Ian Dunlop was born in London and educated in England. He served in the British Army from 1946-1948 before settling in Australia in 1948. In 1953 he graduated from Sydney University with a Bachelor of Arts degree, and joined the Australian Broadcasting Commission as a Talks Trainee. In 1956 he began working with the Australian Commonwealth Film Unit (CA 1670), which then became Film Australia (CA 1669), now known as Screen Australia (CA 9196). He left Film Australia in 1987 as a Producer Grade II, but continued to work there freelance for several years completing unfinished projects.
 
He worked on general documentaries in Australia and Papua New Guinea from 1956-1965. From 1965 he specialised in ethnographic filmmaking, the major projects having been with nomadic Aboriginal families in the Western Desert of Central Australia, the Baruya people of the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea, and the Yolngu of Yirrkala in northeast Arnhem Land.
 
Dunlop's 'Desert People' is described by critics as the Commonwealth Film Unit's major achievement of the 1960s. It is a condensed version of his 19 part five hour series 'People of the Australian Western Desert' (1966-1970). It was one of the best-selling Australian short films in the US and was praised for its thorough approach, and intimate treatment of its subjects. Technically it broke new ground, with its use of hand-held 16mm sync sound camera equipment with zoom lenses.  

From 1969 Dunlop continued his documentation of indigenous cultures with his 9 part (7 1/2 hours) 'Towards Baruya Manhood'. Collaborating with French anthropologist Prof. Maurice Godelier, he chronicled the male initiation ceremonies of the Baruya people of Papua New Guinea.  He then began the Yirrkala project, between 1970 and 1982 completing 12 films on change in a traditional community, the Yolngu. The project included a four-film portrait of the painter Narritjin Muymuru.
 
In 1967 Dunlop compiled and presented a 'Retrospective Review of Australian Ethnographic Film 1901-1967' at the Festival dei Popoli, Florence. He toured Europe and North America in 1967-68 with the Retrospective. Since then he has presented films and papers at many Australian and international ethnographic film conferences and festivals, and universities. Between 1974 and 1987 he was a consultant for school courses developed by the NSW Department of Education and Film Australia, which used some of his ethnographic films as core material.  

Retrospectives of Dunlop's films have been held in Tokyo in 1982 and at the Festival dei Popoli in 1983. He was invited to the 25th Anniversary of the Florence Festival in 1984 as a member of its International Committee. He has produced archival versions of his work, with documentation, translation and indexes.
 
Dunlop was awarded the Australian Film Institute's Raymond Longford Award for an outstanding contribution to Australian film making, and the Festival dei Popoli's Giampaolo Paoli Award in 1983. He was awarded the Queen's Silver Jubilee Medal in 1977, and the Medal of the Order of Australia in 1986. He was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute in 1991.

On 1 July 2008 Film Australia became part of Screen Australia which was established under the Screen Australia Act 2008 (Department of the Environment, Water Heritage and the Arts).  Screen Australia commenced operation bringing together the functions of the Film Finance Corporation (FFC), Film Australia, and the Australian Film Commission (AFC).  

Screen Australia was established as a centralised funding body which aims to encourage investment in Australian film and television.  The organisation aims to develop, produce, promote, distribute and provide assess to diverse Australian programs, and support the development of the Australian screen production industry, so that Australian screen content is accessible nationally and internationally.

On 10 July 2009 Ian Dunlop OAM, now an internationally renowned Australian filmmaker, was the recipient of the Ken G Hall Film Preservation Award.  Chief Executive Officer of the National Film and Sound Archive, Dr Darryl McIntyre said that the award was presented to Dunlop in acknowledgement of his major contribution to the preservation of films of Australian Indigenous communities through his own work and his preservation and protection of the work of others.  

The National Film and Sound Archive’s Ken G Hall Film Preservation Award is presented to Australian or international candidates where there is a significant link between their work and its impact or relationship to the Australian film industry. Possible examples of this contribution include technical innovation, scholarship in the field, involvement with the survival of film as an art form and as a cultural experience, advocacy, sponsorship and fundraising. 

 
Sources:
 
Baxter, John, "The Australian Cinema", Sydney, 1970
 
Lansell, Ross and Beilby, Peter (eds), "The Documentary Film in Australia", North Melbourne, 1982
 
Shirley, Graham & Adams, Brian, "Australian Cinema: the First Eighty Years", Sydney, 1983

The National Film and Sound Archive website:

http://www.nfsa.gov.au/about/awards-and-lectures/ken-g-hall-film-preservation-award/

http://www.nfsa.gov.au/about_us/releases
 

Agency associated with person unregistered

1984-1990: Festival dei Popoli, Florence - Member of International
           Committee 
1991-1994: Royal Anthropological Institute - Honorary Fellowship