John Samson (filmmaker)
John Samson was Scottish independent filmmaker.
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; 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 in 1963; later, after learning photography and the guitar, he began making documentary films. 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 in 1984 for The Skin Horse, and produced a documentary on the darts player Eric Bristow entitled Arrows. His other films were Britannia, a study of train enthusiasts, Dressing for Pleasure, which examines fetishism, and Tattoo a film about tattoo artistry. Samson's films did not generally use narration.
