SAM MANACSA is a Filipino filmmaker and production designer born in Manila in 1994. After graduating with a degree in Film from the University of the Philippines, she has worked as art director on award-winning films such as Carlo Francisco Manatad’s Whether the Weather Is Fine (Kun Maupay Man It Panahon), among others.

Her thesis film If People Such as We Cease to Exist (Kung Wala Nang Tulad Natin) was selected for the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival 2017. Sam was selected as one of the fellows for the Asian Film Academy 2019. She is also an alumna of the SEAFIC Seed Lab in 2022. Her sophomore short film Cross My Heart and Hope to Die had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in the Orrizonti Section and has since won several awards including the grand prize at PÖFF Shorts and Regard-Saguenay International Short Film Festival. Sam is currently developing her debut feature The Void is Immense in Idle Hours.