John Samson (1946–2004) was a
Scottish independent filmmaker
An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is produced outside the major film studio system, in addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies (or, in ...
.
Samson was born in
Ayrshire and grew up in
Paisley. After leaving school at the age of 16 he worked as an apprentice in
Clydeside
Greater Glasgow is an urban settlement in Scotland consisting of all localities which are physically attached to the city of Glasgow, forming with it a single contiguous urban area (or conurbation). It does not relate to municipal government ...
; here he became involved with the
trade unionist movement. He also joined the
Anarchist movement, and participated in a number of strikes and demonstrations. He left his apprenticeship and enrolled in the
Glasgow School of Art
The Glasgow School of Art (GSA; gd, Sgoil-ealain Ghlaschu) is a higher education art school based in Glasgow, Scotland, offering undergraduate degrees, post-graduate awards (both taught and research-led), and PhDs in architecture, fine art, an ...
in 1963;
later, after learning photography and the guitar, he began making
documentary film
A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...
s. His first film, ''Charlie'', gained him a scholarship to the
National Film School.
Samson was not a prolific artist, producing only five films over an eight-year career. He won a
BAFTA and a
Peabody in 1984 for ''The Skin Horse'', and produced a documentary on the
darts
Darts or dart-throwing is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small sharp-pointed missiles known as darts at a round target known as a dartboard.
Points can be scored by hitting specific marked areas of the bo ...
player
Eric Bristow
Eric John Bristow, (25 April 1957 – 5 April 2018), nicknamed "The Crafty Cockney", was an English professional darts player.
He was ranked World No. 1 by the World Darts Federation a record five times, in 1980, 1981 and 1983–1985. He was ...
entitled ''Arrows''.
His other films were ''Britannia'', a study of train enthusiasts, ''Dressing for Pleasure'', which examines fetishism, and ''Tattoo'' a film about
tattoo
A tattoo is a form of body modification made by inserting tattoo ink, dyes, and/or pigments, either indelible or temporary, into the dermis layer of the skin to form a design. Tattoo artists create these designs using several tattooing ...
artistry.
Samson's films did not generally use narration.
References
Scottish film directors
British documentary film directors
1946 births
2004 deaths
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