TAKE A SPECIAL LOOK AT PAISLEY
FALCONER’S AMAZING FILMS WILL GO ON SHOW
A treasure trove of movies by an unsung Paisley filmmaker will reach a wider audience next week.
For years, art teacher Falconer Houston made films in and around the town, covering subjects ranging from Covenanters to a Bute potter.
And a selection of his highly evocative work is to be shown at the Glasgow Short Film Festival, in the prestigious Glasgow Film Theatre (GFT) in the city’s Rose Street.
Mr Houston, 83, was for many years a teacher at a number of Paisley schools, including Castlehead High.
He was a pupil at both John Neilson and Paisley Grammar Schools, and loved as a boy to go along to the West End Cinema, in Paisley, to watch its selection of short features.
He told the Paisley Daily Express: “After school I went to the Glasgow School of Art and spent five years there, then I went and did my National Service.
“And, really, I started making films during the time I did my National Service.
“There was another guy with a camera there and we made a wee film. “And that was the beginning of it. “When I came back to Paisley I made a couple of films when I was at Mossvale, when it was a junior secondary.
“I made one about the old Renfrew Airport, and I made one called We Sailed Down the River Cart – we were in a rubber dinghy. “Both these films are lost. “They were left in a garage and deteriorated.”
But the story of Mr Houston’s filmmaking career really started when he finished his time in art school.
“I was very interested in pottery, and I’d bought a Bolex camera,” he said.
“I went to Paisley Museum and made a film about pottery.
“Cyril Rock was the curator at that time.
“He said to me when he saw the film, ‘Would you like to buy a camera?
“‘ I’ll give you money, go up to Glasgow and buy a camera, tripod and light meter’.
“And I went up and bought a 16mm Bolex camera, an absolute Rolls-Royce.
“And I had that camera at home for 30 years. “This would be around 1960.” Mr Houston made a large number of films over the years, and some of these are now to be shown at the GFT in a showcase of his extraordinary work. “I was extremely lucky,” he said. “I had two sponsors. Paisley Museum, who asked me to make films about the library service and a sort of yearly round-out of the work in the museum, but most of my films were made for Renfrewshire Education Authority.
“I made one at Ardentinny, the outdoor centre, and I made one called The Bute Potter.
“I made The Geology of Renfrewshire and I made one about school air flights.
“And when I moved to Woodfarm High School, I made a film called the Cry of the Peewee, which was about the Scottish Covenanters – this was quite a major project. It took about three months to do and involved a full classroom of children.
“And that won the major award at the Scottish Amateur Film Festival.”
After Mr Houston retired in 1989 he gave up filmmaking and concentrated on his passion for pottery.
Years later, Richard Weeks, who is employed by Renfrewshire Council to search out old films about Paisley, found out about Mr Houston’s filmmaking and got in touch with him.
And it is because of this contact that his work has been rediscovered by a new generation.
“What Richard has done for me - well, my films would be nowhere because I put them away in a cupboard.
“I never mentioned filmmaking to anyone,” he said.
“I thought nobody will ever see these again.”
The Forgotten Films of Falconer Houston can be seen at Glasgow Short Film Festival which takes place at the Glasgow Film Theatre on Saturday, March 17, at 3.30pm.
For tickets visit https://glasgowfilm.org/glasgow- shortfilm-festival
I put the films away in a cupboard. I thought nobody will ever see these again Falconer Houston