Samantha Knowles is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker. Her most recent film, Tangled Roots, follows Attica Scott, the only black woman in the Kentucky state legislature, as she fights to dismantle a system of discrimination against black people penalized for something seemingly innocuous – their hair. The short documentary premiered on BET in June 2020, was broadcast on Showtime, and was an official selection in the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival. Before Tangled Roots Samantha directed The Blue Line, which examined the controversy that erupted when her hometown painted a blue line on the street in support of police. It premiered at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival and is now part of the prestigious New York Times Op-Doc series. The film was also featured in NBC’s Meet the Press Film Festival. Samantha also directed the award-winning short documentary Why Do You Have Black Dolls?, which focused on a small community of black doll creators, curators, and collectors and examined the history and significance of the black doll. The Huffington Post said of the film: “Knowles’ film is more than just a look at black dolls and doll collectors–it begs deeper questions of identity and invites a really important conversation”. The film has been an official selection in numerous film festivals and was featured in the NY Daily News, USA Today, Jet Magazine, the Huffington Post, TheGrio, BET.com, and more. Samantha graduated from Dartmouth College and is a documentary film director in NYC.
