Biography

Ingrid Sinclair is a director, screenwriter and producer best known for being an important filmmaker of the African Renaissance. She is internationally recognized for her 1996 film, Flame, a drama about the Zimbabwe War of Liberation and her documentaries about Zimbabwe. Flame was chosen for the Director's Fortnight section at the Cannes Film Festival and the Nestor Almendros Award at the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival in New York City. Ingrid Sinclar was born in Weston-Super-Mare in 1948. She was raised in Great Britain where she studied Medicine and Literature. Sinclair moved to Zimbabwe in 1985 after starting to work with filmmaker and producer Simon Bright whom she later went on to marry. Sinclair wrote and directed a variety of short films and documentaries in the late eighties and early nineties, exploring themes of equality, culture, history, and the landscape of Zimbabwe. Her short fiction, Riches, was selected for international festivals world-wide and won the coveted City of Venice prize. Ingrid also directed the award-winning documentary Biopiracy: Who Owns Life?, several dance films including Dance Got Me, a moving biography of choreographer Bawren Tavaziva, and festival favourite Africa is a Woman's Name. She is widely considered to be a filmmaker of the African Renaissance

The political situation in Zimbabwe changed dramatically in 2001 with the land reform program. During this time period, "not only the white farmers were purged, but also other notable white people still working in Zimbabwe. It was also during this time that the ideological effort of the regime was intensified, fueling racial hostility". As media laws became increasingly restrictive, the couple decided to move to England.

In 2003, Sinclair and Bright left Zimbabwe and moved to Bristol where they established Afrika Eye Film Festival https://www.afrikaeye.org.uk/ and continue to work in film production.