Film Crew

Ian Darling is an award winning documentary filmmaker with Shark Island Productions in Sydney, Australia. His director and producer credits include THE OASIS, IN THE COMPANY OF ACTORS, ALONE ACROSS AUSTRALIA and WOODSTOCK FOR CAPITALISTS. His films have all screened on ABC Television in Australia, a variety of television networks around the world, and at over 100 international film festivals.

In 2008 he won the AFI Award for Best Direction in a Documentary for THE OASIS. The film was also nominated for a Walkley, IF, ATOM, Australian Directors Guild and Logie Award.

Currently he is directing and producing two feature documentaries, both with extensive outreach and education programs: PAUL KELLY – STORIES OF ME  and OUR LITTLE GARDEN, and a short documentary THE SOLDIER.

He recently produced two short fiction films, POLLY AND ME (writer and director) and WALL BOY. Both social policy short films will act as companion pieces to the homeless documentary THE OASIS, and its on-going outreach and education campaign. THE OASIS will formally go on the educational curriculum in every State and Territory in 2011.

He was the creator of the "Australia's Homeless Youth" project, which in addition to producing the documentary THE OASIS, established the independent National Youth Commission and report into youth homelessness. The project was launched in April 2008, in conjunction with a national screening and live panel discussion on ABC Television. In 2011 he launched the "Oasis Homeless Short Film Competition" for schools. 

He is Chair of The Caledonia Foundation, a private foundation focusing on the education, training and welfare of disadvantaged young Australians. He is the founder and Chair of the Documentary Australia Foundation, a philanthropic initiative supporting the documentary film industry in Australia. He also manages the Shark Island Foundation and the Shark Island Documentary Fund, which supports Australian documentary filmmakers and the local film industry.

Ian Darling was Chair of the Sydney Theatre Company and the STC Foundation, from 2006-2010. He was the founder and Managing Director of the Caledonia Investments group from 1992 to 2003. He has been a Director of the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), a member of the Advisory Board of The Salvation Army, and Chair of the Oasis Youth Support Network. He is currently a member of the Advisory Board of the Centre for Social Impact.

He was the recipient of the AbaF Business Arts Leadership Award in 2008. His photographs have been finalists in the Moran Contemporary Photographic Prize, the National Photographic Portrait Prize, the Sydney Life Photography Prize, and is represented in the permanent collection at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra.