Filmmaker. Historian. Author.

Santilla Chingaipe is a Zambian-born filmmaker, historian and author, whose work explores settler colonialism, slavery, and contemporary migration in Australia.

Chingaipe’s first book of non-fiction Black Convicts was shortlisted for The Stella Prize, and the critically acclaimed and award-winning documentary inspired by the book, Our African Roots, is streaming on SBS On Demand. Our African Roots marked the first-time on Australian television that an African-Australian host interrogated the nation’s colonial history.

She spent nearly a decade working for SBS World News which saw her report from across Africa, and interview some of the continent’s most prominent leaders. She also reported extensively on Australia’s diverse African communities. 

The recipient of several awards, she was recognised at the United Nations as one of the most influential people of African descent in the world in 2019. She delivered the annual E.W Cole lecture in 2023 on ‘Who Gets to Write History?’, and her work has been published internationally by The New York Times, The Guardian, The BBC, and elsewhere.

Chingaipe is a regular contributor to The Saturday Paper and a columnist for The Monthly. She 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.