Matthew "Matt" Porterfield (born October 6, 1977) is an American

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...

. He has made four feature films to date, '' Hamilton'' (2006), ''

Putty Hill ''Putty Hill'' is a 2010 American independent drama film directed by Matthew Porterfield, and starring Sky Ferreira, Zoe Vance, and James Siebor. The plot focuses on friends and family who gather to remember a young man in the aftermath of his dea ...

'' (2011), '' I Used to Be Darker'' (2013) and '' Sollers Point'' (2017). ''Putty Hill'' and ''I Used to Be Darker'' had their international premieres at the

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...

. All of his features have had their local premieres at the

Maryland Film Festival The Maryland Film Festival is an annual five-day international film festival taking place each May in Baltimore, Maryland. The festival was launched in 1999, and presents international film and video work of all lengths and genres. The festival ...

Life and career

Porterfield was born in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; ...

, and had formal training at the

Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the a ...

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, ...

. He teaches screenwriting and production in the Film and Media Studies Program at

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consiste ...

. His low-budget debut feature, ''Hamilton'', made on 16 mm film with a cast of non-professional actors from Baltimore, proved a "minor miracle", wrote Richard Brody in

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issue ...

. The magazine went on to tag the film as "the most original, moving and an accomplished American independent film in recent years". Considered a sleeper hit, Porterfield's ''Putty Hill'' again reverted to his hometown as the film revolves around a small working class community in Baltimore city. The film was critically acclaimed for combining documentary and narrative traditions into a lyrical study of memory and loss. It was featured in the 2013

Whitney Biennial The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art, typically by young and lesser known artists, on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, United States. The event began as an annual exhibition ...

. His 2013 feature, ''I Used to Be Darker'', conceived as a melodrama, showcased his ability to bring "melancholic tones" to life on the celluloid. The screenplay was co-written by Amy Belk and starred musicians Ned Oldham and Kim Taylor alongside newcomers Hannah Gross and Deragh Campbell. It premiered at The

2013 Sundance Film Festival The 2013 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 17, 2013, until January 27, 2013, in Park City, Utah, United States, with screenings in Salt Lake City, Utah, Ogden, Utah, and Sundance, Utah. The festival had 1,830 volunteers. Films A re ...

and was released commercially in the United States, France, Germany, Austria, and South Korea. Porterfield made his first narrative short, ''Take What You Can Carry'', in

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

in the summer of 2014. It premiered in the Berlinale Shorts Competition in 2015. His next feature film, ''Sollers Point'', premiered at

San Sebastián International Film Festival The San Sebastián International Film Festival ( SSIFF; es, Festival Internacional de San Sebastián, eu, Donostia Zinemaldia) is an annual FIAPF A category film festival held in the Spanish city of Donostia-San Sebastián in September, in ...

in 2017.

Filmography

* 2006: '' Hamilton'' * 2010: ''

'' * 2013: '' I Used to Be Darker'' * 2015: ''Take What You Can Carry'' (short) * 2017: '' Sollers Point'' * 2021: ''Cuatro paredes'' (short)

References

External links

*
Lecturer page at Johns Hopkins University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Porterfield, matthew American filmmakers Artists from Baltimore 1977 births Living people Park School of Baltimore alumni