Sam James has been a filmmaker and projection designer for performance since 1995. His focus has been to collaborate with new media, dance and theatre projects to develop integrated, paradoxical languages in live performance.

He has been a regular contributor to Performance Space for ten years also filling a role as video documentor for many independent dancers there. His approach to the moving image is to be equivalent to the live body, encompassing space, rhythm and time with the use of video. Most of his work involves animation of motion jpeg images to expose the subconscious of natural and urban environments and objects, but on the other end of the spectrum he trained in architecture and film and has made successful super 8 films and projections such as Nun's Night Out (winner best dance film, Australian Dance Awards 2006).

He has screened dance films in Cinedans Amsterdam, MOVES Manchester, VideoDansa Barcelona, Dança em Foco Rio de Janiero, Tansfilm Wetbewerb Berlin, Video Danza Buenos Aires, MediaTerra Athens, Reeldance in Australia and NZ and the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center, New York. Although he spends most of his time working on small, independent developments he has regularly contributed to the major festivals in Australia, from Adelaide to Perth to Alice Springs.