Best known for her award-winning documentary Our African Roots, Santilla Chingaipe is one of Australia’s leading filmmakers and historians. Chingaipe’s work explores settler colonialism, slavery, and postcolonial migration in Australia. Her debut work of non-fiction, Black Convicts: How slavery shaped Australia, was published in 2024.
The recipient of several awards, she was also recognized at the United Nations as one of the most influential people of African descent in the world in 2019. She is a regular contributor to The Saturday Paper, and served as a member of the Federal Government’s Advisory Group on Australia–Africa Relations. Chingaipe is the founder of Behind The Screens, an annual program supported by VicScreen, aimed at increasing the representation of people historically excluded from the Australian film industry. She is based in Melbourne, Australia.