Sami is a filmmaker and artist from San Francisco, CA. She has worked as a director, cinematographer, editor, and youth educator. For Sami, documentary filmmaking is a way to explore with the more transient and inarticulable aspects of the human (and animal) condition.  

Coming from a background in visual anthropology, Sami’s work is deeply engaged with the idea of culture, as well as questions of identity, positionality and communication. Sami is fascinated by the specific worlds of individuals and communities with the understanding that reality is both gloriously relative and subjective. Intrigued by the specific, the daily, and the mundane, Sami’s films are interested in using visual language to explore narrative ambiguity and alternative modes of representation. For Sami, film is a means through which to revel in and grapple with the messy, contradictory, and often absurd nature of the world.

Sami received her B.A. in Anthropology and Documentary from New York University. Sami is currently pursuing an M.F.A. in Documentary Film and Video at Stanford University.