Simon Hunter was born in 1969; he made his first film at seven year old. ‘Spaceman’ starring his parents and his dog, the 3 minute film told the story of a spaceman flying down to earth and reeking havoc on a remote cottage in the Scottish Highlands.

Simon went on to make nearly fifty short films, whilst growing up in Dumfrieshire, Scotland.

At the age of eighteen he backpacked off to Central Africa and shot a documentary. The twelve-minute film "Zaire, an African River Journey" charted the progress of the hundreds of people that plow up and down the Zaire River each month. The film won Simon a place at film school. At film school Hunter won several awards for his graduation film ‘CLICK" which tells the harrowing tale of a cleaner who gets their hand stuck in a waste disposal unit and has to be rescued.

After graduating from Film school in 1993 Simon went on to write and direct a handful of short films - one of which, ‘Wired’, impressed British screen so much that they immediately invested in ‘Lighthouse’ a $2.5m feature film. The New York Post called LIGHTHOUSE "as suspenseful as anything in recent history")

Simon then signed with Infinity Productions in London and shortly afterwards completed his first commercial, a clever take on Sony Playstation’s ‘Double Life’ for The Lothian Health Board. Entitled ‘Power of Experience’ it was conceived by The Union Advertising Agency in Edinburgh.

At the Cannes advertising festival in 2001 Simon’s movie ‘Lighthouse’ attracted the eye of Bob Isherwood, the creative director of Saatchi and Saatchi. Isherwood selected Hunter for the New Directors Showcase. This prestigious honour is awarded to the twenty-five most promising directors in the world. Isherwood admired Lighthouse, saying, "few films demonstrate so clearly how tension gets attention. The tension is dynamic".

Whilst directing commercials Simon started to specialize in using visual effects to enhance (rather than dominate) his work. Simon and his producing partner Tim Dennison approached Ed Pressman, producer of “The Crow and Judge Dread” to finance a short 7 minute mood film for a sci fi movie entitled “Mutant Chronicles.”

Simon spent four days shooting the mood film almost all against blue screen. Nearly five months of post production followed. The entirely film was shot with out the use of any facility house and the effects were completed together with the grading at an edit facility that Simon housed in his garden in London.

Simon spent the next few months screening the teaser all over Hollywood. In the spring of 2006 the financing of Mutant chronicles began. The production process would involve nearly 2000 visual effects shots, a British record and take nearly two years to complete. By the end of 2007 Simon had worked on Mutant for almost three years.  

In the Summer of 2010 Safehouse, a thriller set in the American Rockies was announced. The film is due to start pre-production in the fall of 2010 with principal photography starting in the Spring of 2011. Shooting will take place in South Africa. 

Simon has been a leading advocate for digital film making and regularly lectures on the subject. In the Spring of 2008 he worked closely with Canon cameras helping them launch a new range of high-definition cameras in Marrakech. For details of Simon’s lecturing services - HEAD HERE.

Simon says he is most at peace climbing the hills of Mull on the West coast of Scotland.

Simon lives in California and London, He is represented by the Dench Arnold Agency in London and the  United Talent Agency in Los Angeles.