Samuel Ali

Samuel Ali Tabatabai was born in San Antonio, TX. He began absorbing film while working at Hollywood Video when he was 16 years old. While in high school he created two comedic music videos and produced a documentary of a road trip to Montreal, Canada. He began his higher education at Bryant University in Smithfield, RI where he filmed and photographed the Collegiate Entrepreneurship Organization and wrote for the newspaper, the Archway. The death of his mother caused him to transfer closer to home to Loyola University New Orleans, but he was displaced and relocated to Los Angeles, CA due to Hurricane Katrina. While attending Loyola Marymount University Samuel interned in the office for Capitol Films and Unity Film Productions, and interned for the Mayor of Los Angeles as a camera operator while earning his Bachelors Degree in Finance. Samuel left school and moved to Honolulu, Hawaii to work in event production and pursue his dream of producing his own films. This is where he discovered the underground short film contest Showdown in Chinatown and the 48 hour film project, where he soon began producing his own shorts, commercials, and music videos. Since returning to Texas in 2015 from Hawaii, Samuel Ali founded Texas Made Films Youth Program, teaching all aspects of video production to the next generation of filmmakers as his philanthropy. He continues to create short films for festivals with the Children. In 2018 Samuel Ali self produced and directed his first feature film, Spring Breakdown, an improv horror comedy. In 2019 Texas Made films hosted their first Summer Camp at Pine Moore Old West Studios in Blanco, TX for underprivileged children. In 2020, Samuel designed the Troma feature film, Evil for Dinner, before relocating to New Orleans, LA to work towards getting his days to join the Directors Guild of America. In 2021, Samuel produced the 16mm short fan film What if Batman? with Texas Made Films. He launched Louisiana Made Film Co. 501c3 non profit organization. Samuel joined IATSE 478 in December.