Orla Smith

Directing

Orla Smith

Orla is a filmmaker based in London who documents her life, using filmmaking as a form of therapy to varying degrees of success. She also produces nonfiction and “live cinema”, and co-founded the documentary festival The Creative Nonfiction Film Weekend (CNFW).

Acting credits

Behind the camera

Plane Film poster
NR

In an effort to continue using filmmaking as exposure therapy (after conquering her fear of the Tube in Tube Film), filmmaker Orla Smith tackles an even bigger fear: planes. On a trip to Porto, the camera is wielded as a shield against panic attacks. But this time, things don’t go exactly to plan.

Plane Film

2026

Plane Film poster
NR

In an effort to continue using filmmaking as exposure therapy (after conquering her fear of the Tube in Tube Film), filmmaker Orla Smith tackles an even bigger fear: planes. On a trip to Porto, the camera is wielded as a shield against panic attacks. But this time, things don’t go exactly to plan.

Plane Film

2026

Goodbye, World poster
NR

Set in a world where human beings are digitally uploading their consciousness, it is GIRL’s turn to make her decision. Will she decide to join her family and leave her physicality behind, as well as the relics of what it once meant to be human?

Goodbye, World

Papercut poster
NR

A young woman rediscovers a letter from an old friend, forcing her to reconcile with the past.

Papercut

2022

Papercut poster
NR

A young woman rediscovers a letter from an old friend, forcing her to reconcile with the past.

Papercut

2022

Papercut poster
NR

A young woman rediscovers a letter from an old friend, forcing her to reconcile with the past.

Papercut

2022

Checking In poster
5.0

A short film about communication in the time of social isolation.

Checking In

2020

Tube Film poster
NR

Orla goes on the tube.

Tube Film

2025

Tube Film poster
NR

Orla goes on the tube.

Tube Film

2025

Edinburgh '25 poster
NR

I went to Edinburgh last summer and, in retrospect, realised it was the happiest I was all year. So I went back to Edinburgh at New Year's and attempted to reconstruct the experience through film.

Edinburgh '25

2026

Burden of Other People's Dreams poster
NR

Burden of Other People’s Dreams is an attempt to cross the experience of reading a book with the experience of watching a film. Created by renowned film editor Joe Bini (Grizzly Man, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, You Were Never Really Here), the piece explores the psychology of anonymity required in being an editor. Combining words and imagery, physical and digital media, it blurs the lines between fiction and non-fiction to tell a story about how stories are told.

Burden of Other People's Dreams

No artwork available
NR

A surreal, abstract memoir of Joe Bini's life as a film editor and storyteller, presented as a live cinema experience for one audience member at a time.

Burden of Other People's Dreams: Chapter One – Ganymede

2026