| Occupation: | Film director, screenwriter |
| Family: | Roger Donaldson (father),[1] Chris Donaldson (brother) |
| Children: | 1 |
India Donaldson (born 1984 or 1985) is an American filmmaker best known for the 2024 film Good One.[2]
India is the daughter of Mel Clark and director Roger Donaldson; she gained exposure to the film industry at an early age.[3] Her parents divorced when she was a child. She attended Santa Monica High School and Vassar College, where she majored in English.[4] [5]
Prior to becoming a filmmaker, Donaldson worked in the textile industry. Her directorial debut, the 2018 short film Medusa, was followed by the short films Hannahs and If Found in 2019 and 2021, respectively.[6] [7] [8]
Donaldson presented her feature-length debut Good One as a work-in-progress at the 2023 American Film Festival in Wrocław, where she was awarded a $50,000 prize to support the project's post-production in Poland.[9] The completed film screened at 2024 Sundance Film Festival and the Directors' Fortnight section of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, where it was eligible for the Camera d'Or.[10] [11] The film later won the Grand Jury Prize for Best American Independent Feature Film at that year's Champs-Élysées Film Festival.[12]
Donaldson resided in New York for ten years. Shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic, she and her husband moved to Los Angeles, where they currently reside. The couple lived with India's father, his third wife, and their two teenage children during the COVID-19 lockdowns. India's experiences living with her young half-siblings inspired the plot of Good One. Around this time, her first son was born.
| Year | Title | Notes | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Medusa | Short film | ||
| 2019 | Hannahs | Short film | ||
| 2021 | If Found | Short film | ||
| 2024 | Good One | Feature film |
| Year | Award | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Eastern Oregon Film Festival | Spirit of EOFF Ethos Award | Hannahs | ||
| 2020 | Monmouth Film Festival | Best Narrative Short Film | |||
| 2024 | Sundance Film Festival | U.S. Dramatic | Good One | [13] | |
| Cannes Film Festival | Directors' Fortnight | ||||
| Camera d'Or | |||||
| Champs-Élysées Film Festival | Grand Jury Prize for Best American Independent Feature Film |