Leila Murton Poole is a London-based writer-director whose films blend emotional realism with stylised, heightened worlds. Her work explores pressing “real-world” concerns within “real world–adjacent” landscapes, using grounded surrealism and visual poetry to transform urgent contemporary issues into cinematic spaces that feel both intimate and unsettlingly possible.

Drawing on her journey from London to New Zealand without flying, Leila’s films often examine how human connection endures amidst systemic and environmental collapse. She works primarily within genre and speculative storytelling, using heightened frameworks to interrogate contemporary social and ecological realities.

Leila is a graduate of Sydney Film School, where she won the Best Director award for her year, and is currently completing her MFA in Directing Fiction at the National Film and Television School, where she has been mentored by Peter Strickland. Her short Le Miroir, which she wrote, directed, produced and edited, finished a successful festival run, screening all over the world including at the BAFTA/Oscar qualifying Flickerfest before being released online with Omeleto and is available to watch here. Most recently, her dystopian short Earth was nominated for best student short at BIFA/BAFTA-qualifying Norwich Film Festival.

An avid writer, Leila became the first person to win three, four and five NYC Midnight writing competitions, with entrant numbers ranging from 1,800 to 5,400. These include winning the Screenwriting Competition twice—in 2021 as the first female winner in 15 years, and again in 2023. Other accolades include winning the 2022 NYCM 250-word Microfiction Competition with a piece that was also shortlisted for the 2024 Aesthetica Creative Writing Award, the inaugural 2023 NYCM 500-word Fiction Competition, the 2025 NYCM Flash Fiction Challenge and the 2022 Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Competition (5000+ entries) with a satirical take on gender reveals.

She is currently developing longer-form projects and is always on the look out for producers and creatives who would like to collaborate so please get in touch if you’d like to talk. She also offers script writing and consultation/feedback services to help bring ideas to life.