// MATTHEW MISHORY ~ Director and Writer
"Like all of my films, PORTLAND is about outsiders."
Filmmaker Matthew Mishory studied film theory and screenwriting at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he was a Regent Scholar and Golden Reel Award recipient. His work has been shown at major film festivals and art galleries in London, Reykjavik, New York, Toronto, Seattle, São Paulo, and Bucharest. Having recently wrapped principal photography on Joshua Tree, 1951: A Portrait of James Dean, he is currently prepping PORTLAND.
In 2009, Matthew directed Delphinium: A Childhood Portrait of Derek Jarman, a stylized and lyrical coming-of-age portrait of legendary painter, filmmaker, and activist Derek Jarman's artistic and sexual awakening in post-War England.
Delphinium combines a stylized multimedia aesthetic with documentary interludes, painterly Caravaggio-lit sets with live locations, and historical fact with imagination. Part biographical narrative, part experimental collage, and part personal meditation on the most controversial and important modern British artist, the film finds in Jarman's childhood the stirrings of personal and creative epiphany that inspired a remarkable life.
Filmed on stages and across the UK with the participation of Keith Collins, Jarman's surviving muse, it also includes segments taken on location at Prospect Cottage, Dungeness, and in Jarman's unconventional shingle garden, one of the most famous in the world. Delphinium features an original score by Arban and Steven Severin, co-founder of Siouxsie and the Banshees. The film continues to screen at dozens of festivals around the world after its UK premiere at the Raindance Film Festival in London. It received the Eastman Kodak Grand Prize for Best Short Fim at the 2010 United States Super8 Film and Digital Video Festival.
Previously, Matthew's short film Nick and Kate screened in competition at Filminute 2008, one of twenty-five selections culled from a field of nearly two thousand by a jury that included two-time Oscar winner Paul Haggis and top German film critic Andrea Dittgen. He also recently directed the commissioned marriage equality piece The Marionettes (shot entirely with miniatures), an official selection of the 2010 Newport Beach International Film Festival.
In September 2009, Matthew traveled to Iceland, where he was invited to participate in the RIFF Transatlantic Talent Laboratory, a program held in conjunction with the film festival and intended for young filmmakers preparing to direct a first feature film. Master class instructors included Cannes award winners Giorgos Lanthimos, Jessica Hausner, and Joao Pedro Rodrigues, and Oscar nominee Friğrik Şór Friğriksson.
Bringing a stylized sensibility to narrative filmmaking, Matthew works primarily in mixed media. His writings on film criticism and international cinema history have been published in the Focus Media Journal, housed at MOMA in New York City, and in Glitterati Magazine.
Official Website: www.matthewmishory.com