Discipline: Filmmaking
Artist Statement: I was raised in a Baltimore suburb wild with unkempt hedges, disheveled lawns and porches, yards full of car parts and swimming pools, and a church or a bar on every corner. This neighborhood, located just inside the city line, is the inspiration for much of my work and sets the scene for many of my films. Hamilton, my first feature, was an effort to capture this place on film and examine detail, gesture, time, and movement, while avoiding narrative conventions that exaggerate conflict and restrict story to plot. Hamilton was cast with non-actors, shot and printed on color 16mm with a lush, ambient sound design and relatively little dialogue. Its logic derives from a desire to capture reality without damaging its delicate fabric. I’m inspired by films that maintain an ascetic style of storytelling, yet succeed with vigor and precision at painting rich portraits of human beings in their time, films like Robert Bresson’s "Le diable, problement" and "au hasard, Balthazar", Ken Loach’s "Kes", Pedro Costa’s "Ossos", and Claire Denis’ recent L’Intrus.
Biography:
Matt Porterfield was raised in northeast Baltimore. He moved to New York City at seventeen, studied film for two years, taught kindergarten for three, and remained there for eight before returning home to make HAMILTON, his feature film debut, in 2001. Currently teaching screenwriting and production in the Film & Media Studies Program at Johns Hopkins University, Matt has begun pre-production on his second feature, METAL GODS, about a group of kids living in southeast Baltimore who live and love heavy metal. The project was included in the Emerging Narrative Program at IFP’s 2008 Independent Film Week, where the screenplay won the Panasonic Digital Filmmaking Grand Prize. Matt was a recipient of a media grant from the Maryland State Arts Council in 2006 and was selected this year as one of Baltimore’s “40 under 40” by Baltimore Magazine. His photography can be seen in the latest issue of Locus Magazine (#5) and in the permanent portfolio collection at Current Gallery. Matt lives in Ednor Gardens with his wife Sara, a Baltimore City schoolteacher, and their two cats, Francis and Noah. His favorite numbers are 14 and 23. He has worked as a staff member at the Chameleon Café on Wednesdays since 2002 and has taught classes and workshops at Roland Park Elementary/Middle School, The Park School, Creative Alliance, The Eubie Blake Cultural Center, and The High Road School of Baltimore County.
| Address: | 2111 St. Paul Street Baltimore MD 21218 |
| County: | Baltimore City |
| Home Phone: | 443-326-7206 |
| Work Phone: | 443-326-7206 |
| Fax: | 410 962-1470 |
| Studio: | 3628 Kimble Road Baltimore MD 21218 |
| Studio Phone: | 410 962-1470 |
| Email 1: | brerrab@mac.com |
| Email 2: | brerrab@mac.com |
| Website 1: | www.hamiltonfilmgroup.org |
| Website 2: | http://www.bakerartistawards.org/nomination/view/matt_porterfield/616 |
| Profile: | |
| Works: | View all works by this artist |