Sam received his MFA in Directing from the University of California, Los Angeles where he was selected by James Franco to write and direct two parts of a compendium feature film based on the book of short stories “Actors Anonymous” by James Franco and starring Whoopi Goldberg. He is a BAFTA LA Scholar and a recipient of the Motion Picture Association of America award. He has also worked extensively as a cinematographer and editor, and teaches in Entertainment Studies at UCLA Extension. He has lived in Indonesia, Germany and the United States, and is a founding member of the Berlin-based queer moving-image arts collective, NowMomentNow.