Simon Fitzmaurice is a renowned writer and film director, whose films have garnered widespread recognition and accolades at prestigious film festivals globally. His feature film, My Name is Emily, has won numerous awards, including Best Cinematography at the Galway Film Fleadh, the Youth Film Award at Internationales Filmfestival Schlingel, the Newport Beach Achievement Award for Acting, the Victoria Texas Festival Jury Prize for Best Actress, and was nominated for eight Irish Film and Television Awards (IFTAs). The London Screenwriter's festival presented Simon with a lifetime achievement award for the film, which came with the prestigious title "The F*cking Awesome Award" in 2016.
Simon is also a distinguished alumnus of the School of Media at Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT),having been conferred with an Honorary Doctorate in November 2016. His short fiction has been shortlisted for the Hennessy Literary Award, and his poetry has appeared in the quarterly publication West 47.
In addition to his work in film, Simon has written a memoir, It's Not Yet Dark, which became a number one bestseller in Ireland. He is a regular contributor to The Irish Times.
Simon resides in Greystones with his wife Ruth, and their five children, Jack, Raife, Arden, Sadie, and Hunter.
Simon's remarkable journey has been marked by adversity, as he was diagnosed with Motor Neuron Disease (ALS) shortly after the premiere of his second short film, The Sound of People, at the Sundance Film Festival in 2008. Despite being completely paralyzed, Simon typed the script for My Name is Emily through the movement of his eyes and iris recognition software, Eye Gaze. This innovative method also enabled him to direct the film across its five-week shoot in August and September 2014.
Simon's memoir has recently been adapted into a feature-length documentary, It's Not Yet Dark, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2017 and is narrated by Colin Farrell.
