Scott Barley is an artist-filmmaker based in Scotland.

His filmography focuses on creating sensorial and contemplative experiences that challenge traditional anthropocentric narrative structures. Recurrent themes in his work include nature, darkness, visible absence, cosmology, phenomenology, and mysticism.

For over a decade, Scott has embraced a radically independent approach to filmmaking, transitioning from ARRI cameras and traditional crew structures to a solo, environmentally sustainable practice primarily filming on iPhone, combined with his paintings and drawings, and personally handling all aspects of production, from direction and cinematography to sound design, post-production, and distribution. Alongside filmmaking, Barley has released multiple works of drone music, a parallel practice that continues his explorations of texture, resonance, and atmosphere through sound. 

His work has been exhibited throughout Europe, North America, South America, Asia, and Australia. Notable venues include ICA London, Jeu de Paume Paris, Doclisboa, Karlovy Vary IFF, Venice Biennale, QAGOMA, MoMA Río de Janeiro, Korean Film Archive, and MoCA Busan. His work has been broadcast on ARTE and Canal180, and written about in Sight and Sound, MUBI Notebook, Film Comment, Frieze, Screen, and Sabzian. His filmography has been the subject of academic analysis at conferences, including the University of Melbourne (with Prof Sean Cubitt), Goldsmiths University of London (Dr Wood Roberdeau), Université Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris (Dr Nicole Brenez), University of Malta (Dr Joe Kickasola), and the University of Porto (Dr Nadin Mai).

Barley’s first feature film, Sleep Has Her House (2017), received the Jury Award for Best Film at the Fronteira International Documentary & Experimental Film Festival, Brazil. Film historian Dr. Nicole Brenez, researcher and editor for Jean-Luc Godard’s The Image Book (Special Palme d’Or, Cannes 2018), cited Sleep Has Her House as one of the ten best films of the decade, noting that Barley “renews our conception of visuality” and describing him as “one of the most gifted visual poets of his generation.” The film was later included in the decennial Sight and Sound poll of The Greatest Films of All Time (2022), receiving votes in both the Critics’ and Directors’ polls.

His most recent short film, A Ladder (2025), is a collaboration with musician Hara Alonso, commissioned by Canal180, Culturgest, and Gnration, Portugal. Following its television broadcast debut in March 2025, the film premiered in cinemas in May 2025 as part of a David Lynch in memoriam retrospective in Freiburg, Germany, screened alongside Lynch’s seminal work, Eraserhead.

Alongside his independent practice, Barley is the co-founder of Obscuritads, an international collective dedicated to “rendering the invisible visible”—with filmmaker Mikel Guillen (Toronto) and curator and programmer Miquel Escudero Diéguez (Barcelona). American filmmaker Phil Solomon (1954–2019) is an honorary member.

Outside of his own filmmaking, Barley has worked as a cinematographer, multimedia artist and in multiple post-production roles on various projects, including Tadhg O’Sullivan’s To the Moon (2020) and Saeed Taji Farouky's upcoming feature film, Standing At The Ruins (Final Cut in Venice, 82nd Venice International Film Festival). He served as a production consultant on Silent Friend (82nd Venice International Film Festival, in competition, 2025) by Academy Award nominee Ildikó Enyedi (On Body and Soul, Golden Bear winner, 2017) starring Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Léa Seydoux. Most recently, he served as a colourist and visual artist for The Occupant of the Room, the first fiction film by Kier-La Janisse (Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror, 2021) premiering at Sitges Film Festival (October 2025). 

Scott teaches Film at Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh. He also provides mentorship and consultation for filmmakers and artists internationally at various stages of career development. He has served as a mentor for Film London's FLAMIN Fellowship programme and L'Alternativa Professionals at the Centre of Contemporary Culture Barcelona, advising emerging filmmakers through all stages of film development. He has delivered workshops and masterclasses at international arts organisations, film festivals and universities, including Stavanger Art Museum Norway, Centre of Contemporary Culture Barcelona, Lago Film Fest Italy, Academic Film Centre Belgrade, University of Montreal, and National Institute of Technology Durgapur.

Danish film critic and former director of the European Documentary Network, Tue Steen Müller has described him as the “Anselm Kiefer of cinema.”

His second feature film, The Sea Behind Her Head, funded by the British Film Institute (BFI) and Doc Society, is currently in production, alongside several new short films and multimedia works funded by Creative Scotland.