Simon Horrocks

Simon Horrocks
Born	1965 (age 51–52) London, England
Occupation	Film director, screenwriter, composer
Years active	1989–present

Simon Horrocks is a British film maker, writer and composer.

Horrocks was born in London in 1965 to British parents, both artists, but spent the early part of his childhood living in a commune of artists and craftspeople near Glastonbury, set up by his father. At 13, he moved back to London with his mother and stepfather.

Until 1983, Horrocks attended Creighton Comprehensive School, a centrepiece of a Labour Party educational experiment. From 1983 to 84, he attended Middlesex Polytechnic where he made 2 short experimental 8mm films with Jonathan Glazer.

Frustrated by the academic tutoring of art, he left after 1 year and formed ambient house pop duo Aquarius with Sarah Jane Fogg. Their debut single Hey Babe was Melody Maker Single of the Week in January, 1993. From 1995 to 2006, the duo wrote over 200 pieces of music for music publisher CPM.

Horrocks’ debut feature film Third Contact was shot on an HV30 consumer camcorder for a total budget of £4000 and completed in 2012. Horrocks filmed virtually without a crew, operating the camera himself. A friend and girlfriend took turns recording sound over the year-long shoot. Horrocks completed editing, grading and sound design alone, co-writing the film's score with Sarah Fogg. After successfully raising £15,000 on kickstarter for theatrical distribution, the film received its global premiere at the BFI IMAX on 2 September 2013. When many of the film's online supporters came forward to help, Horrocks worked with them to run cinema on demand campaigns. Using indiegogo (where people wishing to attend would pledge for seats at the show), Horrocks took the film to cinemas in USA, Canada, Belgium, Switzerland and around the UK.

In 2014, using the same crowdfunding strategy they had used to bring Third Contact to Zurich, Horrocks co-founded the Mobile Motion Film Festival with Andrea Holle, aiming to "create a festival which provides a level playing field for filmmakers, where talent, creativity and hard work counts more than budget and industry connections."

...
Wikipedia