Guest Editor | Urban List
Culture doesn’t happen in boardrooms—it’s on the streets, in the kitchens, the studios, and the stages. It’s built by people who live it. Our guest editor series exists to hand over the mic to those people: voices who bring the grit, the care, the questions, and the vision. We’re thrilled to welcome Naarm-based filmmaker, producer, and founder of Blakground Productions—Sianna Catullo.
Sianna’s not someone who spotted gaps in the industry from the sidelines. She’s one of the people working to fill them. In her debut Urban List op-ed, Behind the Camera With Sianna Catullo: The Filmmaker Telling Aboriginal Stories Her Way, she reflects on her years in the creative world—noticing what “representation” genuinely feels like (and what it doesn’t), and why she built Blakground Productions: a majority Aboriginal-owned and led production outfit that shoots content by Community, for Community.
Sianna’s journey started in places where culture and creativity weren’t just part of the work—they were the foundation. Working for an Aboriginal streetwear brand led by Mob, where the talent and audience were Aboriginal, she describes feeling “safe, seen, and heard.”
Those early experiences weren’t just nice—they were formative. And worryingly absent as she stepped out into the creative industry at large.
Through her work, Sianna is building alternative spaces where Aboriginal creatives can lead not just in front of the camera, but behind it. Her pathway programs, her commitment to bringing Indigenous stories to life, and empowering diverse creatives across every level of production, are all about shifting the power and making the hands that shape the narrative as diverse as the faces those narratives reflect.
Catullo also calls on non-Indigenous collaborators to put in the work meaningfully, to respect the experience, to create room for leadership, to consult—and when necessary, to recognise when a story belongs to someone else. Because collaboration, done well, is not a compromise. It’s art.
Truth Telling + Salt Water + Dogs
