Who Are We?
Ian Darling is the founder and Chair of the Documentary Australia Foundation, a philanthropic initiative for foundations, charitable organizations and documentary filmmakers in Australia. He 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. He has 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. Having launched the film’s education campaign at Parliament House in Canberra, the documentary was donated to every secondary school and philanthropic foundation in Australia. 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. 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 is Chair of The Caledonia Foundation, a private foundation focusing on the education, training and welfare of disadvantaged young Australians. He also manages the Shark Island Foundation and the Shark Island Documentary Fund, which supports Australian documentary filmmakers and the local film industry. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Centre for Social Impact. 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, Chair of the Salvation Army Education Foundation, and Chair of the Oasis Youth Support Network. 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. He was a recipient of the AbaF Business Arts Leadership Award in 2008, and in 2009 his photo "Jon" was a finalist in the National Photographic Portrait Prize at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra. He has a MBA from IMD Switzerland, and a BA from the Australian National University.
DR MITZI GOLDMAN Mitzi Goldman is an Executive Officer and Director of the Documentary Australia Foundation. She is an independent documentary producer and director and CEO of Looking Glass Pictures Pty Ltd. She has written, produced, edited and directed documentaries for over 20 years and has a wealth of experience in many aspects of filmmaking and teaching. Her films have been screened around the world in festivals and have received nominations at Australia’s AFI Awards, sold to ABC TV, Channel 4 (UK), SBS TV and won awards, including an ATOM award for Best Social Issues Documentary and seven international awards for her latest film End of the Rainbow which was a co-production with ARTE, ITVS and SBS. Her previous credits include Snakes And Ladders, Things I Call Mine, Many Homes, Many Names, Hatred, Ports Of Destiny, Parra and Chinese Take Away. She has taught documentary production for many years in New York, USA, Murdoch University in Perth, Western Australia, Sydney College of Fine Arts, University of Western Sydney and from 2002 - 2008 she was Head of Documentary at the Australian Film Television and Radio School. Mitzi is currently on the Board of Directors of the Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC). She has also been a board member of the Film and Television Institute in Western Australia and has served as a jury member of film festivals in Australia, in Iran for the Tehran International Short Film Festival and in China for the Guangzhou Documentary Film Festival. Mitzi regularly assesses documentary projects for government funding bodies and organises monthly seminars, screenings and documentary events for Ozdox – the Australian Documentary Forum of which she is a founding member and co-ordinator. Mitzi Goldman holds a BA from the University of Sydney majoring in Fine Arts and Philosophy and a PhD from the University of Western Sydney. SUSAN MACKINNON Susan MacKinnon is an Executive Officer of Documentary Australia and Director of the Documentary Australia Foundation. She is an independent documentary producer. Susan is a Board Member of the South Australian Film Corporation (2005 – 2009) and until recently the Australian International Documentary Conference (2000 - 2007). From 1998 to 2005 Susan was the Documentary Investment Manager at the Film Finance Corporation (FFC). The FFC is a Federal Government Corporation that invests in feature films, television drama and documentaries. Susan assisted filmmakers in negotiating finances for their documentaries. She liaised with the production industry and stakeholders on industry and investment issues and participated in the formulation of investment policies. Each month Susan prepared and presented to the FFC Board investment proposals comprehensively outlining the nature and market potential of the proposal. During this time, Susan helped internationalise the Australian documentary industry and promote many of the Australian filmmakers, raising their profiles outside Australia. Susan worked as an independent producer for 20 years and is a passionate champion of new and innovative filmmaking. This year Susan is executive producer on a number of films including the animated feature documentary Global Haywire, directed by Oscar winning Bruce Petty, the musical feature entitled '4' and the science film Over My Dead Body. She won many awards and gained international acclaim for her documentaries. Her very popular short drama, Fetch, screened in over 50 world festivals, including the official competition at Cannes. Her successful documentaries include: Eternity; Loaded - The Gun Lovers, You Must Remember This, Dinner for Six, Somewhere Between Light and Reflection, and Men and Their Sheds. Penny Richards is an Executive Director of the Documentary Australian Foundation and a Director of the board of the Documentary Australia Foundation. She is also the Executive Director of the Caledonia Foundation, a private foundation focusing on the education, training and welfare of disadvantaged young Australians (www.caledoniafoundation.com.au). Previously, Penny was an Executive and Company Secretary for Earthwatch Institute (www.earthwatch.org), an international not for profit organisation which engages people worldwide in scientific field research and education to promote the understanding and action necessary for a sustainable environment. Earthwatch works in partnership with international institutions and NGOs as well as government, the business and philanthropic sectors. Prior to this Penny was General Manager – Southern Region for Delaware North (Australasia), Operations Manager of the Hotel Como development, Melbourne, Food & Beverage Manager for property developers Ipoh Garden, Australia and Food & Beverage Manager for Southern Pacific Hotel Corporation. Penny has postgraduate certificates in Cross- sector Partnerships and Sustainable Business from the University of Cambridge. She has studied at La Sorbonne Université de Paris, and attended courses at École Hôtelier Lausanne Switzerland, Cranlana Melbourne, and La Trobe University Melbourne. Kel Fitzalan is a partner in Private Client Services at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Kel has 19 years experience advising businesses in all areas of corporate tax consulting. Kel has completed a Masters degree in Taxation and has a business degree from the University of Technology (Sydney). He is also a member of the Taxation Institute of Australia and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia. Sally Fryer is Senior Editor and Producer at Shark Island Productions and a Director of the Shark Island Documentary Fund and the Documentary Australia Foundation. She has cut over 100 documentaries during her career and has 20 years experience as a freelance documentary film editor both in London and Sydney. She worked principally for the BBC and Channel 4 in the UK and for the ABC and SBS since arriving in Australia in 1998. In 2008 she won the AFI Award for Best Editing in a documentary for The Oasis - an observational feature documentary shot over two years about a group of severely disadvantaged kids who live on the streets of inner Sydney, and the maverick Salvation Army Captain who cares for them. Sally was a finalist for the Dendy Awards Best Documentary Category 2005 with Political Football, was the editor of Alone Across Australia which has now won over 25 international awards and screened at over 60 international film festivals, and Woodstock for Capitalists which won several awards including a Cine Golden Eagle Award. She was nominated for an AFI Award for Editing for The Original Mermaid in 2003, which went on to win the Film Critics Award for Best Documentary. Her other Australian credits include Dust to Dust, Dope - A Battle for the Soul of Sport, Drama School, and The Track. She is married and is the very proud mother of 2 beautiful young boys, Louie and Thommo, and a dog called Hiccup.
Sam is the Executive Director of the Nelson Meers Foundation, a philanthropic foundation dedicated to the arts. The Nelson Meers Foundation was the first Prescribed Private Fund to be established in Australia. The Foundation’s key objective is to foster innovative cultural expression by supporting projects that advance the visual, literary and performing arts, or that seek to utilise the arts to create positive social change. In 2005, the Nelson Meers Foundation was the winner of the AbaF/Goldman Sachs JB Were Philanthropy Leadership Award. Prior to establishing the Nelson Meers Foundation in 2001, Sam practised as a specialist media lawyer, initially with two of Sydney’s leading law firms, and then as in-house counsel with Grundy Television. She was subsequently appointed as a director with Showtime (a joint venture between Liberty Media and four Hollywood Studios), during which time she was a founding board member and deputy Chair of the Australian Subscription Television and Radio Association. Sam is a board member of Company B (the Belvoir St Theatre), a judge of the National Biography Award and a judge of the Australian Business Arts Foundation Awards. She holds degrees in Arts and Law, a Master of Letters, and is currently completing a doctorate in literature. Michael Traill is the Chief Executive of Social Ventures Australia. He joined SVA as founding Chief Executive in 2002, after 15 years as a co-founder and Executive Director of Macquarie Bank’s successful $400m private equity business Macquarie Direct Investment. SVA is a not-for-profit venture philanthropy organisation. It partners with outstanding social enterprises, supports their growth efforts and uses benchmarks and performance measurements to hold them accountable for generating increased social change in Australia. SVA provides a mix of funding access, corporate mentor support and best practice shared learning. The SVA Boost! Fund, Australia’s first venture philanthropy fund, has raised commitments of over $15 million and invested in 19 innovative social ventures. He holds several commercial and non-profit directorships, including the Indigenous Capital Fund, the John Maclean Foundation, the Opera Australia Capital Fund and the Advisory Board of Dimension Data Australia. In recognition of his ongoing commitment to disability services, Michael received the Special Ministerial Award for Service to NSW Wheelchair Sport in 2001. He also won a Joint Judges Award at the Equity Trustee’s Not for Profit CEO Awards in 2005 and was named as one of Australia’s 25 True Leaders by the Australian Financial Review “BOSS” Magazine in 2006. He holds a BA (Hons), and a MBA (Harvard). Jack Heath is the Founder and Executive Director of the Inspire Foundation. He grew up on a farm at Mooroopna in north eastern Victoria. After graduating in Honours Arts and Law from the University of Melbourne, he entered the Commonwealth Public Service serving with key departments including Prime Minister and Cabinet. In the late 1980s, as a diplomat in Thailand, he played a catalyst role in the Australian Government’s decision to build the Friendship Bridge across the Mekong River. He was speechwriter to the Foreign and Trade Ministers in 1993 and a Senior Adviser to Prime Minister Keating in 1994. In 1996, Jack established the Inspire Foundation with a view to using the Internet to do something about Australia’s then escalating rates of youth suicide. He was a Torchbearer for the Sydney Olympics and a national organiser for the Dalai Lama’s 2002 Australian Tour. Jack was awarded a Centenary Medal for “service to the community” and received the 2004 Equity Trustees Non-Profit CEO Award for Innovation. In 2005 he was a NSW Finalist in the Australian of the Year Awards. In 2007, he established the Inspire USA Foundation in San Francisco to extend Inspire’s Reach Out! program to the young people of America. Jack is proud of his ability to assemble great teams of people who do amazing things. His vision for Inspire is to have a global impact on young people’s mental health and wellbeing by 2020, and his dream is for all young people to be truly happy. A husband, father and practising Buddhist, Jack has spent too much of his life doing overly serious things. JANE KENNY Director Jane Kenny is the Grants and Legal Information Manager at the Law and Justice Foundation of NSW. Prior to that she was Executive Officer of the Sydney Community Foundation. Jane started her career as a primary school teacher. From there she went on to work as an organiser with the NSW/ACT Independent Education Union, working in a membership services role that involved recruitment of new members, dispute resolution and advocacy. She was appointed in 2002 to establish the Sydney office of Philanthropy Australia and from there developed her deep knowledge and passion for the philanthropic sector. In her current role, Jane delivers a grants program which focuses on access to justice, and manages the Law and Justice Foundation’s legal information strategy. Jane is also a director of Documentary Australia Foundation.
MICHAEL HANAVAN Michael Hanavan is the Company Secretary of the Documentary Australia Foundation. He is also the Chief Executive Officer of DFO, a private family business and has had over 25 years experience in chartered and public accountancy. He initially worked in the predecessor practices of KPMG and Price Waterhouse Coopers where he specialised in taxation services in Perth and Sydney. He has also worked in senior finance roles with ADI limited, the Twynam Agricultural Group and White Funds Management. Michael is an associate member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia and a Senior Associate of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia.
MARY MACRAE Mary Macrae is the Administrative Officer of the Documentary Australia Foundation. She is also the Shark Island Productions Production Office Manager. She was the Production Assistant for the feature documentary In The Company of Actors. Mary was a recipient of the Shark Island Productions Documentary Scholarship in 2006. She was Line Producer on the feature documentary The Oasis, and is currently working on PAUL KELLY - STORIES OF ME. Prior to joining Shark Island, Mary freelanced as a Stage and Production Manager in Sydney. She has worked regularly with Sydney Theatre Company, Company B Belvoir, Griffin Theatre Company, Performing Lines, Force Majeure, Sydney Festival, Ten Days on the Island – Tasmanian State Festival, Pact Youth Theatre and was a Production Coordinator for the Olympic and Paralympic Arts Festivals. Mary has lectured in Stage Management for the NIDA Open Program, the University of Western Sydney and the Wesley Institute.
Thanks website DESIGN WebsitE development
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> THE DOCUMENTARY AUSTRALIA FOUNDATIONFind guidelines and application forms to make or receive a grant, plus a list of documentaries on our Approved List for philanthropic support. > KEY CASE STUDIESA selection of documentaries that have been funded partly or entirely by private funding. They offer a model of potential collaborations around shared issues and themes. > PHILANTHROPY AUSTRALIAThe national body for Australian philanthropic trusts and foundations offers a comprehensive directory with links, networking opportunities, services and information to promote philanthropy. |
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