Sam Icklow (he/they)

WRITER/DIRECTOR

Sam is a writer and director dedicated to uncovering untold stories and bringing unexpected voices to screen. Their work explores the intersections of gender, sexuality, and queer identity, with films screening at festivals such as Slamdance, Outfest, and Frameline.

In 2024, Sam received a Screen Australia-supported Enterprise Placement with Archipelago Productions (Bay of Fires), designed to further their career as a television writer. Recently, they wrote Episode 6 of While The Men Are Away (SBS) and completed a Screen NSW-supported Director’s Attachment on the series. They are currently adapting Sara Hardy’s acclaimed biography, The Unusual Life of Edna Walling, into a feature film with development support from Screen NSW.

Sam’s other notable projects include the digital comedy Apricot (Slamdance, Outfest, Nashville FF) and The Moth, an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship finalist, based on SJ Norman’s award-winning book Permafrost. Their career has taken them across Indonesia, Berlin, and Los Angeles, working as a Development Executive with Arcadia (Sissy, While The Men Are Away) and in Marketing, Acquisitions & Distribution with Participant Media (Spotlight, Roma, An Inconvenient Truth), contributing to critically acclaimed projects from development to release.

Sam holds an MFA in Directing from UCLA’s School of Theater, Film, and Television.