Sämi Ortlieb - Freeski Filmmaker Switzerland

Hometown: Glarus, Switzerland | Active: 2012-present | Known for: Level 1 film segments, Glacier Days, Maneuvers and Salomon Départ | Sponsors: Salomon | Current: skier, filmmaker and park designer

Logs, snow blocks and individually photographed ski positions became raw material for Sämi Ortlieb in 2019. Working with cinematographer Robin Lee and skiers Rob Heule, Remco Kayser, Dane Kirk and Andrin Tgetgel, Ortlieb spent months assembling ski action frame by frame. Snow could fold away beneath a skier or rebuild itself ahead of the next turn. The resulting Maneuvers sequence grew from footage created for Level 1's final annual movie and placed Ortlieb's skiing, filmmaking and handmade construction inside the same short project.

Glarus 2012: Birds starts the DIY archive

Ortlieb's own filmography reaches back to Birds in 2012. Mountainfilm identifies him as originally from Glarus and describes a body of work built around skiing, art, design and filmmaking. Birds ran for roughly fifteen minutes and established the self-produced format that continued through Birds 2D and Past Seasons in 2014. The projects preceded his larger studio appearances while already putting him behind the camera as well as on skis.

Level 1 2016: Pleasure reaches Powder Awards

Ortlieb entered one of Level 1's major ensemble films with Pleasure in 2016. The 54-minute production moved between British Columbia, India, Russia, Japan, Washington, Alaska and Utah, with Will Wesson, Tanner Rainville, Laurent De Martin, Magnus Granér, Rob Heule and other skiers sharing the cast. Level 1 lists the film as Powder Awards Movie of the Year, placing Ortlieb inside a studio production recognised at one of skiing's established film awards.

Level 1 2017: Birds Brigade meets Habit

Birds Brigade continued Ortlieb's independent work in 2017 as a 36-minute film under his own production. The same year, Level 1 paired him with Will Wesson for a full street segment in Habit. The two skiers used constructed and urban features with contrasting styles, and Level 1 later released their complete shared segment separately. FREESKIER identifies Ortlieb as the Swiss half of the pairing and describes the part as a full segment from the 2017 film rather than a short appearance.

Zermatt 2018: Glacier Days reaches twenty minutes

Glacier Days grew from Ortlieb's spring-skiing series into a 20-minute movie at Snowpark Zermatt. Will Wesson, Marcel Brünisholz and Erik Olson formed the recurring group around him, while Kai Mahler, Antti Ollila, Fabian Bösch, Remco Kayser, Rob Heule, Joona Kangas and other riders appeared through the project. The skiing was combined with feature building high on the glacier, turning soft spring snow into hand-shaped transitions and jibs rather than relying only on the park's standard layout.

Level 1 2018: Water World fills the park

For the Water World segment in Level 1's Zig Zag, Ortlieb built park features around pools of water with Laurent De Martin, Andrin Tgetgel and Marcel Brünisholz. The idea followed tests he had carried out during spring and summer 2017 with different tarp materials, colours, sizes and methods for filling the ponds. The finished Level 1 shoot used jumps and other snow features connected directly to the pools, turning Ortlieb's earlier experiments into a studio film segment. Zig Zag later received major iF3 honours, including Film of the Year in the pro category.

Level 1 2019: Romance becomes Maneuvers

Romance, Level 1's final annual feature film, contained Ortlieb's stop-motion skiing work that was later presented independently as Maneuvers. Ortlieb directed the short, Josh Berman produced it, and the film used footage with Rob Heule, Remco Kayser, Dane Kirk and Andrin Tgetgel. Maneuvers subsequently screened at Mountainfilm, VIMFF and the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour, while Level 1 also released a behind-the-scenes account of the months spent scouting, shovelling and capturing the individual frames.

Glarus 2022: adVENNture crosses the Atlantic

adVENNture reunited Ortlieb and Rob Heule while travel restrictions kept them on separate continents. Ortlieb filmed in Glarus and Heule in Alberta, with the finished project structured as a Venn diagram comparing the two locations. The iF3 catalogue credits Ortlieb as director, Rad Packs and Sämf Vision as production, and both skiers as athletes. Ski lifts, backcountry snow and parallel visual compositions allowed the Swiss and Canadian footage to occupy the same five-minute film without requiring the two skiers to travel together.

Salomon 2024–26: Départ reshapes freestyle

Ortlieb later moved from LINE to Salomon to work directly on ski development with Nico Vuignier. Salomon's current Départ 01 product credits Ortlieb with the ski's shape, while Vuignier created its graphics. In 2026, Ortlieb described the project as a full range rather than a single model and was also working as lead park designer for Swatch Nines after first advising Nico Zacek on the course in 2024. The Départ film crew has since produced Open and Where the Woodwose Are with Dane Kirk, Pontus Penttilä, Erik Olson and other riders.

Selected filmography

2022 — adVENNture — Rad Packs / Sämf Vision — Director, skier
2019 — Maneuvers — Level 1 Productions — Director, skier
2018 — Water World Park Segment — Level 1 Productions — Director, skier
2018 — Glacier Days — Samuel Ortlieb — Director, skier
2017 — Habit — Level 1 Productions — Full segment
2017 — Birds Brigade — Samuel Ortlieb — Director, skier
2016 — Pleasure — Level 1 Productions — Full segment

Selection of his main film projects. Not a complete filmography.