Matthew Harrison (born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

) is an American television and

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

, producer and writer. He first came to prominence when his feature film ''

Rhythm Thief ''Rhythm Thief'' is a 1994 independent drama film directed by Matthew Harrison. The standard 16mm black-and-white feature was made for US$11,000 and was awarded a Special Jury Recognition for Directing at the Sundance Film Festival. It was g ...

'' was awarded Special Jury Recognition for Directing at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

. His first studio feature ''

Kicked in the Head Kicked in the Head were a ska punk band founded in Boston, Massachusetts in the mid-1990s. Known for Halloween shows with Big D and The Kids Table, the band signed with the label run by Big D, Fork in Hand Records, and released their debut album ' ...

'' was executive produced by

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominatio ...

and released by

Universal Studios Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

. He directed episodes 1X11 and 1X12 of HBO's ''

Sex and the City ''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy, romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO. An adaptation of Candace Bushnell's Sex and the City (newspaper column), newspaper column and 1996 book anthology of the ...

''.

Early films

Harrison attended

PS 41 Public School 41, Greenwich Village School, is a public elementary PreK–5 neighborhood catchment school. Founded in 1867, P.S. 41 is located in Greenwich Village in Manhattan, New York City. In 1957, the old PS 41 was torn down and replaced by a ...

in downtown Manhattan where he began making 8mm films at age nine. During the 60's, 70's and 80's, Harrison made 8mm and S8mm short films. His first public screening of a film was a 1971 screening of his short S8mm film ''Mission: Preposterous'' with an accompanying audio track played using a

Wollensak Wollensak Optical was an American manufacturer of audio-visual products located in Rochester, New York. At the height of their popularity in the 1950s and 1960s, many brands of movie cameras came with a Wollensak Velostigmat lens. Wollensak reel ...

¼" tape recorder at the Ocean Bay Park Volunteer Fire Department. He completed his undergraduate studies at

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...

school of art in New York City. Harrison's 34 minute S8mm film ''

Apartment Eight ''Apartment Eight'' is a 1987 Lower East Side comedy short film by director Matthew Harrison, which won ''Best Comedy'' at the 1988 New York Film Festival Downtown and the ''Mystic Fire Independent Film Award'' at the 1989 Ann Arbor Film Festival ...

'' won ''Best Comedy'' at the 1988 New York Film Festival Downtown, was included in

Anthology Film Archives Anthology Film Archives is an international center for the preservation, study, and exhibition of film and video, with a particular focus on independent, experimental, and avant-garde cinema.Ann Arbor Film Festival The Ann Arbor Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Ann Arbor in the U.S. state of Michigan. Established in 1963, it is the fourth-oldest film festival in North America (after the Yorkton Film Festival, 1947; Columbus International Film ...

. In 1989 his 27-minute 16mm short film '' Two Boneheads'' screened at the Salzburg, Austria Film Festival and was an award winner at the 1990 Long Island Film Festival.

Film Crash

In 1985 Harrison launched a film festival in the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally an im ...

, adopting the name Film Crash in early 1988. He was joined later that year by film directors Karl Nussbaum and Scott Saunders. Film Crash grew, playing in venues such as

Performance Space 122 Performance Space New York, formerly known as Performance Space 122 or P.S. 122, is a non-profitable arts organization founded in 1980 in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan in an abandoned public school building. Origin The former eleme ...

and the

Angelika Film Center Angelika Film Center is a movie theater chain in the United States that features independent and foreign films. It operates theaters in New York City, Texas, Washington, D.C., California and Virginia. Its headquarters are in New York City. Histor ...

. The festival inaugurated awards in 2014.Eric Norcross, "Film Crash 2014 Award Winners", ''Renegade Cinema'', October 20, 2014

Films for theater

During the 1980s and 1990s, Harrison was also a contributing member of the experimental theater group Ridge Theater, producing and directing films for several theater productions, including ''

Jack Benny Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky, February 14, 1894 – December 26, 1974) was an American entertainer who evolved from a modest success playing violin on the vaudeville circuit to one of the leading entertainers of the twentieth century with ...

'' at

La Mama La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club (La MaMa E.T.C.) is an Off-Off-Broadway theatre founded in 1961 by Ellen Stewart, African-American theatre director, producer, and fashion designer. Located in Manhattan's East Village, the theatre began in the ...

in 1988 and '' The Manson Family'' opera at

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...

in 1990.

Feature films

In 1992 Harrison's first feature film '' Spare Me'' was awarded the Prix Tournage at

Avignon Film Festival The Avignon Film Festival (created 1984), also known as the Avignon/New York Film Festival or Rencontres Cinématographiques Franco-Américain d'Avignon, took place every year in Avignon, France along with a twin film festival organised in New Yo ...

. He used the cash award from this prize to finance his second feature film ''

'', which was awarded Special Jury Recognition for Directing at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival. He directed his feature ''

'' for

October Films October Films was a major U.S. independent film production company and distributor founded in 1991 by Bingham Ray and Jeff Lipsky as a means of distributing the 1990 film '' Life Is Sweet''. A series of mergers and acquisitions began when Un ...

in 1997. Kicked in the Head was executive produced by

, premiered in the Directors' Fortnight

section of the 1997

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

and was released theatrically by

. On June 28, 2006, Harrison premiered his feature film '' The Deep and Dreamless Sleep'' at the

Television

He directed

episode 7 Episode 7 may refer to: * '' Star Wars: The Force Awakens'' also known as ''Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens'', a 2015 film * Episode 7 (Humans series 1), 2015 episode * "Episode 7" (''Twin Peaks''), 1990 episode * "Episode 7" (''Tá ...

of ''Popular'' for The WB Television Network and the television show ''

Dead Last ''Dead Last'' is an American fantasy comedy-drama television series, produced by Warner Bros., and aired on The WB from August 14 to September 25, 2001. It starred Sara Downing as Jane Cahill, Tyler Labine as Scotty Sallback, and Kett Turton ...

'' for Warner Brothers. According to InkTip.com, Harrison recently optioned the screenplay from screenwriter Anthony Keep, for the original pilot episode of the 30-minute television sitcom "SHOE DOGS".

Producing

In 2002 Harrison executive produced Mark Christensen's debut feature film '' Box Head Revolution''. In 2006 Harrison executive produced Ben Rodkin's debut feature film '' Big Heart City'' starring

Seymour Cassel Seymour Joseph Cassel (January 22, 1935 – April 7, 2019) was an American actor who appeared in over 200 movies and television shows, and had a career that spanned over 50 years. Cassel first came to prominence in the 1960s in the pioneering in ...

and

Shawn Andrews Shawn Cornelius Andrews (born December 25, 1982) is a former American football offensive lineman who played for the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the University of ...

Short films

Harrison has continued to direct short films. His S8mm short '' The Bystander From Hell

screened at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival and the 1998 Toronto International Film Festival. His S8mm short film ''

Puke Vomiting (also known as emesis and throwing up) is the involuntary, forceful expulsion of the contents of one's stomach through the mouth and sometimes the Human nose, nose. Vomiting can be the result of ailments like Food-poisoning, foo ...

'' screened at the 1999 New York Underground Film Festival. His 16mm short film ''

Wrist In human anatomy, the wrist is variously defined as (1) the Carpal bones, carpus or carpal bones, the complex of eight bones forming the proximal skeletal segment of the hand; "The wrist contains eight bones, roughly aligned in two rows, known ...

'' screened at the 2000 New York Underground Film Festival and the Bronwyn Keenan Gallery. His short ''

Hey Vendor Hey or Hey! may refer to: Music * Hey (band), a Polish rock band Albums * ''Hey'' (Andreas Bourani album) or the title song (see below), 2014 * ''Hey!'' (Julio Iglesias album) or the title song, 1980 * ''Hey!'' (Jullie album) or the title s ...

'' screened at the 2009

Slamdance Film Festival The Slamdance Film Festival is an annual film festival focused on emerging artists. The annual week-long festival takes place in Park City, Utah, in late January and is the main event organized by the year-round Slamdance organization, which als ...

Music videos

Harrison has directed music videos for

Lee Curreri Leonard Charles "Lee" Curreri (born January 4, 1961) is an American actor and musician, most known for his work in the film, '' Fame'' (1980) and its television spinoff, '' Fame'' (1982–1987). Life and work Curreri was born in New York City, in ...

Travis Rush Travis Benjamin Rush is a country music singer from Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington ...

, Evan Clayburn's band Anse

and the Norwegian band Alexandria Quartet.

Teaching

Harrison has taught film at

CalArts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of bot ...

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees. Leade ...

West Los Angeles College West Los Angeles College (West L.A. College or WLAC) is a public community college in Ladera Heights, Los Angeles County, California. It is part of the California Community Colleges System and the Los Angeles Community College District. It is acc ...

Culver City High School Culver City High School is the main public high school of the Culver City Unified School District (CCUSD) in Culver City, California. It was established in 1951. The school's colors are blue and silver, and the mascot is the centaur. As of 2021, it ...

and

UCLA Extension Writers' Program UCLA Extension Writers' Program is a unit within UCLA Extension, the not-for-profit and self-supporting community outreach arm of the University of California, Los Angeles. Located in the Westwood Village area of Los Angeles, the UCLA Extension W ...

References

External links

*
Film Crash website

Ridge Theater website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harrison, Matthew 1959 births Living people People from Greenwich Village People from the Lower East Side Screenwriters from New York (state) American male screenwriters Screenwriting instructors Film directors from New York City Educators from New York City