Brett Simon (born November 28, 1973 in

Palo Alto Palo Alto (; Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. The city was estab ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

) is an American

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

and

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

Career

Simon graduated from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

''summa cum laude'' in 1997 with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree in

Comparative Literature Comparative literature is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across linguistic, national, geographic, and disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role similar to that of the study ...

and

Creative Writing Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary ...

, and later graduated from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

in 2002 with a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admini ...

degree in Art Practice. He is a PhD candidate in Film Studies at UC Berkeley. In 2001, he wrote, directed, edited and produced the

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

''Counterfeit Film'', which showed at the

Telluride Film Festival The Telluride Film Festival (TFF) is a film festival held annually in Telluride, Colorado during Labor Day weekend (the first Monday in September). The 49th edition took place on September 2 -6, 2022. History First held on 30 August 1974, th ...

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

and

RESFest RESFEST (1996–2006) is a defunct American film festival. It was by the 2000s the most prominent digital film festival in North America. History RESFest was a leading global showcase of new digital filmmakers alongside England's Onedotzero ...

and has been archived at the

Pacific Film Archive The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA, formerly abbreviated as BAM/PFA) are a combined art museum, repertory movie theater, and archive associated with the University of California, Berkeley. Lawrence Rinder was Director from ...

at UC Berkeley, as well as winning numerous awards. In 2005, he wrote, directed, edited and produced the short film ''The Sailor's Girl'', which screened at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

and

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

. After making a number of short films, he became an accomplished

director, working on the videos for

Marion Raven Marion Elise Ravn (born 25 May 1984), better known abroad as Marion Raven, is a Norwegian singer and songwriter. Raven formed the pop duo M2M with Marit Larsen, though they ceased performing together in 2002. Raven was later signed as a solo ar ...

's "

Break You "Break You" is a pop rock song recorded by Marion Raven and written and produced by Max Martin and Lukasz Gottwald, a.k.a. "Dr. Luke", for Raven's international debut studio album '' Here I Am'' (2005). The track was released as the lead single in ...

" and "Here I Am",

The Killers The Killers are an American rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingd ...

' "

Somebody Told Me "Somebody Told Me" is a song by American rock band the Killers. It was released as the second official single from the group's debut studio album '' Hot Fuss'' (2004), and was written by band members Brandon Flowers, Mark Stoermer, Dave Keun ...

Polar Bear The polar bear (''Ursus maritimus'') is a hypercarnivorous bear whose native range lies largely within the Arctic Circle, encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the largest extant bear specie ...

's "

Belly Belly may refer to: Anatomy * The abdomen, the part of the body between the pelvis and the thorax; or the stomach ** A beer belly, an overhang of fat above the waist, presumed to be caused by regular beer drinking ** Belly dance * The fleshy, cen ...

The Joggers The Joggers, formerly known as Stateside, are a four-piece band from Portland, Oregon. They play complex songs with elements of math rock which retain a pop sensibility. The guitar style of (lead singer and songwriter) Ben Whitesides and the sec ...

' " Hot Autism",

Unwritten Law Unwritten Law is an American punk rock band formed in 1990 in Poway, California. They have released seven full-length studio albums and have toured internationally, including performances on the Warped Tour. They are notable for their singles " ...

's " Save Me",

Good Charlotte Good Charlotte is an American rock band from Waldorf, Maryland that formed in 1996. Since 2005, the band's lineup has consisted of twin brothers Joel Madden (lead vocals) and Benji Madden (guitar and vocals), Paul Thomas (bass), Billy Martin (g ...

's "

The Chronicles of Life and Death ''The Chronicles of Life and Death'' is the third studio album by American rock band Good Charlotte. Following the release of ''The Young and the Hopeless'' (2002), the group spent two years touring. By the second half of 2003, they had begun wr ...

New Found Glory New Found Glory (formerly A New Found Glory) is an American rock band from Coral Springs, Florida, formed in 1997. The band currently consists of Jordan Pundik (lead vocals), Ian Grushka (bass guitar), Chad Gilbert (lead guitar, backing vocal ...

's "

It's Not Your Fault "It's Not Your Fault" is a song by American rock band New Found Glory, serving as the lead single from their fifth studio album '' Coming Home'' (2006). The track was first announced in July 2006, before the music video debuted on '' TRL'' on 1 ...

Lostprophets Lostprophets (stylised as lostprophets) were a Welsh rock band from Pontypridd, formed in 1997 by singer and lyricist Ian Watkins and guitarist Lee Gaze. The band was founded after their former band Fleshbind broke up. They later recruited Mike ...

' "

A Town Called Hypocrisy "A Town Called Hypocrisy" is the second single taken from ''Liberation Transmission'', the third studio album by the Welsh alternative rock band Lostprophets. The single was released on 11 September 2006 in the United Kingdom. It peaked at No. 23 ...

Sugarcult Sugarcult is an American rock band from Santa Barbara, California formed in 1999. The band currently consists of Tim Pagnotta (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Airin Older (bass guitar, backing vocals), Marko DeSantis (lead guitar), and Kenny Living ...

's " Do It Alone",

Queens of the Stone Age Queens of the Stone Age (commonly abbreviated QOTSA) is an American rock band formed in 1996 in Palm Desert, California. The band was founded by vocalist and guitarist Josh Homme, who has been the only constant member throughout multiple line- ...

's " Sick, Sick, Sick,

Hoobastank Hoobastank (sometimes stylized as h∞bastank, and originally known as Hoobustank) is an American rock band formed in 1994 in Agoura Hills, California, by lead vocalist Doug Robb, guitarist Dan Estrin, drummer Chris Hesse, and original bassis ...

's The Reason, and

Rise Against Rise Against is an American punk rock band from Chicago, formed in 1999. The group's current line-up comprises vocalist/rhythm guitarist Tim McIlrath, lead guitarist Zach Blair, bassist Joe Principe and drummer Brandon Barnes. Rooted in hardcor ...

's " Audience of One". In 2008, Simon directed his first feature film, the

Catholic school Catholic schools are pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions administered under the aegis or in association with the Catholic Church. , the Catholic Church operates the world's largest religious, non-governmental school syste ...

noir ''

Assassination of a High School President ''Assassination of a High School President'' is a 2008 American neo noir comedy film directed by Brett Simon and starring Reece Thompson, Bruce Willis, Mischa Barton, Emily Meade and Michael Rapaport. It was written by Tim Calpin and Kevin Jak ...

'', from Tim Calpin and Kevin Jakubowski's script. ''Assassination of a High School President'' has premiered at the

and

s. Between 1998 and 2003, Simon taught

film history The history of film chronicles the development of a visual art form created using film technologies that began in the late 19th century. The advent of film as an artistic medium is not clearly defined. However, the commercial, public scr ...

film theory Film theory is a set of scholarly approaches within the academic discipline of film or cinema studies that began in the 1920s by questioning the formal essential attributes of motion pictures; and that now provides conceptual frameworks for und ...

and

video production Video production is the process of producing video content for video. It is the equivalent of filmmaking, but with video recorded either as analog signals on videotape, digitally in video tape or as computer files stored on optical discs, hard dri ...

at UC Berkeley. He has also had

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (profes ...

stints at the ''

Kitchen Sink Kitchen sink may refer to: * ''Freaks of Nature'' (film), a 2015 comedy horror film, also known as ''Kitchen Sink'' * ''Kitchen Sink'', a 1989 horror short directed by Alison Maclean * ''Kitchen Sink'' (TV series), cookery series on Food Network ...

'', '' Speak'' and '' Fabula'' magazines. Simon worked with Rob Nilsson and David Herrera on the feature film ''Security'' at the

Personal life

Simon graduated from

Gunn High School Henry M. Gunn Senior High School is one of two public high schools in Palo Alto, California, the other being Palo Alto High School. Established in , Gunn High School was named after Henry Martin Gunn, who served as the Palo Alto superintendent fr ...

in 1992. His mother is Joan Simon and his father is Jack Simon, a

Los Altos, California Los Altos (; Spanish for "The Heights") is a city in Santa Clara County, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 31,625 according to the 2020 census. Most of the city's growth occurred between 1950 and 1980. Originally ...

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...

and street photographer. He currently lives in

Venice, Los Angeles Venice is a neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles within the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California. Venice was founded by Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a seaside resort town. It was an independent city until 1926, when it was annexed by ...

References

External links

*
Brett Simon official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simon, Brett 1973 births Living people American music video directors University of California, Berkeley faculty University of California, Berkeley alumni Princeton University alumni People from Palo Alto, California Television commercial directors Film directors from California Gunn High School alumni