Directory

Ian McDonald is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, self-shooting observational director, and editor. His feature-length work includes Algorithms (2012, 96 mins), about young blind chess players in India; The First Year (2021, 88 mins), following Jamie Driscoll’s first year as North of Tyne Mayor; and Comrade VS: The Lasting Campaign (2025, 87 mins), portraying a 92-year-old Communist leader in India.

He has also created split-screen works such as Who Is Europe? A Film in Four Acts (2019, 40 mins), exploring racism, borders, and migration, and FREEDOM (2027, 22 mins), examining the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1967 visit to Newcastle.

He is currently in post-production on I Was Paolo, a feature documentary about an aspiring filmmaker living with mitochondrial disease.

Ian is based at Newcastle University, where he is a Reader in Film Practice.