DAVID SAMPLINER is an award-winning documentary director, producer, and cinematographer whose films have screened at Sundance, Tribeca, and Full Frame, among others, and have been distributed by Netflix, the Sundance Channel, and Sony Pictures. His most recent documentary feature MY OWN MAN premiered at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival and was acquired by Netflix as a Netflix Original documentary. His first documentary feature DIRTY WORK (co-directed with Tim Nackashi) screened at the Sundance Film Festival, won Best Documentary Feature at the Atlanta Film Festival, aired on the Sundance Channel, and is now available on Amazon Prime and other digital platforms. In 2020, a short documentary he co-directed, produced, and shot called LA PASTORA premiered at Middlebury New Filmmakers’ Festival. In 2017, his short documentary BROTHERS premiered at Dok Leipzig and screened theatrically in the US. ART, ARCHITECTURE, AND INNOVATION (co-directed with Tom Piper and Rachel Shuman), a film about the history of the Guggenheim Museum, was broadcast on WNET Channel 13 and is now on permanent exhibition at the Museum. As a documentary cinematographer, he has shot on many acclaimed films, including KNOCK DOWN THE HOUSE, I AM GRETA, ONE CUT ONE LIFE, and ONE OCTOBER. The Moth podcasted his story LUCKY BASTARD as a StorySlam favorite and has aired it twice on the Moth Radio Hour. He grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio, became a documentary filmmaker in Athens, GA, and now lives with his family in Beacon, NY.

Photo by Drew Wiedemann.

David Sampliner