History

Matthews produces international works which elude categorization. He merges new forms of cinematic expression with traditional nonfiction approaches to move viewers into a new audio-visual realm. Matthews's work has been awarded prizes by such festivals as the

Images Festival The Images Festival is a yearly event devoted to independent and experimental film, video art, new media and media installation that takes place each spring in Toronto. History The Images festival was founded in 1987, originally conceived as ...

, Docupolis, the Yorkton Short Film Festival, L’Alterniva Festival of Independent Cinema, the Amnesty International Film Festival and Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Film Festival. He studied filmmaking at

Concordia University Concordia University ( French: ''Université Concordia'') is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University, Concordia is one of the t ...

’s

Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema The Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema, a division of the Faculty of Fine Arts at Concordia University, is a film school located in Montreal, Quebec. Informally known as MHSoC, the school accepts around 250 students a year for programs in animation, ...

and worked as a research associate and assistant director to the acclaimed documentary filmmaker Patricio Henríquez of Macumba International. In 2003, he and fellow filmmaker Prem Sooriyakumar founded 7th Embassy (7E) , an international filmtank devoted to the production of creative documentary media projects and development initiatives.

Films

His short films include: *the lyrical

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

an travelogue ''Lèzenvisib'' (2000) *

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...

n genocidal essay ''Devouring Buddha'' (2002), which was awarded Best Direction for Short to Mid-Length Documentary - Canadian Spectrum Program at

Hot Docs The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is the largest documentary festival in North America. The event takes place annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 27th edition of the festival took place online throughout May and June ...

*the feature documentary ''The Man Who Crossed The Sahara'' (2007) As of 2008 he is beginning production of a documentary opera on India and the space race as well as beginning research on Farewell to Grozny, a documentary on the War in Chechnya. He currently works as a lecturer in media production at

NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences Breda University of Applied Sciences (BUas), formerly NHTV, is a Dutch vocational university in Breda, Netherlands. BUas caters for more than 7,000 Dutch and international students from over 80 countries. The institute offers professional and ac ...

in the Netherlands.

References

Canadian documentary film directors Film directors from Montreal 1972 births Living people {{Canada-film-director-stub