Bio

A native of Colombia, Simon Brand started his career as a determined 17 year old when directing a music video for a local rock band. After his first video was released, Simon realized that this was the career for him. Looking for a challenge, Simon moved to Miami in the late 80's to pursue his dream of directing.

In the US he quickly honed his craft in music videos and commercials showing his talent evolve with each project. Realizing the need for a new perspective in the music video industry, Simon founded Kree8 Productions, a company that quickly grew to represent both music video and commercial directors from around the globe.

His creativity and drive gave him the opportunity to work with artists such as Jessica Simpson, Enrique Iglesias, Shakira, Ricky Martin, the legendary Celia Cruz, Juanes, Alejandro Sanz, Chayanne, Arjona, Thalia, and Paulina Rubio. Simon quickly became popular in the UK after directing several pop videos for artists like Westlife, Steps and Gabrielle, and it was in Europe that he built his stellar commercial reel. His visionary music videos and highly visual spots earned Simon awards and honors such as: an MTV Awards, Clio, Telly, FIAP and a Four Grammy nominations for best music video.

Simon is an extremely versatile director, ambling back and forth between the production of commercials and music videos seamlessly. Having directed over 200 commercials, his clients include Pepsi, Nabisco, Miler Brewing,Johnson & Johnson, Coca Cola, Coors Light, BMW, AT&T, Wendys, Verizon, Apple, European telecommunications giants Antena 3 and Telefonica. But even with all of this under his belt, Simon still hadn’t achieved his purest goal, to take on feature films.

In 2003 he moved to Los Angeles to make his first feature. It wasn’t a lucky break that led his first movie, "UNKNOWN" starring Jim Caviezel, Greg Kinnear, Barry Pepper and Joe Pantoliano, and was distributed by the Weinstein Company/ IFC Films and GreeneStreet films.

In January 2008 he premiered his new film called "Paraiso Travel", a story that brings him close to his roots. The Spanish- language feature is based on the best selling book by the famed international author, Jorge Franco. Starring Aldemar Correa, Ana de la Reguera and John Leguizamo. The film has been called by TIME magazine one of the best latin films of the last decade, comparing it to “city of god” and “amores perros” . When it premiered in Colombia, it became one of the top grossing films in Colombia’s history.

In 2010, He finished his first documentary film "ENCUERE". Produced in cooperation with DIAGEO’S Learning for life foundation, about the life of displaced families in the northern coast of Colombia.

He was later asked to participate in the TNT original TV Series "Frontiers" produced by Oscar winning director Juan Jose Campanella, writing and directing the sci-fi pilot "Umbrella" .

His extensive list of artists kept growing as he directed music videos for Juan Luis Guerra, Calle 13, Wisin y Yandel, and other artists.

He released his third feature Default in the US in 2013

Simon is one of the most sought after directors today, thanks to his bi-cultural background. Simon has been written up in Variety Magazine as "one of the 40 most influential Latin people in Hollywood".

He was recently honored by being included in the "100 Colombians" book as an example of success among the likes of Shakira, Sofia Vergara, Falcao and Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

www.simonbrand.com