Simone Smith describes herself as a self-taught filmmaker and visual artist. While her early work — self-financed shorts and music videos — revealed a more abstract, experimental leaning, her two more recent shorts, the Bafta-nominated Slap, with its cast of 20 children, and The Mobius Trip, about a family on a road trip to a wedding which made the BIFA longlist and has screened at more than 50 festivals, show a move towards more narrative-based filmmaking.
“They are [both] quite non-linear as well. But they do have a narrative journey for the characters,” reflects Smith of Slap and The Mobius Trip (the latter of which stars fellow Rising Star Mirren Mack).
Smith grew up in Dennistoun in Glasgow’s East End, “making little talk shows and horror sketches” with her mum’s video camera. She studied computer animation and digital art at the University of Paisley (now the University of the West of Scotland), before taking a variety of jobs, including chambermaid, croupier and trader at the city’s Barras market.
Smith joined BBC Scotland as a runner and worked her way up to director, alongside establishing herself as a VJ, live-projecting her short films at clubs and festivals such as T In The Park. She also studied physical theatre practice at The Arches theatre company in Glasgow.
Her shorts caught the eye of producer Leonora Darby who asked Smith to rewrite a thriller she was developing, with a view to her also directing. But Smith felt it was not the right project. “I don’t want to direct for other people yet,” she explains. “I’m happy to write my own stuff.”
To that end, she has two features in development with BFI Network and Screen Scotland: psychological horror It’s Too Late You Can’t Save Me, produced by Darby at Tea Shop; and Until She Bleeds, “a biblical sci-fi horror” co-produced by Solis Entertainment and Peach House.
“For these features it’s really spilling my emotions onto paper, spilling my guts out and just going for it,” says Smith. “I love genre and pushing boundaries and trying new things. I don’t abide by conventional rules.”
Earlier this year, Smith shadowed director John Maclean on the set of his second feature Tornado, starring Tim Roth and Jack Lowden, also produced by Darby. “You’re getting to see everything,” she says of the experience. “I found the whole thing very reaffirming, and I can’t wait to direct my own actors in my own film.”
Contact: Rowena Wallace, Peach House
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