitch Australia, helping to create 19 social impact documentaries and outreach campaigns, including The Hunting Ground (2015), That Sugar Film (2014), Gayby Baby (2015), Prison Songs (2015), Frackman (2015), Zach's Ceremony (2016), The Opposition (2016), Whiteley (2017), Ghosthunter (2018) and Blue (2017).

Ian Darling has been Chair of The Caledonia Foundation since 2001. He was Founder (and former Chair) of Documentary Australia Foundation, and is a Member of the Impact Partners Advisory Board in New York. He was Chair of the Sydney Theatre Company and the STC Foundation, from 2006-2010, and has been a Director of the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA).

He received the Byron Kennedy Award for innovation and the relentless pursuit of excellence at the 2018 AACTA Awards. Ian received the AFI Award for Best Direction in a Documentary for The Oasis (2008), has been a Walkley Awards Finalist (twice), was a winner of the Film Critics Award, and nominated for numerous Australian Directors Guild, AFI/AACTA, and IF awards.

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.

He was named Australia's 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 (2008) was named one of 'Australia's 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 a MBA from IMD Switzerland, and a BA (Acc.) from the Australian National University.
- IMDb mini biography by: Shark Island Institute