Samantha Lang is a filmmaker, researcher and multidisciplinary artist who has worked in Australia, Europe, U.K and the US over the last 25 years.  Her films have screened at major international festivals including Cannes, 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 2019 – her feature documentary about contemporary public art “It all started with a stale sandwich’ competed in the DAF awards at SFF.

As well as being a creative practitioner, she serves as Producer/EP at See-Saw-Films working with Emile Sherman, Garth Davis and Iain Canning. She has mentored, supervised and lectured postgraduate film students in her capacity as Head of Directing at Australian Film, Television and Radio School (2010-2016), as well as mentored emerging practitioners at SNSW, HIVE at AIFF, and SA.

She currently serves as deputy chair on the board of Australians in Film, led by president, Emma Cooper. She was board president of the Australian Directors’ Guild (2015-22) leading on policy and programs that span the industrial, cultural, and professional arena. She was particularly focussed on the professional development of women, CALD & LGBTQI directors through programs such as DirectOne. From 2015 -2019 She also served on the inaugural Screen Australia Gender Matters Task Force across two terms. Recently she has presented papers on gender equity in South Korea and China.

In May 2023 Samantha graduated with a multidisciplinary doctoral thesis (PHD - Communications, Cultural Theory and Screen Media - University of Technology, Sydney) Her areas of interest include post-human poetics, environment and the Anthropocene.

Her company Hand Made 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 multi-cultural aesthetic. A social, ethical, ecological consciousness pervades all the Hand Made Media projects.

Samantha’s current projects include, a feature adaptation of cross-cultural romantic comedy ‘Kill The Messenger’ by playwright & comedian, Nakkiah Lui. Asian Australian YA feature ‘Laurinda’ by screenwriter & actress, Michelle Law). She directed her first VR film ‘Prehistoric VR’ in 2018 and her next VR ‘Anthropocene Project’ in 2019. Her most recent work in 2022 was Brown Lake - an artist moving image work installed in Moreton Bay Gallery and screened at ACMI and in the Asia-Pacific Triennale at GOMA.