Production summary
Marathon, Darrah's first 16mm film, covered the 1976 Olympic Trials Marathon in Eugene, Oregon. [2] The film was licensed and distributed nationally from 1977 to 1980 by Runner's World magazine in San Francisco. For three years, Marlin produced several films for the magazine, one of which, Moments of the Runner, was a finalist in the 1979 American Film Festival in NYC. For that film, Darrah shot footage throughout the U.S., as well as in Moscow, and at the site of the first Olympic Games in Greece. [3]
In 1977, Darrah produced and shot Nike, Inc.'s first film, a 23-minute program called Running Peace. From 1982 to 2006, Darrah shot and directed documentaries and travel programs in more than 140 countries worldwide. His shots or programs have been sold or shown by National Geographic Society, PBS, CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, Discovery Channel, and History Channel. Darrah made promotional travel video programs for private companies.
The University of Virginia's Semester at Sea study-abroad program contracted Darrah from 1989 through 2008 to produce approximately 40 two-hour video programs, documenting the around-the-world voyages of Semester at Sea. [4] More than 100,000 of Darrah's Semester at Sea DVDs were distributed to students and families throughout the U.S.
In 2000, Darrah completed a 7-part, 7-hour DVD series entitled World's Most Exotic Places. Profiled in that DVD series are Central and South America, New Guinea, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe. EDI/Marathon, Inc. of Oregon distributed 20,000+ copies of the series throughout North America to libraries and through direct DVD sales to the public.
In 2002, Darrah joined fellow filmmaker Gregory Ritchie and traveled to NW Pakistan for five weeks to direct and shoot a documentary about the challenging lives of the Pashtun villagers living in the Tribal Zone along the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan. The 55-minute documentary, In the Shadow of bin Laden, was selected for screenings at several film festivals and has been shown in theaters throughout the United States.
Darrah also co-wrote, directed, and co-produced in Southeast Asia a dramatic feature-length movie, Monsoon Wife. The movie was completed in September 2002. The movie is about love, betrayal, and redemption in exotic and almost lawless Cambodia. Monsoon Wife is the first American-produced feature film to be shot entirely in Cambodia. [5] Domestic rights for the movie were acquired by Universal Pictures and Netflix and other internet distributors continue to make the movie available to the public. In addition, a dozen countries have acquired television and DVD rights to the movie. [6]
In 2005 Darrah directed and shot an HD documentary feature in Egypt, Jesus, The Lost Years for Sakkara Productions. The documentary was based on N.Y. Times best-selling author Paul Perry's book Jesus in Egypt and it premiered at the Cairo Opera House to members of the Mubarak family and more than 1500 others, including Egyptian cabinet members, ambassadors and Saudi princes. Mrs. Mubarak expressed great admiration for the film in the Egyptian press, and admitted that it showed "an Egypt I have never seen." She agreed to let the film be sold in Egypt under the condition that the name of Jesus not appear in the title to avoid inflaming Muslim radicals. As a result, the film was released in the Middle East under the title The Holy Family in Egypt. [7]
Paul Perry/Sakkara Productions of Arizona contracted Darrah from 1995 to 2015 as director of photography and to assist in the co-production of several documentaries: Saved by the Light (1996); Painting the Paradox (1997); Visions and Miracles (2009); Afterlife (2010); Dali's Greatest Secret (2012); Glimpses of Eternity and Secret Mummies of Lisbon (both currently in production - 2015).
From 2008 to 2019, Darrah shot and produced twelve 90-minute travel adventure video programs. In the last nine years, Darrah has presented these travel features to audiences and organizations around the country such as the Harvard Club of Boston, the Union Club of NYC and the Geographical Society of Philadelphia. [8] His current travel video features include: The Great Silk Road (2011); Pearls of the Caribbean (2015); Mediterranean Dream (2015); Cuba (2011); Madagascar (2013); Southeast Asia (2015); The Amazon (2014); Central and South America (2010); Pakistan and Afghanistan (2010); Northern Europe (2011); Cities of Italy (2011); Voyage Down the Nile (2015) and Southern Europe. [9]
Darrah traveled to Madagascar in 2012 to produce and shoot an HD travel-documentary feature about the history, people, and wildlife of the country. That same year, the National Center for Civil and Human Rights used a number of Darrah's shots of international children for the making of their official opening ceremony video presentation.
Darrah also works with Princess Cruises and with Silversea Cruises of Ft. Lauderdale, presenting lectures and his travel programs aboard their ships. [10]
In 2020, Darrah wrote, produced and directed the thriller, Amazon Queen, a movie shot entirely in Brazil. New York Times author Paul Perry has described the movie as "Romantic, thrilling and exotic, this movie grabs hold and won't let you go. Independent filmmaking at its best." Vision Films is the worldwide distributor of Amazon Queen.
Darrah lives in Los Angeles with his wife, producer Lin Zuo. His daughter Maya McDarragh is an artist living in Montreal.
