Shot in 1961 by acclaimed Polish director Andrzej Wajda (MAN OF IRON), SAMSON is the story of a twice-imprisoned Jewish man, whose quest for freedom leads him only to dead ends and broken dreams. Initially jailed after an innocuous playground skirmish results in the accidental killing of a schoolmate, Samson subsequently endures a lengthy jail term. Released as the fires of World War II rage, his freedom proves to be short lived when he is imprisoned in Warsaw as the German army tears Poland apart. Escaping, he clenches freedom within his grasp once more, only to discover a different kind of jail in the distinctly non-Jewish society into which he emerges. With the threat of capture from the Nazi's forever looming, Samson struggles to comprehend how he can ever truly be free.

• Venice International Film Festival 1961 (Venice, Italy)