Roger Simonsz

Roger Simonsz was born in The Netherlands and currently alternates between Paris and London. He spent his teenage years in South Africa ahead of moving to Great Britain where he was able to pursue his love of directing through his studies at Middlesex Polytechnic and the Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama in London. After graduating college Simonsz worked in many different capacities in both theatre and film. He won his first award directing Christopher Durang's 'Laughing Wild' at the Liverpool Playhouse. To get into film directing, Simonsz chose the camera route where his unparalleled work as a lighting designer and director of photography led him back to the continent of Europe in the early 1990's. Here he directed 'Goede Tijden, Slechte Tijden' for the Dutch RTL4 channel, as well as photographing and/or directing many second units for, but not limited to, Brian De Palma (Femme Fatale), M. Night Shyalaman (The Happening), Brett Ratner (Rush Hour 3) and David Frankel (The Devil Wears Prada) in addition to photographing features and prime time series like 'Spiral/Engrenages' for which he was nominated for a BSC Best Drama Cinematography award.. After starting the new high profile police series, 'Antigone 34' for French Television, which had 6 million Euro production budget, and an audience of over 3 million viewers, he was invited to direct 'Wolfblood' for the CBBC and subsequently the flagship 'Death In Paradise' for Red Planet/BBC which attracted on average 8 million viewers and a worldwide audience. With his own company, Imagique, Simonsz has produced and directed various corporate films and commercials. Simonsz has worked across many genres and media and has shown he is able to handle any budget responsibly, guiding the most complicated projects to fruition and success, on time and within budget. He is not bound to any one style of filmmaking and revels in diversity, seeing technical difficulties as an opportunity and believes in bringing the best out of writers, actors and technicians alike. Being widely traveled and having the ability to speak four languages fluently, Simonsz is especially keen to work on future projects that have an international appeal.