Stefania Buonajuti is a BAFTA and multi-award winning Senior Producer/Director whose work spans three intersecting worlds: investigative current affairs, natural history and conservation, and observational documentary — frequently combining all three within the same film. She is one of the leading female PDs working across hostile environments and expedition filmmaking, with a body of work that stretches across five continents and some of the planet's most inaccessible places and complex situations.
At the core of everything she does is a commitment to character-driven storytelling grounded in rigorous journalism. She works closely with vulnerable contributors and holds integrity, ethics and duty of care as non-negotiable — not just professional obligations, but a personal ethos. She is equally committed to making films with impact that extends beyond broadcast: changing minds, shifting policy, and giving voice to people rarely seen on screen.
Her investigative work includes multiple episodes of Channel 4's Unreported World — filming in cartel territory in Mexico, exposing human trafficking networks in South Africa, and investigating Sharia law's grip on the Nigerian film industry. She has co-directed a currently undisclosed feature film with Oscar-winning filmmaker Orlando von Einsiedel, and produced long-form investigations for Al Jazeera in partnership with Bellingcat, exposing illegal UK arms flows into the Yemen conflict. For the BBC she has filmed investigations into cyber sex crimes in South Korea, femicide in Honduras, and the abuse of disabled people in Ghana. She has also filmed extensively for various UN agencies across North Africa and Iraq.
She built her investigative foundation across 12 episodes of National Geographic's Drugs Inc and Underworld Inc, embedding with criminal networks — cartels, hitmen, gun traffickers — alongside law enforcement agencies including the CBP, DEA, and military and police forces across the globe.
Stefania owns her own cinema-grade kit — Sony FX3 with Ronin RS2 gimbal and prime lenses — giving productions creative control and significant budget flexibility. She has filmed in more than 30 countries, is fluent in six languages (English, French, Italian, Spanish, Swahili and Portuguese), is HEFAT trained and CBR checked. She is also an accomplished kickboxer, rock climber and scuba diver.
