Sam Max

(b. 1995) is an American film director, screenwriter, stage director, and playwright, working in New York City and Berlin. His most recent play, Double Serpent, was nominated for Vienna’s prestigious Nestroy Prize for Best Performance in the German-Speaking World, and was selected for the 2025 Theatertreffen at Berliner Festspiele, as one of the 10 Most Remarkable Productions in Germany. He is the author of three additional stage plays: Pidor and the Wolf (Chesley-Bumbalo Award, Lotos Prize, Honorable Mention: Relentless Award), Coop (Theatertreffen-Stückemarkt, ETA Hoffmann Theater Bamberg), and The Holes (Deutsches Theater Berlin). His plays perform internationally in the repertoire of various theaters, and have been translated into German, Mandarin, and Greek. He is currently an ongoing Guest Director of Deutsches Theater Berlin, and a playwright member of New Dramatists in New York. In film, Sam’s debut short film Chaperone held its World Premiere at Sundance and has played over three-dozen festivals internationally. It received numerous festival awards including a Special Mention for Best U.S. Short (Palm Springs), Special Mention for Best Short (Turin), The Horizon Award for Most Promising Filmmaker (24fps), and the shortlist for the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes. Sam has been named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film,” and he sits on the Board of film distributor Video Store.Age. He resides in New York City.