Veialu Aila-Unsworth Indigenous filmmaker and Creative Producer

I acknowledge that I live on the land of First Nations People. I respectfully acknowledge the Gadigal and Cammeraygal peoples of the Eora Nation as the spiritual and traditional custodians of the lands, waters, and skies where I live. I recognise their continuing connection to this land, to culture, to community and to Country. I pay my deepest respects to their Elders past, present, and emerging.

I acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded and European colonisation had a devastating impact on First Nations' communities and cultures. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were subjected to a range of injustices, including massacre, violence, segregation, children forcibly taken, land taken, relocation onto missions and reserves, and cultural practices were denied and subsequently many were lost. I recognise the importance of telling the truth about Australian history and the ongoing impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Veialu is a multiracial writer, director & television creative producer.

Papua New Guinea born. Aotearoa New Zealand raised. Gadigal Land / Sydney based.

Veialu's career spans film, television, scriptwriting, fiction writing, and theatre.

Leaving her ancestral homeland as a child and growing up the only Papua New Guinean in a small town had a profound effect on her, which is why she's passionate about telling thought-provoking, female-led stories that explore identity, history, and underrepresented voices.

Her award-winning live-action and animated short films have screened at 69 festivals including Berlinale, imagineNATIVE, Māoriland, Mill Valley, and more.

On the TV side, she has 20 years of experience as an award-winning creative producer, copywriter, editor, and promo director, working with Australia's major TV networks, Nine and Ten.

Veialu was awarded the 2025 Faber Writing A Novel Scholarship, the 2023 Armed With a Camera (AWC) Fellowship, and her screenplay made The Black List’s 2021 CAPE List. In 2024, she returned to mentor the next AWC cohort in Los Angeles.

Her creative journey has taken her across the globe — she's travelled to 34 countries and lived in Sydney, San Francisco, Mumbai, and Los Angeles.

While living in Mumbai, she directed doc-style shorts for MEWSIC, the foundation of Australian former cricketer Brett Lee.

A passionate advocate for Indigenous cinema, she served as a screener (watching and evaluating films) for the 2024 and 2025 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival and FESTPAC 2024.

She is an alum of Berlinale Talents, the International Institute of Modern Letters, Victoria University of Wellington, Auckland University of Technology, and Toi Whakaari New Zealand Drama School, where she earned her master's in theatre directing.

When she’s not watching movies, Veialu is making blanket forts for her cat and writing her film blog @hollywood.diversity.

Veialu is a multiracial writer, director & television creative producer.

Papua New Guinea born. Aotearoa New Zealand raised. Gadigal Land / Sydney based.

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