Film Screenings / Programs / Retrospectives
THE FILMS OF JOHN SAMSON
November 18 – November 20
Recently rediscovered in the UK, but still virtually unknown on these shores, documentary filmmaker John Samson produced a small but highly distinctive body of work in the 1970s and 80s. Over the course of just eight years he made five short-to-medium-length works delving into various subcultures, from the relatively innocuous world of train enthusiasts and competitive dart players to far more transgressive or taboo realms: tattoo culture; latex, leather, and rubber fetishists; and the sexual lives of the physically disabled. Unafraid to commit himself deeply to these worlds, and to forego the typically detached, sober tone of more staid, conservative documentary explorations of marginal communities, Samson was an extraordinarily perceptive and inventive filmmaker.
We are very pleased to introduce American audiences to the work of John Samson, and to welcome the filmmaker’s son, Robin, who rediscovered and restored the films and will be here in person to discuss them.
“Samson’s working-class roots, his passionate interest in radical politics and bohemia…fuelled what would turn out to be a life-long fascination with individuals and groups operating at the margins of society. If it is possible to pick up such a thing as a singular thematic or narrative running throughout Samson’s films, then it is exactly this: his subjects are outsiders, people with unusual lives and obsessions, liminal figures who fail to square neatly with the normative models for identity and behavior propagated by contemporary culture.” –LONDON INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL
Co-presented by the Brooklyn Vitagraph Company. Special thanks to Robin Samson and to David Teague (Brooklyn Vitagraph Company).
