Sam Bozzo

Sam Bozzo (Samuel Vartek) (born 15 February 1969) is an American documentary film director, editor, screenwriter, author, and television commercial maker.

Samuel Vartek was born as Samuel Bozzo on February 15, 1969.

He attended Rim of the World High School in Lake Arrowhead, California, graduating in 1987. In the years 1990–1994, he attended ArtCenter College of Design, Pasadena, California, and graduated with honors with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Film making.

In 2016, Vartek enrolled with David Lynch Graduate School of Cinematic Arts, earning a Master of Fine Arts degree in TV/Web Series in 2017.

In 1990, while attending ArtCenter College, Vartek directed, wrote, and edited a short film titled For Which It Stands, which was screened in the Sundance Film Festival. The film was noticed by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck and earned him a Top 10 Project Greenlight honor. As part of the Top 10 Director assignment for Project Greenlight, he next created The Shadowed Cry, starring Mel M. Metcalfe III, in 1992. Two years later, in 1994, Vartek wrote, edited, directed a short comedy film titled Holiday on the Moon. The dark comedy shows a clockmaker (portrayed by Matthew Glave) stuck between marriage and murder. The film was screened at the Toronto Film Festival and won Kevin Spacey's TriggerStreet.com Short Film competition. For the film, Vartek and the team (Mel M. Metcalfe III, producer and Doug Lively, camera) won the 1994 CINE Golden Eagle award.

In 2008, he created a feature documentary film Blue Gold: World Water Wars, which is based on the book Blue Gold: The Battle Against Corporate Theft of the World's Water by Tony Clarke, and Maude Barlow. The documentary was produced by Mark Achbar and Si Litvinoff and was narrated by British actor Malcolm McDowell. The film examines the environmental and political implications of the planet's dwindling water supply and postulates that wars in the future will be fought over water. Water expert Dr. Michel Kravcik states in the film that we are only about 50 years from a severe global water crisis. The film also highlights some success stories of water activists around the world. It features several well-known figures in the field including Michael Kravcik, Vandana Shiva, Peter Warshall, and Wenonah Hauter. The film was first screened on October 9, 2008, at the Vancouver International Film Festival. It won the Most Popular Environmental Film Award at the Vancouver International Film Festival (2008), Ecology Now! award at the European Independent Film Festival, and Jury Award for best documentary feature at the Newport Beach Film Festival (2009).

After finishing his education at David Lynch Graduate School of Cinematic Arts, Vartek in 2018 created No More Secrets, a short film in association with the school. The film revolves around a priest obsessed with finding an arsonist he is convinced killed his secret family, who must traverse a tormented path to forgiveness. The film won "Award Of Excellence" at the 2018 IndieFEST Film Awards.

As an editor, Vartek's most recent work was with the reality-TV series This Is Dallas. Earlier, in 2018, he had edited various episodes of This Is LA and This Is SF.

Over the years, Vartek has directed TV commercials for various brands including Dreaded Hill Brewery, Crucial Ballistix, Palm Springs Mazda, Palm Springs Lincoln, and Ed Bozarth Chevrolet dealer for Super Bowl.