Sam Templeton

Sam Templeton taught himself to make films, then spent seven years doing it in Berlin — and came home to Aotearoa in 2023 with a globally influenced eye and an instinct for the contemporary. A background in fine arts and visual effects, and an early career at Weta, gave him the technical foundation; the years abroad gave him the voice. His work is textural and intimate, the kind of filmmaking where you can feel the hand of the person who made it.

He moves fluidly between sport, fashion, music and commercial film, bringing the same tactile authenticity to all of it — Adidas with Peter Bol and Nathan Cleary, Nike, Lexus, a NOWNESS art piece, and the mixed-media Lume campaign shot on 16mm. An accomplished editor as well as a director, Sam shapes his films from the inside out, and that command of craft carries through to The Weight of the World, Supernormal's documentary on artist Dick Frizzell, selected for Docedge 2026.

Texture, detail and a distinctly modern eye — every frame made to feel like now.