Samantha Lee

Biography

Samantha Lee is a Filipino filmmaker. After completing her Master of Communication, with distinction, at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), she moved back to the Philippines to write and direct her first feature film, "Baka Bukas" (2016). It won the "Emerging Talent Award" at Outfest 2017 and the Audience Choice Award for Best Narrative at the Vancouver Queer Film Festival. It has screened in festivals in New York, San Francisco, Osaka, Melbourne, Madrid, and Hamburg. Her second film, called "Billie and Emma" (2018), won the Audience Award for Best Narrative at Inside Out 2019, the Jury Award Runner-Up for Best International Film in Out on Film Atlanta, and the Runner-Up for Audience Award for Favorite Feature at Seattle Queer Film Festival. It has been screened in over thirty film festivals internationally. Her first series, called Sleep With Me, starring Janine Gutierrez and Lovi Poe, premiered in Outfest 2022, where it won the audience award for Best Episodic. She has talked about using romantic comedies as a tool for advocating for better representation of women and the LGBTQ+ community in various publications like Vice Paper and Nylon.