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Director David Waddington hopes a special screening of the highly anticipated Darby McCarthy documentary ‘In a Life Time' in outback Queensland will spark renewed interest in the project which desperately needs an injection of funding.

A director's cut of the film was set to be screened in the 30-seat Railway Cinema in Cunnamulla, where the Indigenous trailblazing jockey was born.

Waddington and producer Chris O'Reilly are about $94,000 short of the $200,000 needed to make the film which tells the extraordinary tale of the late, great McCarthy, who rode more than 1000 winners around the world.

"This is not the final version of Darby's story," Waddington said about the director's cut being screened in Cunnamulla, about 750km west of Brisbane.

The late Darby McCarthy

"I'm calling it a biopic. We've still got re-enactments that we need to shoot and we need funding to do that.

"The time frame (to finish the film) has gone out the window so many times. It's so demoralising, I can tell you.

"It's all the people that are involved and put in their time and effort – actors, technicians, whatever – and it's been a very difficult road to be on.

"We haven't got any money from Queensland in the production, except for Racing Queensland who were the first cab off the rank.

"The reason the screening is happening at Cunnamulla is because Darby was born there and rode his first winner as a jockey at age 10 at Thargomindah, which is up the track a bit.

"I'm hoping something comes from this (in terms of funding for the film) because it's such a positive story.

"I've been making films my whole life and this particular film is all about becoming something from nothing which Darby did. He was an incredible human being.

"The story needs to be told and the only way to do that is what we're doing now."

McCarthy later moved to Brisbane to try his luck as a teenager and success came quickly for the Indigenous jockey, who eventually went to Europe where he rode for the Rothschilds and mixed with Hollywood royalty, including Frank Sinatra, Mia Farrow and Lee Marvin.

He won the 1969 AJC Derby and the Epsom on the same day in Sydney and rode in three Melbourne Cups.

McCarthy died in May 2020 at age 76. He was inducted into Queensland Racing's Hall of Fame in 2004 and was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in 2016 for his services to racing and his work with Indigenous youth.

For donations or for more information go to Darby McCarthy - Documentary Australia