Samuel J Punto is a 19-year-old German/American writer/director. He started making films at age 10 and never looked back, developing a special appreciation for shooting on analog cinefilm and a workflow of careful storyboarding and minimal takes.

His shorts have been shown at prestigious festivals such as Dances With Films, Breckenridge, and Mill Valley, and have won awards including: Special Jury Prize, Visionale Frankfurt; Best Young Director, Indie Short Fest Los Angeles; Audience Choice Award, Indie Film Library Experimental Showcase; Best Young Filmmaker, Birmingham Film Festival; Nominee Representing Germany, Youth Cinema Network; and Special Award, German National Youth Film festival. Samuel was also asked to judge the German National Youth Film Festival the year after he won.

With interests including military history, political science, and stranger-than-fiction history, many of the film ideas he has in his thick, doodle-filled notebooks are based on actual happenings. Samuel also appreciates video games and anime, and is influenced by classics like "Little Nightmares", "The Stanley Parable", and "Perfect Blue" as much as by "Dr. Strangelove", "Psycho", and "The Dark Knight".