Darren Dale

Darren Dale is an Indigenous Australian film and television producer. He joined film production company Blackfella Films as a producer and later co-director (with founder Rachel Perkins), and is managing director. Dale is known for co-producing many films and television series with Miranda Dear since 2010, with their most recent collaboration being the second season of Total Control.

Early life and education Darren Dale is a Bundjalung man from northern New South Wales.

Career Dale joined Blackfella Films in 2001, and became co-director with company founder Rachel Perkins. The first stand-out success of this collaboration came with the production of First Australians, a 7-part documentary broadcast on SBS Television in 2008, that won many awards and remains the highest-selling educational title in Australia. It was also sold overseas.

Dale has co-produced many films and television series with Miranda Dear, who joined Blackfella in 2010. directed by Erica Glynn.

In 2012 Dale and Dear produced the telemovie Mabo, a docudrama about the fight for land rights by Eddie Mabo, directed by Perkins.

Total Control, a drama series with the first season premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2019, winner of the AACTA Award for Best TV Drama that year, was directed by Perkins and produced by Dale and Dear.

Other roles Between 2002 and 2011, Dale and Perkins, as directors of Blackfella, curated and produced the Message Sticks Indigenous Film Festival, which was held at the Sydney Opera House before touring nationally. In 2012, Dale curated and presented Blackfella Films Presents, a selection of Indigenous films, in partnership with the Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane International Film Festivals. , he also serves on the boards of the Sydney Film Festival and the National Institute of Dramatic Art, He is also a member of the NSW Government's Creative Communities Council, and of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

In 2012 he was awarded an honorary degree from AFTRS.

In 2024, a painting of Dale by Ben Smith, entitled If you can see it, you can be it, was a finalist for the 2024 Archibald Prize. 2011: AWGIE Award for Best Broadcast Documentary, for The Tall Man 2023: Winner (with Rachel Perkins, Jacob Hickey and Don Watson), Digital History Prize, New South Wales Premier's History Awards for The Australian Wars, Episode 1