Samuel J Bailey, director of acclaimed videos for Francobollo and festival favourite short film The Horsemen, has joined Riff Raff Films for music videos and commercials, entering the company’s stable of up-and-coming directors, The Nursery Of Evil.

Sam first demonstrated his considerable talents for inventive, dialogue-free comedy with the short film I Can Never Find The Right Words – set around a game of Scrabble – followed by DIY and Are We Nearly There Yet?

In 2011, he directed the promo for his own band Francobollo’s I Found A Bike Today (above), featuring a superb performance by Adeel Akhtar (Four Lions, Utopia) as a man who discovers, falls in love with, and marries a bicycle. That was followed, last year, by his second Francobollo video, for Basketball, co-directed with Amer Chadha Patel and starring comedian Kyle Shepherd, and the video for Escapists’ Northern Lights.

Sam also directed The Horsemen last year, a comedy short about two men who make up the front and back halves of a racehorse entered in the Grand National. It has become a favourite on the short film festival circuit.

Sam joins the directors roster at Riff Raff in their new talent division dubbed ‘The Nursery Of Evil’, which also includes Alden Volney, Aubrey Woodiwiss, Houmam Abdallah, Jeppe Kolstrup, Ryan Staake, Julian Pugsley and The Sacred Egg.

Matthew Fone, MD of Riff Raff Films says: “I saw The Horsemen and suddenly became a walking sales rep for it. I told everyone. Then I thought ‘shit I better sign Sam before any one of those other ****ers do’.”

Watch Samuel J Bailey showreel here