Holden
Davies

Growing up in Australia, Holden Davies discovered early on that stories could reshape our understanding of reality. After winning the Robin Anderson Film Award at 17 and working within Sydney’s commercial film industry, he began questioning how that creative power might be redirected toward meaningful change rather than reinforcing consumer culture.

This questioning led him to leave Australia, setting in motion a 15-year global journey dedicated to cinematography at the intersection of culture, consciousness, and systemic change. From these spaces, his work expanded into deeper collaborations with Indigenous-led regenerative projects, land-back movements, and wisdom keepers across continents.

His films have been screened and exhibited internationally—from Mexico City Art Week in collaboration with Eduardo Castillo, to creative platforms in Paris with Paua Gathering, environmental initiatives such as Planet Buy Back, and immersive showcases in Ibiza, including Garden of Light. Through these global pathways, he has continued pushing the boundaries of impact filmmaking—exploring how story can actively participate in reshaping inherited systems.

Working closely with communities from the Tuareg in Mali to the Wixárika in Mexico, Holden’s practice has evolved beyond documentation into collaboration. As Visual Director of Uma Sai, he creates films that bridge Indigenous knowledge systems with contemporary global challenges—revealing how both ancestral and emergent ways of thinking can transform our relationship to land, economy, and community.

He is currently developing a documentary with the Kogi people, exploring how humanity’s disconnection from Earth underpins today’s intersecting crises—from ecological collapse to social fragmentation. After returning to Australia following nearly a decade abroad, he began collaborating with Jack Manning Bancroft and Tyson Yunkaporta through AIME and the Indigenous Knowledge Systems Lab, creating story-driven work that explores how Indigenous knowledge can help reimagine economies through a land-based lens.

Drawing on years embedded within global networks of cultural innovators, Indigenous leaders, and systems change practitioners, Holden is now contributing to the development of platforms that connect story-driven media with tangible support for Indigenous-led initiatives. His work focuses on translating diverse knowledge systems into narrative frameworks capable of shifting colonial institutions toward more custodial, reciprocal relationships with the living world.

Across all mediums, Holden’s work is driven by a singular intention: to create stories that do more than inform or inspire—to help guide humanity back into right relationship with the Earth and each other.