John Smithson (* March 1952) is a British film and television producer.

Family

John's brother is the political blogger

Mike Smithson Mike Smithson may refer to: * Mike Smithson (British journalist) (born 1946), British journalist, Liberal Democrat politician, and political betting expert *Mike Smithson (Australian journalist), Australian news reporter *Mike Smithson (baseball) ...

. Together with David Darlow he co-founded the production company

Darlow Smithson Productions Darlow may refer to: * Darlow (surname) *Darlow, Kansas Darlow is an unincorporated community in Lincoln Township, Reno County, Kansas, United States. It is located several miles west of Yoder along Red Rock Road. History Darlow was a station on ...

in 1988. In June 2002 Smithson acquired full control and bought out Darlow's 50 % stake.
RDF producer heads to Darlow Smithson
'. In: c21media.net, 27 July 2004. A month later Darlow left the company. Smithson later became joint Creative Director of Arrow Media, based in London. He works closely with top broadcasting commissioners in the UK, US and other key international operating territories around the world.

Awards

*1999, Smithson won the

News & Documentary Emmy Award The News & Documentary Emmy Awards, or News & Documentary Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sci ...

for Analysis of a Single Current Story for " Decoding the Nazis" . *2004, Smithson won the Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film for '' Touching the Void''. *2004, Smithson won the

British Independent Film Award The British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) is an organisation that celebrates, supports and promotes British independent cinema and filmmaking talent in United Kingdom. Nominations for the annual awards ceremony are announced in early November, ...

for Best British Documentary for ''Touching the Void''. *2004, Smithson won the

Evening Standard British Film Award The Evening Standard British Film Awards were established in 1973 by London's ''Evening Standard'' newspaper. The Standard Awards is the only ceremony "dedicated to British and Irish talent," judged by a panel of "top UK critics." Each ceremony ...

Best Film Award for ''Touching the Void'' *2005, Smithson was nominated for an Emmy for ''

The Last Dragon ''The Last Dragon'' (sometimes listed as Berry Gordy's ''The Last Dragon'') is a 1985 American martial arts comedy film produced by Rupert Hitzig for Berry Gordy and directed by Michael Schultz. The film stars Taimak, Vanity, Julius Carry, C ...

'' in the category of Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming One Hour or More). *2005, Smithson was nominated for the Online Film & Television Association Best Documentary Award for "Touching the Void" *2007, Smithson was nominated for a

BAFTA Award The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA Film Awards is an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to film. The cer ...

for '' 9/11: The Falling Man'' in the category of Flaherty Documentary Award. *2007, Smithson won the

New York Festival New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

World Gold Medal for Feature-Length Documentary for ''9/11: The Falling Man'' *2007, Smithson won the

Grierson Award The Grierson Awards are awards set up by The Grierson Trust to recognise innovative and exciting documentary films, created to commemorate the life and work of the pioneering Scottish documentary filmmaker John Grierson. The inaugural Awards w ...

for Best Cinema Documentary for '' Deep Water'' *2007, Smithson won the Focal Award for Best Use of Footage in a Feature Length Documentary or Film for ''Deep Water'' *2007, Smithson won the

San Diego Film Critics Society Award The San Diego Film Critics Society (SDFCS) is an organization of film reviewers from San Diego-based publications that was founded in 1997. Overview The San Diego Film Critics Society (SDFCS) is composed of print, television, radio and digital ...

for Best Documentary for ''Deep Water''. *2007, Smithson won the Rome International Film Festival award for Best Cinema Documentary ''Deep Water''. *2008, Smithson won the

International Emmy Award The International Emmy Awards, or International Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based International Academy of Television Arts and Sci ...

for Best Documentary for '' The Beckoning Silence''. *2009, Smithson was nominated for

BAFTA TV Award The BAFTA TV Awards, or British Academy Television Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the BAFTA. They have been awarded annually since 1955. Background The first-ever Awards, given in 1955, consisted of six categories. Until ...

for Best Single Documentary for ''The Beckoning Silence''. *2009, Smithson was nominated for the

for Best Single Documentary Award for ''Thrilla in Manilla''. *2009, Smithson was nominated for the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize for ''Thrilla in Manilla'' World Cinema - Documentary *2009, Smithson won the Banff Television Festival Award for Best Sports Documentary for ''Thriller in Manila''. *2009, Smithson won the

for Best Historical Documentary for ''Thriller in Manila''. *2010, Smithson won the ''George Foster'' Peabody Award for ''Thriller in Manila''. *2010, Smithson was nominated for

for Outstanding Historical Programming for ''Thriller in Manila''. *2010, Smithson was nominated for

for Best Documentary for '' 9/11: Phone Calls from the Towers''. *2011, Smithson was nominated for an

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology) ...

for Best Motion Picture of the year for ''

127 Hours ''127 Hours'' is a 2010 biographical psychological survival drama film co-written, produced and directed by Danny Boyle. The film stars James Franco, Kate Mara, Amber Tamblyn and Clémence Poésy. In the film, canyoneer Aron Ralston mus ...

''. *2011, Smithson was nominated for the BAFTA Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film for ''127 Hours''. *2011, Smithson won the AFI Awards Movie of the Year Award for ''127 Hours''. *2011, Smithson was nominated for

for Outstanding Historical Programming for ''

Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking ''Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking'' is a 2010 science documentary television mini-series written by British physicist Stephen Hawking. The series was created for Discovery Channel by Darlow Smithson Productions and features computer gener ...

'', episode "Time Travel". *2012, Smithson was nominated for

for Outstanding Informational Programming - Long Form for ''9/11: Heroes of the 88th Floor: People Helping People''. *2012, Smithson was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Science and Technology Programming for ''

Curiosity Curiosity (from Latin '' cūriōsitās'', from ''cūriōsus'' "careful, diligent, curious", akin to ''cura'' "care") is a quality related to inquisitive thinking such as exploration, investigation, and learning, evident by observation in humans ...

, episode "Did God Create the Universe". *2015, Smithson was nominated for an Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Award for Best Feature Length Documentary for ''

Sherpa Sherpa may refer to: Ethnography * Sherpa people, an ethnic group in north eastern Nepal * Sherpa language Organizations and companies * Sherpa (association), a French network of jurists dedicated to promoting corporate social responsibility * ...

''. *2015, Smithson won the

London Film Festival The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival founded in 1957 and held in the United Kingdom, running for two weeks in October with co-operation from the British Film Institute. It screens more than 300 films, documentaries and sho ...

Grierson Award for Best Documentary Film for ''Sherpa''. *2016, Smithson won the Film Critics Australia Award for the Best Feature Length Documentary for ''Sherpa''. *2016, Smithson was nominated for BAFTA Film Awards for the Best Documentary Award for ''Sherpa''.

Selected filmography

* '' Rough Justice'' (TV series, 1987) (producer, 2 episodes) * '' Tailspin: Behind the Korean Airliner Tragedy'' (1989) (producer) * '' Dead Ahead: The Exxon Valdez Disaster'' (1992) (producer) * ''

Everyman The everyman is a stock character of fiction. An ordinary and humble character, the everyman is generally a protagonist whose benign conduct fosters the audience's identification with them. Origin The term ''everyman'' was used as early as ...

'' (TV series, 1993-1994) (producer, 3 episodes) * '' The Affair'' (1995) (producer) * ''

Black Box In science, computing, and engineering, a black box is a system which can be viewed in terms of its inputs and outputs (or transfer characteristics), without any knowledge of its internal workings. Its implementation is "opaque" (black). The te ...

'' (TV series, 1996) (executive producer, 6 episodes) * " Station X" (TV documentary, 1999) (executive producer) * '' Touching the Void'' (2003) (producer) * '' Touching the Void: Return to Siula Grande'' (2004) (producer) * ''

'' (2004) (executive producer) * '' 9/11: The Falling Man'' (2006) (executive producer) * '' Deep Water'' (2006) (producer) * ''

Clapham Junction Clapham Junction is an urban locality around Clapham Junction railway station in London, England. Despite its name, it is not located in Clapham, but forms the commercial centre of Battersea. Clapham Junction was a scene of disturbances during ...

'' (2007) (producer) * '' The Beckoning Silence'' (2007) (executive producer) * ''

Independent Lens ''Independent Lens'' is a weekly television series airing on PBS featuring documentary films made by independent filmmakers. Past seasons of ''Independent Lens'' were hosted by Angela Bassett, Don Cheadle, Susan Sarandon, Edie Falco, Terrence H ...

'' (TV series, 2008) (producer, episode " Deep Water") * ''Thrilla in Manila'' (2008) (executive producer) * '' The Diary of Anne Frank'' (TV series, 2009) (executive producer, 5 episodes) * '' 9//11: Phone Calls from the Towers'' (TV documentary, 2009) (executive producer) * '' U Be Dead'' (2009) (executive producer) * ''

Masterpiece Classic ''Masterpiece'' (formerly known as ''Masterpiece Theatre'') is a drama anthology television series produced by WGBH-TV, WGBH Boston. It premiered on Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) on January 10, 1971. The series has presented numerous acclaim ...

'' (TV series, 2010) (executive producer, episode " The Diary of Anne Frank") * ''

'' (TV series, 2010) (executive producer, episode "Time Travel") * ''

'' (2010) (producer) * ''

'' (TV series, 2011) (executive producer, episode " Did God Create the Universe?") * '' Stephen Hawking's Grand Design'' (TV series, 2012) (executive producer, 3 episodes) * ''Dog's: Their Secret Lives'' (TV series, 2013) (executive producer, 4 episodes) * '' Ultimate Airport Dubai'' (TV series, 2014) (executive producer, 19 episodes) * ''

'' (2015) (producer) * '' Secret History'' (TV series, 2016) (creative director / executive producer, 2 episodes) * '' Hitler: The Rise and Fall'' (TV series, 2016) (creative director, 6 episodes)

References

External links

*
arrowmedia.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smithson, John 1952 births Living people British film producers