SIMONE SMITH

Simone Smith is an award-winning filmmaker and visual artist from Glasgow, Scotland. Inspired by the mystery of the subconscious and spirituality, Simone wants to get inside the hearts and minds of damaged human beings and tell emotionally conscious stories that explore themes of transformation, vulnerability, loss, and the challenges of becoming.

Independently made on zero to low budgets, her films have been described as "surreal poetry", and "raw and unconventional". Her short film SLAP  was BAFTA-nominated and won Jury Special Mention at GSFF were "the Jury were struck by the work of this director who is pursuing her own sensory style in design and narration." SLAP was also hailed by BFI's Sight and Sound Magazine -"Particularly bracing was Simone Smith’s Slap, an overwhelming, multi-sensory short about the intense terror of the school playground." and voted top-pick by Eden Court at IFF "I've never seen anything quite like it."  Her short RED  won a BAFTA New Talent Award - praised as "Very original" by Stanley Kubrick's producer, Jan Harlen, and "a true work of art" by Ain't It Cool News. THE RINSING - starring BAFTA winning actress Daniela Nardini was broadcast on Channel 4's Random Acts, won the Best Film award at London's Shorts On Tap, and was nominated for Best Experimental Short at Aesthetica Short Film Festival. Her films have screened at Oscar and Bafta qualifying festivals including LEEDS, CORK, LSFF, GSFF, Underwire, and Cinequest. And her music videos have played on MTV and NME. 

Raised in the east-end of Glasgow, Simone gained a BA Honours in Computer Animation & Digital Art, an HND in Digital Art & Design, and an Advanced Diploma in Physical Theatre Practice. From 2008-2014 she earned a position at BBC Scotland, working up the ladder from Runner to Researcher, to self-shooting Director and Producer. Simone then travelled to New York to work with experimental theatre collective The Wooster Group. 

Simone is an EIFF Talent Lab participant for 2019 and is currently writing her first feature films UNTIL SHE BLEEDS and IT'S TOO LATE YOU CAN'T SAVE ME which are both in-development with Screen Scotland and BFI Network. Simone also completed her latest short film THE MöBIUS TRIP which was selected for Short Circuit's Sharp Shorts development and funding scheme, and is set to kick off its festival tour this year! 

"My work is a constant work-in-progress where I aspire to explore freely through instinct, and without any kind of pre-conception the construction of the still and moving image. I follow my instincts and emotions, expressing what I can't not express. It is animal, intimate, instinctive, a place to be both violent and tender, a diary of visual exercises with multiple interpretations, a spiritual place."

Simone is represented by Rowena Wallace at PEACH HOUSE.