Matt Amato is an American film writer and director. His major works include music videos for artists such as
Barbra Streisand
Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers awar ...
,
Beach House
Beach House is an American musical duo formed in Baltimore, Maryland in 2004. The band consists of Victoria Legrand (vocals, keyboards) and Alex Scally (guitar, keyboard, backing vocals).
Their self-titled debut album was released in 2006 t ...
,
Bon Iver
Bon Iver ( ) is an American indie folk band founded in 2006 by singer-songwriter Justin Vernon.
Vernon released Bon Iver's debut album, ''For Emma, Forever Ago,'' independently in July 2007. The majority of the album was recorded while Vernon ...
,
Dido
Dido ( ; , ), also known as Elissa ( , ), was the legendary founder and first queen of the Phoenician city-state of Carthage (located in modern Tunisia), in 814 BC.
In most accounts, she was the queen of the Phoenician city-state of Tyre (t ...
,
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros is an American folk rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 2005. The group is led by singer Alex Ebert. The band's name is based on a story Ebert wrote in his youth, about a messianic figure named E ...
,
Soko
Soko ( sh-Cyrl, Соко) was a Yugoslav aircraft manufacturer based in Mostar, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina. The company was responsible for the production of many military aircraft for the Yugoslav Air Force.
SOKO was created in 1950 by the rel ...
, and
Wild Nothing
Wild Nothing is an American indie rock/dream pop band from Blacksburg, Virginia, formed in late 2009 by Jack Tatum. During live performances, Tatum is joined by additional musicians, currently Nic Hessler (guitar), Jeff Haley (bass), Joshua Sushm ...
. He also co-founded the Los Angeles based visual arts collective,
The Masses
''The Masses'' was a graphically innovative magazine of socialist politics published monthly in the United States from 1911 until 1917, when federal prosecutors brought charges against its editors for conspiring to obstruct conscription. It was ...
. In 2020, he completed his debut feature, Never My Love. Amato is now documenting the efforts of historic preservationist
Larry Giles at the
National Building Arts Center
The National Building Arts Center (NBAC) is a large collection of significant architectural, structural, and industrial items saved before these elements from the built environment are demolished. It is the physical collection of the St. Louis Bui ...
. Amato's music video for
Trixie Mattel
Brian Michael Firkus (born August 23, 1989), better known by the stage name Trixie Mattel, is an American drag queen, television personality, and singer-songwriter originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She is known for her exaggerated, high-camp ...
and
Shakey Graves
Shakey Graves (born Alejandro Rose-Garcia; June 4, 1987) is an American Americana musician from Austin, Texas.
His music combines blues, folk, country, and rock and roll. Rose-Garcia received his stage name at Old Settler's Music Festival in 20 ...
was released in 2022. Amato directed the "pastoral" music video for legendary country-folk musicians and
gay activists,
Lavender Country, filming in
Olympic National Park
Olympic National Park is a United States national park located in the State of Washington, on the Olympic Peninsula. The park has four regions: the Pacific coastline, alpine areas, the west-side temperate rainforest, and the forests of the drier ...
. Amato directed his
third video for Barbra Streisand released by Columbia Records on October 7, 2022.
Early life and education
![Matt + Arri](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/Matt_%2B_Arri.jpg)
Amato grew up in
St. Louis, MO and was educated by the
Benedictine
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, caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal
, abbreviation = OSB
, formation =
, motto = (English: 'Pray and Work')
, foun ...
monks at
St. Louis Priory. He briefly attended film school at
Columbia College in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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before venturing to
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
.
San Francisco (1990s)
Amato began his directing career in the mid-1990s while living in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
. Shooting on
16mm
16 mm film is a historically popular and economical gauge of film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 and 35 mm. It is generally used for non-theatrical (e.g., industrial, ed ...
, he created
music video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...
s for San Francisco's
American Music Club
American Music Club was an American, San Francisco-based indie rock band, led by singer-songwriter Mark Eitzel. Formed in 1983, the band released seven albums before splitting up in 1995. They reformed in 2003 and released two further albums.
...
,
Red House Painters and
Tarnation. Amato’s videos were broadcast on
MTV shows such as
120 Minutes and Subterranean. Experimenting with
8mm for the band
Tipsy, Amato’s work aired on MTV’s
electronic-music based,
Amp #REDIRECT Amp
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. Amato continued to make progress at
Palm Pictures
Palm Pictures is a US-based entertainment company owned and run by Chris Blackwell. Palm Pictures produces, acquires and distributes music and film projects with a particular focus on the DVD-Video format. Palm places an emphasis on such pro ...
with a video for
Tijuana's Nortec Collective
Nortec Collective was a musical ensemble formed by various individual one- or two-man production projects. The group came together in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. Their genre mixes electronic music with musical elements and instrumentation o ...
and live visual presentations for
Supreme Beings Of Leisure
Supreme Beings of Leisure (SBL) are an electronic/trip hop band from Los Angeles, California. Current members of SBL are singer/songwriter Geri Soriano-Lightwood, multi-instrumentalist/producer Ramin Sakurai, and guitarist/programmer Rick Torres ...
.
Los Angeles + The Masses (2000s)
![Masses logo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Masses_logo.jpg)
Amato sustained his work in music videos by embracing digital film-making. In 2006, Amato established a partnership with his best friend,
Heath Ledger
Heath Andrew Ledger (4 April 1979 – 22 January 2008) was an Australian actor and music video director. After playing roles in several Australian television and film productions during the 1990s, Ledger moved to the United States in 1998 to ...
. Amato told the
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
in 2009,
What Heath brought to us at the Masses was his pure creative energy, chessboards and surfboards.
The Masses started developing their own movie projects. During this time, Ledger also developed the screenplay with Amato for what would be Amato's first movie,
Never My Love
"Never My Love" is a pop standard written by American siblings Don and Dick Addrisi, and best known from a hit 1967 recording by the Association. The Addrisi Brothers had two Top 40 hits as recording artists, but their biggest success as songwri ...
. “I was very well aware of the movies Heath wanted to make, because we shared the same values,” Amato reflects.
We definitely wanted to make movies for smart women. I think he had his daughter in mind, as well. We hated violence in our culture. We’re very against it. We wanted to flip that paradigm and focus on women and love, and chess.
Amato was on location in
Eau Claire, WI
Eau Claire (; ) (French for "clear water") is a city mostly located in Eau Claire County, Wisconsin, of which it is the county seat, and with a small portion in Chippewa County, Wisconsin. It had a population of 69,421 in 2020, making it the state' ...
directing
Bon Iver
Bon Iver ( ) is an American indie folk band founded in 2006 by singer-songwriter Justin Vernon.
Vernon released Bon Iver's debut album, ''For Emma, Forever Ago,'' independently in July 2007. The majority of the album was recorded while Vernon ...
’s first video the day Ledger died. “It was no longer about just making a Bon Iver music video anymore,” the group’s singer-songwriter Justin Vernon says. “This was now our chance to be there with Matt as he grieved. It was a three-day wake."
The Masses 2.0 (2010s)
Amato joined forces with
Executive Producer Jack Richardson in what was essentially the Masses 2.0. The Masses functioned as a ''directors agency'' representing music video directors in Los Angeles: Ben Fee, Ben Kutsko, Chris Coats, Alistair Legrand, Isaiah Seret, Elliot Sellers, Raúl Fernández, Eli Stonberg, Alex Pelly to name just a few. The Masses also assisted in the creation of OMG! Cameras Everywhere!, a music video making summer camp for young people in Los Angeles, London and NYC. Amato's "gorgeous, incredibly cinematic" videos are known for their intimacy, spontaneity and sense of place often filming on location. Amato says,
It's about connecting with people. I've had some great opportunities to connect in a very personal way with some of the artists I worked with on music videos. There is that sense of nostalgia, even while you're there, on some music videos. I'm thinking particularly of the family I stayed with in Scotland when I did the ''Withered Hand'' video. Or working with Justin out in the woods during the ''Bon Iver'' video. Those are very powerful memories for me.
For
Barbra Streisand
Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers awar ...
's
Release Me, "While Streisand had recorded the unreleased song in 1970, Amato did not direct the video until 2012. Consequently, he had to jog the memories of the original producer,
Richard Perry
Richard Van Perry (born June 18, 1942) is an American record producer. He began as a performer in his adolescence while attending Poly Prep, his high school in Brooklyn. After graduating from college he rose through the late 1960s and early 1970 ...
, about important details of the original recording. Amato reproduced small details such as the original type of microphone preferred by Streisand and the setting of the recording. Amato describes it as “an exercise in verisimilitude.” Amato invited "Kodachrome-drenched journeying" actress
Michelle Williams to work with him on a "wistful" and "visually arresting" music video for
Wild Nothing
Wild Nothing is an American indie rock/dream pop band from Blacksburg, Virginia, formed in late 2009 by Jack Tatum. During live performances, Tatum is joined by additional musicians, currently Nic Hessler (guitar), Jeff Haley (bass), Joshua Sushm ...
's ''Paradise''. Amato "comely grasps the elusive feeling of the song" and captures "Williams’ especially moving and elegant performance that elevates the video to absolute emotional harmony."
''I Am Heath Ledger'' (2017)
![Heath on set](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Heath_on_set.jpg)
Amato signed on as an
Executive Producer and
creative consultant on the
documentary film, ''
I Am Heath Ledger''. He traveled to
Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...
, Australia to work with Ledger's family and to insure it would be a magnanimous sketch of his friend and partner. It premiered at the
Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. Tribeca was f ...
with a Q+A involving Amato and Ledger's sisters, Ashleigh Bell and Kate Ledger. The "uncommonly tender" documentary is heralded for its sensitivity while reflecting on the actor's artistic nature as told by his most faithful friends and loved ones. "I Am Heath Ledger is a cinematic portrait of Ledger the artist. Devoid of gossip and any hint of salaciousness," one reviewer noted. "The result is refreshing, insightful, and also devastatingly sad." It currently holds an 86% on
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
. "I'll always have my reservations with the final product. But, overall, it's a very positive portrait of a real lover of life, and his family truly loves it. Their appreciation of it means a lot to me and made it worth doing.” Amato told
MTV News. “And I felt like there needed to be an anecdote to all of the gossip that's out there.”
I don’t need to defend Heath or tell people how you should feel about Heath because you already have a feeling about Heath. He did his job beautifully. He was a communicator. He reached people, and that was his art.
''Never My Love'' (2020)
In the summer of 2013, Amato returned to his hometown of St. Louis to write and direct his debut feature, ''
Never My Love
"Never My Love" is a pop standard written by American siblings Don and Dick Addrisi, and best known from a hit 1967 recording by the Association. The Addrisi Brothers had two Top 40 hits as recording artists, but their biggest success as songwri ...
'', (aka The Makings Of You) starring
Sheryl Lee
Sheryl Lynn Lee (born April 22, 1967) is a German-born American film, stage, and television actress. After studying acting in college, Lee relocated to Seattle, Washington to work in theater, where she was cast by David Lynch as Laura Palmer and ...
,
Grace Zabriskie
Grace Zabriskie (' Caplinger; born May 17, 1941) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Sarah Palmer in ''Twin Peaks'' (1990–1991; 2017) and its film prequel '' Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me'' (1992), Lois Henrickson in '' ...
and
Jay R. Ferguson
Jay R. Ferguson (born July 25, 1974) is an American actor, known as Taylor Newton in '' Evening Shade'' (1990–1994), Stan Rizzo in ''Mad Men'' (2010–2015), and Ben Olinsky in '' The Conners'' (2018–present).
Biography
In 1990 Ferguson pla ...
. After resolving legal issues concerning an investor, Amato completed the movie as it was intended in 2020 and is looking forward to its official release. An early cut of the movie garnered some glowing reviews; this one from
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...
:
''This beautifully acted and photographed drama leaves a lasting impression. Amato, a veteran helmer of music videos, invests the proceedings with a subtle, dreamlike quality that gives the film an undeniable, but never stultifying, artsy feel. If you're not already in love when you see the film, you'll desperately want to be afterwards.''
VJ Shows + Exhibitions + Screenings
![The Luminary](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/The_Luminary.jpg)
= Music videos =
References
External links
WebsiteInstagram
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amato, Matt
American film producers
1967 births
Living people
American music video directors