Ian Robertson Kibbe is an award-winning, mixed race filmmaker whose stories tend to find people who don’t fit in one box, from struggling Midwestern farmers to beaver themed drag royalty. He began his journey at Kartemquin Films as an intern in 2009 and has since worked as an editor, DP, producer, impact producer, and director, which keeps him grounded in both the creative and technical sides of storytelling.
The films he has produced have won numerous awards, including an Emmy Academy Honors Award, the Grand Jury Prize at Mountainfilm, Best of Fest at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival and a dozen Tellys. His work has played or been featured on POV, Independent Lens, Time Magazine, The Onion, NPR, CNN, The DNC and Democracy Now.
His projects have been supported by Doc Society, the MacArthur Foundation, the Ford Foundation, Southern Documentary Fund, Exposure Labs, and Catapult Film Fund. He is an alum of the IFP Documentary Lab (now Gotham), AFI Impact Lab, Climate Story Lab, and Good Pitch. He founded and chaired the Equity and Inclusion Committee of the Documentary Producers Alliance and served on its board.
Ian produced the award-winning Greener Pastures, directed by Sam Mirpoorian, and Raising Bertie, directed by Margaret Byrne, which IndieWire called “astounding and powerful.” He was impact producer for Typeface and The Calling, and also produced Once Upon a Wetland, an Oscar qualifying short about Durham’s Beaver Queen Pageant. He has directed several award-winning shorts as well, including Perrodiso, about a dog hotel in Spain, which took the documentary short prize at the Pet Film Festival Tepoztlán, which is arguably the highlight of his career.
Outside of film, Ian was a founding member of The Flavor Savers, a comedy, rap, and dance group known for chaotic live shows and mesh tank tops. He’s passionate about environmental sustainability, community engagement, and prairie restoration.