Matthew Lessner
Matthew Lessner | |
---|---|
Matthew Lessner at the Sundance 2014 Awards Ceremony | |
Born | Walnut Creek, California |
Nationality | American |
Occupation | Filmmaker |
Notable work | Darling Darling, By Modern Measure, The Woods |
Matthew Lessner is an award-winning independent filmmaker.[1]
Biography
Born in Walnut Creek, California,[2] Lessner was raised in Roseburg, Oregon, where he attended Roseburg High School.[1][3] He graduated in 2005 from Chapman University, where he studied film.[4]
Short films
Lessner's directorial debut was the 2005 short film Darling Darling starring Michael Cera, which screened at over 30 film festivals worldwide [5] including the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, Comedia, and the Ann Arbor Film Festival where Lessner won the Tom Berman Most Promising Filmmaker Award.[6] The film is included on the sixth issue of Wholphin DVD magazine with alternate audio versions by John Cleese and Daniel Handler.[7] Darling Darling was included the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival's Retrospective 2014: the twenty-first century American short films.[8]
Lessner's second short film, By Modern Measure, premiered at South by Southwest[9] and screened at 30 film festivals [10] including the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.[11] In January 2011 the Sundance Institute released "By Modern Measure" on The YouTube Screening room as part of its Sundance Film Festival Classics series.[12]
His third short film, Chapel Perilous featuring Sun Araw was an official selection at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival [13] where it won the Short Film Audience Award.[14] The film premiered internationally at the Stockholm Film Festival.[15] In March 2014 Chapel Perilous was selected as a Vimeo Staff Pick.[16]
Feature films
In August 2008, Lessner began work on his first feature film The Woods, which was filmed in the woods around Lookingglass, Oregon.[1][3] The Woods was invited to world premiere at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.[17] The film made history as the first film to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival that used Kickstarter for production financing.[18] The Woods premiered in New York at the BAMcinemaFest held at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.[19] The Woods premiered internationally at the Cologne Conference in Cologne, Germany.[20]
In August 2011, Lessner was awarded a San Francisco Film Society and Kenneth Rainin Foundation Filmmaking Grant for screenwriting in support of feature film tentatively titled Terror Tuesday.[21] In May 2012, Lessner was awarded an additional San Francisco Film Society and Kenneth Rainin Foundation Filmmaking Grant for development of the feature tentatively titled Terror Tuesday.[13][22]
Music videos
Lessner directed the music video for the Dirty Projectors' single "Stillness is the Move" which was ranked one of the best music videos of 2009 by Stereogum.[23][24] He also directed the video Fool's Gold's "Surprise Hotel".[25]
Web
Lessner directed and produced several videos for BBC Collective with bands including Black Dice and The Fiery Furnaces.[26][27][28]
In 2011 Lessner created and directed the web series "Make a Friend" for the French website Konbini.[29][30][31]
Music
Lessner contributed lyrics to 6 of the 8 tracks on Lydia Ainsworth's debut album Right From Real, which was released on Arbutus Records in 2014 and was a shortlist nominee for the Juno Award for the Electronic Album of the Year.[32][33] Additionally he directed the music video for Ainsworth's single Malachite, which Stereogum voted video of the week in June 2014.[34][35][36][37]
Lessner has collaborated with Cameron Stallones of Sun Araw who contributed to the soundtrack for The Woods.[38] In 2009 they released Sun Araw featuring Matthew Lessner - In Orbit through stunned records.[39]
Lessner and his younger sister Sophia Lessner have collaborated on a musical project called Masons . They released their first tape In the Basement of the Temple through Stunned Records in 2008.[40]
Other work
In the spring of 2008 Lessner worked as an intern for syndicated news program Democracy Now! [41]
Filmography
Year | Title | Format |
---|---|---|
2005 | Darling Darling | Short Film |
2007 | By Modern Measure | Short Film |
2011 | The Woods | Feature Film |
2013 | Chapel Perilous | Short Film |
(unknown) | Terror Tuesday | Feature Film |
Music videos
Year | Song Title | Band | Label |
---|---|---|---|
2009 | "Set in Stone" | Fires of Rome | The Hours Records |
2009 | "Set in Stone" M83 Remix | Fires of Rome | The Hours Records |
2009 | "Stillness is the Move" | Dirty Projectors | Domino Records |
2009 | "Surprise Hotel" | Fool's Gold | IAMSOUND Records |
2009 | "Last Dance" | The Raveonettes | Vice Records |
2009 | "Early Warnings" | Foreign Born | Secretly Canadian |
2010 | "Forgive Me" | Le Loup | Hardly Art |
2010 | "World News" | Local Natives | Frenchkiss Records |
2010 | "Neverest" | Hey Champ | Townie Records |
2012 | "Marathon Runner" | Yellow Ostrich | Barsuk Records |
2014 | "Solo Wallet Shuffle" | Sun Araw | Drag City |
2014 | "Malachite" | Lydia Ainsworth | Arbutus |
Other
Year | Subject | Title | Format |
---|---|---|---|
2010 | Dirty Projectors + Björk | Mount Wittenberg Orca I, II, III, V VI | Album Trailers |
2011 | Explosions in the Sky | "Last Known Surroundings" | Video Installation |
References
- 1 2 3 Pallone, Cara (July 31, 2008). "RHS Grad to film locally". The News-Review. Retrieved 2009-10-18.
- ↑ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2038227/
- 1 2 "Utopia Unplugged". Film Stew. August 1, 2008. Retrieved 2009-10-18.
- ↑ Dodge College alumni make Sundance debut
- ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0481503/releaseinfo?ref_=tt_ql_9. Missing or empty
|title=
(help) - ↑ Everleth, Mike (August 16, 2007). "Darling Darling". Underground Film Journal. Retrieved 2009-10-18.
- ↑ "Wolphin No. 6". Wolphin: A DVD Magazine of Unseen Films. Retrieved 2009-10-18.
- ↑ http://www.clermont-filmfest.com/index.php?m=213&c=178&n1=c&n2=%20&n3=1023&annee=2014&id_prog=100000182. Missing or empty
|title=
(help) - ↑ "Film Screening - By Modern Measure". South By Southwest. March 2007. Archived from the original on October 7, 2008. Retrieved 2009-10-18.
- ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0939597/releaseinfo?ref_=tt_ql_9. Missing or empty
|title=
(help) - ↑ "Film Screening - By Modern Measure". Sundance Film Festival. January 2008. Retrieved 2009-10-18.
- ↑ http://www.sundance.org/press-center/release/sundance-institute-youtube-and-acura-to-make-12-short-films/
- 1 2 http://filmguide.sundance.org/film/14045/chapel_perilous
- ↑ http://www.sundance.org/festival/stories/award-winners/
- ↑ http://www.stockholmfilmfestival.se/en/festival/2013/film/chapel_perilous
- ↑ https://vimeo.com/89202310
- ↑ "Film Screening - The Woods". Sundance Film Festival. December 2010. Retrieved 2010-12-03.
- ↑ Miller, Daniel. "SUNDANCE: How 'The Woods' ' Unique Financing Model Could Shake Up the Festival". The Hollywood Reporter.
- ↑ http://www.bam.org/view.aspx?pid=3268
- ↑ http://www.cologne-conference.de/en/reception/sections/look/the-woods/
- ↑ http://sffs.org/content.aspx?catid=22,37&pageid=2348
- ↑ http://sffs.org/content.aspx?catid=22,37&pageid=2927
- ↑ Breihan, Tom (July 16, 2009). "Director's Cut: Dirty Projectors: "Stillness is the Move"". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 2009-10-18.
- ↑ http://stereogum.com/104541/best_music_video_2009/the-gummy-awards/. Missing or empty
|title=
(help) - ↑ Breihan, Tom (September 24, 2009). "Video Premiere: Fool's Gold: "Surprise Hotel" (New Version)". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 2009-10-18.
- ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/collective/A28857856
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpAPGMiL4xQ
- ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/collective/A32131171
- ↑ http://www.konbini.com/fr/lifestyle/make-a-friend-michael/
- ↑ http://www.konbini.com/fr/lifestyle/make-a-friend-ethan/
- ↑ http://www.konbini.com/fr/lifestyle/make-a-friend-vivian/
- ↑ Exclaim! Magazine
- ↑ Juno Awards
- ↑ http://pitchfork.com/features/rising/9517-lydia-ainsworth/
- ↑ http://www.stereogum.com/1708804/album-of-the-week-lydia-ainsworth-right-from-real-2/franchises/album-of-the-week/
- ↑ http://www.allmusic.com/album/right-from-real-mw0002703802
- ↑ http://www.stereogum.com/1686063/lydia-ainsworth-malachite-video/video/
- ↑ http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/listen_sun_araws_neil_young_cover_thrasher_from_sundance_film_the_woods
- ↑ http://www.discogs.com/Sun-Araw-In-Orbit/release/1970311
- ↑ http://stunnedrecords.blogspot.de/2008_11_01_archive.html
- ↑ http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/archives/sundance_11_matthew_lessner_talks_debut_feature_the_woods/#
External links
- Monte Lomax Productions
- RODS Films
- Matthew Lessner at the Internet Movie Database
- Collected Music Videos of Matthew Lessner
- The Woods Teaser 1
- The Woods Teaser 2