Ian Gabriel was the first director of colour to open an independent, director owned film production company in South Africa.

‘In every story, there’s the right emotion – find that and the concept will land with clarity and resonance.' Testament to this are Ian Gabriel’s award-winning commercials and critically acclaimed feature films.

Ian continues to direct cutting edge award-winning commercials and combines this with evolving feature film work. Ian’s feature project Four Corners, was the South African Official Submission for Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards, was awarded both Best International Feature and Best Feature (USA) at the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival, won Best Film at the 2014 Niagara Integrated Film Festival, was Best International Film nominee at the 2014 IPA awards and was Best Film Runner-up at Giffoni in Italy in 2015. Four Corners was the winner of 6 Golden Horn Awards including the Best Picture Award at the 2015 SAFTA Awards. In that year the SAFTA Golden Horn award for Best Actor was awarded to first-time feature film actor 13-year-old Jezriel Skei, the lead player in Four Corners. Jezriel Skei remains the youngest award winner in the history of this category.

Ian Gabriel’s debut feature Forgiveness won the Best South African Film Award and the Best African Film Award, was a Golden Leopard nominee at the 2004 Locarno Film Festival, and was winner,  in the same year of the Locarno Youth Jury Best Film Award as well as Ian being a recipient of the Human Rights Award at the 57th Locarno International Film. 

Ian has collaborated with celebrity talent as diverse as human rights icon and activist Nelson Mandela and Nobel Peace Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, celebrities such as Charlize Theron, Cristiano Ronaldo, Alek Wek, Haile Gebresellasie, and Hudson River aviation hero Chesley Sullenberger. In his role as founder-director at Giant Films Ian has been a noted collaborator and mentor for new talent which he has consistently promoted, yielding a strongly youth, black and women-based Giant Films director roster with 5 female directors and four directors of colour.

Ian is concept originator and development partner with 2018 Academy Award nominee Joslyn Barnes on the historic Africa based TV Series Sabela Gold, written by his long time collaborator Gabe Gabriel. Ian is also in development on several other feature and TV projects, most notably ‘Anne Frank & Me’ written by Gabe Gabriel and Matthew Weiss based on the play and novel of the same name by Cherie Bennett and is attached director on Death of a Whistleblower slated for production by 2022. 

Ian is a Directors Guild member as well as being a participant in the Directors Guild of America Diversity program.