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. 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.