Samantha Lang is a filmmaker. She is produces, directs, and writes. Working in Australia, Europe and the US over the last 20 years, her films have screened at major international festivals including Sundance, Toronto, Locarno, and have received international recognition at the highest level, her film ‘The Well’ competing at the Cannes Film Festival for the prestigious Palme D’Or. In Australia, Samantha’s films have been awarded many times including - at the Australian Film Institute Awards and the Sydney Film Festival. In 2015 – her film ‘Carlotta’ was nominated for five AACTA awards and won three.

As well as being a creative practitioner, currently working with Garth Davis, Emile Sherman and Iain Canning in their joint venture I AM THAT - she has mentored, supervised and lectured postgraduate film students in her capacity as Head of Directing at AFTRS (2010-2016), as well as mentored emerging practitioners at SNSW, HIVE at AIFF, and SA. Presently she is a DCA candidate at the University of Technology, Sydney. Her areas of interest include eco feminine cinema and cultural narratives in the Anthropocene.

Her company Handmaid Media is committed to producing films that unearth stories from diverse perspectives. With an eye and ear for emerging and established talent, Samantha is committed to finding authentic voices with an edgy aesthetic. A social, ethical, ecological consciousness pervades all the Handmaid Media projects.

In 2015 Samantha was elected as President of the Australian Director’s Guild with a mandate to create greater diversity across gender, race and class in the sector. As part of this remit she remains on the taskforce at Screen Australia that rolled out the Gender Matters Initiative in 2016. Recently she has presented papers on gender equity in South Korea and China.

Samantha’s current projects include Brown Lake - an eco-thriller, a feature adaptation of cross-cultural comedy ‘Kill The Messenger’ by playwright & comedian, Nakkiah Lui. Asian Australian YA feature ‘Laurinda’ by screenwriter & actress, Michelle Law, and TV drama series of ‘Night Games’ (with producer Aquarius Films). She directed her first VR film ‘Prehistoric VR’ in 2017 and is in development with her next VR anthology ‘Anthropocene Project’ . Her most recent film in 2019 was a documentary on contemporary public artists ‘It all Started with a Stale Sandwich’

Member - FEATURE FILMS - 2023