Samantha Buck and Marie Schlingmann
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Samantha Buck and Marie Schlingmann are film writers and directors who have made five films together. Buck is also an actress who directed the documentary Best Kept Secret solo. They are best known for the 2019 film Sister Aimee.
Personal life and education
Buck and Schlingmann are married, having met at Columbia University. Both have a Master of Fine Arts in film from Columbia, and in this program, they created their first short films together. The pair have won various grants for female directors. Schlingmann is from Berlin, and though she is German, she writes screenplays in English, saying that her "creative brain" is in this language.
Career
In her acting career, Buck played Det. G. Lynn Bishop in Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Amy on the comedy series Stella. She became interested in film production when starring on Big Apple; the showrunner made the cast take writing workshops and encouraged her talents. She explained that it took her several years after this to follow through because, at the time, very few actresses had transitioned to behind the camera. She did not begin with writing, but took up documentary in the cinéma vérité style, where she was "basically writing in the edit room with 100 hours of footage". In 2013, she directed the Gotham Award-nominated and Peabody Award-winning documentary film Best Kept Secret. During the production of Best Kept Secret, Buck applied and was accepted to Columbia's film program.
The couple first made films at Columbia University, directing two award-winning short films: Canary and The Mink Catcher. The latter was shown at the Telluride Film Festival and the South by Southwest. Their first feature film as a duo was slated to be an adaptation of the young adult novel Need in 2016, as a thriller financed by Covert Media. This year, they also began developing the feature film The Big D, which they are still developing in 2019. The Mink Catcher and The Big D are set in Dallas, Texas. Their breakthrough feature came a few years later in 2019's Sister Aimee, loosely based on Aimee Semple McPherson's story. Sister Aimee screened at the Sundance Film Festival in 2019, and is planned to have a theatrical run and video on demand release in 2020.
Production filmography
| Year | Title | Buck | Schlingmann | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | The Reasons We Were Dangerous | Co-director, editor, producer | Documentary | |
| 2009 | 21 Below | Director | Documentary | |
| 2012 | The Death of Hercules | Director, writer | Short | |
| 2013 | Best Kept Secret | Director, writer, co-producer | Thanks | Documentary |
| 2013 | Lawn Care | Producer | Director, writer | |
| 2014 | Glacial Erratics | Director | Writer, producer | |
| 2015 | The Mink Catcher | Director, writer | Writer, producer | |
| 2016 | Canary | Writer, producer | Director, writer | |
| 2019 | Sister Aimee | Director, writer | Director, writer |
Buck acting filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | The Sticky Fingers of Time | Gorge | |
| 1997 | In & Out | Classroom Student | |
| 1998 | Fiona | Supervisor | |
| 1999 | The 24 Hour Woman | Deanne | |
| 2000 | Wirey Spindell | Samantha | |
| 2000 | Calling Bobcat | Judy | |
| 2002 | Searching for Paradise | Andrea | |
| 2002 | Heartbreak Hospital | Sandy | |
| 2006 | Fearless | Journalist | |
| 2006 | Kettle of Fish | Mother | |
| 2008 | Woman in Burka | Samantha | Short film |
| 2012 | Gayby | Sophia | |
| 2012 | Hellbenders | Penelope | |
| 2012 | What Maisie Knew | Zoe's Mother | |
| 2018 | Summertime | Ruth | |
| 2018 | Private Life | Psychologist | |
| 2020 | The Night House | Becky |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Waitress | Episode: "Entitled" |
| 2000 | Third Watch | Vangie Sundstrom | Recurring role (5 episodes) |
| 2001 | Big Apple | Brigid McNamara | Regular role (5 episodes) |
| 2003 | Sex and the City | Margot | Episode: "A Woman's Right to Shoes" |
| 2003–2004 | Law & Order: Criminal Intent | Det. G. Lynn Bishop | Recurring role (7 episodes) |
| 2005 | Stella | Amy | Regular role (6 episodes) |
| 2007 | Six Degrees | Susan Harriman | Recurring role (5 episodes) |
| 2007 | Wainy Days | Concerned Woman | Episode: "The Pickup" |
| 2008 | Z Rock | Kitty Braunstein | 3 episodes |
| 2013 | Golden Boy | Tara Brunell | TV series |
| 2013 | Blue Bloods | Sheri Dean | Episode: "Ends and Means" |
| 2014 | Boardwalk Empire | Apartment Hunting Wife | Episode: "Eldorado" |
| 2015 | Public Morals | Sister Paul Eugene | 1 episode |
| 2016 | Vinyl | Allison | 2 episodes |
| 2016 | Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt | Sophie Van Nuys | |
| 2016 | Person of Interest | Samaritan Doctor | 1 episode |
| 2020 | Hightown | Meredith | 1 episode |