‏Simon Elrahi‏

Simon has been active in the Australian film industry since 1994 initially as an actor then writer, producer, director and editor.He has trained at various institutions including the Actors Centre and the Australian Film and Television Radio School (AFTRS). He also has a Bachelor of Science degree majoring in Anatomy and Physiology and a Masters in Chiropractic from Sydney and Macquarie universities respectively.Simon began his career as an Actor in 1994 when he got his first role as the "Old Spice Man" for the Middle East. From their, the string of commercials continued and various television support roles in Outriders, All Saints, Water Rats, Murder Call, Home and Away and Heartbreak High. He also played the Arab Guide in the feature film Sahara staring James Belushi and directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith.While working as an Actor and fed up with the dynamics of the industry and the limited roles offered to Australian speaking descendants of first generation migrants, Simon began to write his own films and set up his production company, Simon Shepherd Productions.His first film Prison Apolonia (1995), 20 minutes, was made on a budget of $10,000 and was shot on 16mm and finished on 16mm, It won best film and sound at the "watch my shorts" Melbourne International Short Film Festival in 1995.His Second Film Top of the Town (1997), 11 minutes, was made on a budget of $11,000 and was shot on 16mm black and white and also finished on 16mm black and white. It won best actor and best supporting actor again at the "watch my shorts" Melbourne International Short Film Festival in 1997 judged by Faith Martin, a leading casting consultant in Sydney.In 1998 Simon Executive Produced his third film for Robert Mac entitled Weeing Nuns Storm Europe, 7 minutes. It was shot on 35mm and finished on Beta SP. It was made for Tropfest in 1998 but did not make the top 16 films chosen at the time.It was at this point Simon decided to enter the feature film genre and began to write several feature films. His latest Understanding Anatomy which so far has raised $100,000 and requires a budget of 3 million has taken 10 years to develop. Nick Parsons, writer/director Dead Heart has been the script editor on the project since 2001. It has received two rounds of development funding from the New South Wales Film and Television Office. It has twice been short-listed for the FTO's prestigious Aurora program, short-listed for the inaugural Project Greenlight competition, short-listed for in-division's project lab and script development program. It was also finalist at the 2008 Los Angeles based blue-cat screenplay competition.While developing his feature films, Simon traveled to the Middle East and found himself editing a 20 minute Arabic/French film which subsequently won him an editor's award in an underground film festival in France which he could not follow up on due to the war breaking out in the Middle East.Since the birth of his first son, Samuel in 2005, Simon wrote a short film entitled Be In It (2007), 7 minutes, and entered it into the inaugural SPAA fringe and Avid Australia's fast flicks competition in 2008. He was invited to make his fourth short film in association with SPAA fringe and Avid Australia. It was shot on High Definition and the film went on to win the special jury award at Rutger Hauer's, Milan International Short Film Festival "I've Seen Films" in September 2008 and is now distributed by Ouat Media in Toronto, Canada.