Holly Griffiths

simon

Simon of New Orleans is a short, observational documentary about the relationship between a city, its people, and the handmade signs they choose to live with every day.
At the center is Simon, a traditional New Orleans sign painter. But the story doesn’t stop with him. It widens to include the shop owners, neighbors, and streets that hold his work - the people who actively choose something hand-painted in a world full of faster, cheaper, digital options.
Through quiet conversations and moments full of raw honestly, the film listens to the people who invite Simon’s work into their spaces. People who run corner shops, neighborhood bars, and small places that hold a lot of life. Some chose a hand-painted sign because it mattered deeply to them. Others because a neighbor had one. Because it felt right. Because they liked the way it looked. Because it was simply what people here do.
The people of New Orleans have reasons that aren’t about trends, branding, or return on investment. They talk about warmth and pride. About familiarity. About trust, memory, and care - or sometimes simply about wanting something that feels good to live with. Together, their choices reveal how New Orleans expresses itself not through grand statements, but through everyday decisions: small, human, and deeply local. Choices that make a place feel rooted here, shaped by the city, and unmistakably its own.
As the film moves between Simon at work and the people who live with his art, the city shows up in small, everyday choices. In how a door is painted. In how a name is lettered. In how a business chooses to greet its neighbors.
This isn’t a film about nostalgia or preservation for its own sake. It’s about relationships - between maker and community, art and commerce, place and people - and the quiet power of choosing something made with care.


Holly Griffiths

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