Simon Leyden Email & Phone Number

I have been volunteering as a short film reviewer for an international short film festival in Nottingham for the past four years. I have reviewed hundreds of short films up to 30 minutes long from all parts of the globe. Here are some of my reviews:This is both a beautiful film to look at – some scenes have a luminous, painterly quality to them – but it is also brilliantly incisive in its depiction of possessive, predatory masculinity. But above all, it’s a profoundly moving tale of the resilience of the human spirit battling against the odds. ('Anna' 2020)A deeply affecting, highly accomplished film, enhanced by an understated but resonant narrative and beautifully framed cinematography. What was especially impressive was the oblique, poetic way in which the film approached its subject matter: for me, this made this important film all the more powerful and poignant. ( 'Oslo' 2019)This is film-making of the highest calibre. It shows with such insightful sensitivity how the most emotionally devastating moments in our lives are often the quietest ones barely noticed by others. Beautifully observed and brilliantly directed - the pitch perfect performances are heartrendingly convincing. (Elle, 2022)What impressive work this is: a film of considerable emotional depth and some extraordinarily captured images that stay in the mind long after the film has finished. Thematically familiar territory it might be, but it is directed with such confidence and an appreciation of how cinema can elevate the everyday into pure visual poetry. Outstanding. (8Teen, 2022