Laura Samani was born in 1989 in Trieste. After graduating in philosophy and literature from the University of Pisa, she studied at directing at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome. Her graduation short film The Sleeping Saint premiered at Cannes Cinéfondation in 2016. Since then, it has gained international acclaim and awards in several international festivals. In 2018, Samani worked for the Maremetraggio Association, conducting the participatory video workshop Città Visibile. The first laboratory of this type ever conducted in Trieste, it has involved teenagers living in social marginality with the aim of making a self-narrative documentary. Small Body, a raw fairy tale, is her first feature film.