Sam Firth

Sam Firth is a practicing filmmaker and lecturer with an interest in both documentary and fiction filmmaking. Her work explores documentary form, the construction of personal narrative, notions of truth and objectivity and our relationship to place. Her fiction films have focussed specifically on the experience of young women. She has won awards internationally. She has also worked extensively as a community film practitioner.

Sam has been as a script consultant for a number of organisations including Film Four, Screen Yorkshire and the Welsh Arts Council. For many years Sam ran her own film production company Tiny Spark Productions where, she developed and delivered educational film programmes in primary and secondary schools across Scotland.  Sam has also delivered programmes for the BFI Young Filmmakers Academy and taught at the Met Film School and has won awards for her work in this area.

Sam Firth's primary area of expertise is in filmmaking practice, but also the pedagogy of teaching filmmaking. 

Sam's first three films use first person filmmaking to explore notions of self identity and the constuction of personal narrative. Her film Stay the Same which explored our relationship to time (2012) won International Competition in 2013 at Videoex Experimental film festival in Zurich and a special mention at Stuttgart Filmwinter. Her first film I.D. won the DepicT! Award at Encounters Film Festival and the Human Condition Competition at Chicago International Film Festival in 2010 and has been screened at the Tate Modern in Liverpool.

In 2012 Sam won a special commendation in the Wellcome Trust Screenwriting Award and an award of £10,000 for her work. 

Her fiction film Creeling explored the depiction of teenage female sexuality and sexual desire in cinema. Creeling screened at the Edinburgh Film International film festival and is now used as a teaching tool in Germany and Austria .

Sam's most recent film The Wolf Suit premiered at the BFI London Film Festival. It explores reconstruction both in personal memory and in documentary and it's relationship to truth and reality, specifically in the context of families histories and 'gaslighting'.  

Sam has evaluated, developed, facilitated and delivered community film projects with children and young people since 2001 and has won awards for her work in this area. Over this time Sam developed innovative ways of working with children and young people to explore their creativity through film. This interest in teaching creativity and encouraging creativity in teaching has continued in her role in HE and she has delivered workshops for academics on the subject. 

Sam is currently working on a feature length documentary using fiction filmmaking techniques to explore  the construction of narrative and identity in autobiographical memory. 

The project has funding from the BFI, Wellcome Trust and Creative Scotland.

Sam is also has an interest in increasing diversity within the film industry and exploring barriers to inclusive learning in teaching filmmaking within academic institutions.