Matt Graham is a Writer Director that has made several award winning short films. He has been making engaging short films since 2007. His subjects have ranged from gangsters and child Abduction, to gay parents with straight children. Matt has a knack for finding interesting stories and telling them in intriguing ways. But with the restrictions of a full time job and the delicacy of balancing relationships and time with the desire and drive of film making, Matt knows all too well how hard the film making process can be.

Matt Graham started his film making journey in his 30’s with an animation course and discovered he hated animation but loved the idea of telling a story.That was when he bit the bullet and decided it was now or never and started on the hard road of making films.

His first short was Billy. The story of a straight kid with two gay fathers for parents.

I had no idea how to make films or what a directory really did. Suddenly I found my self on set with 20 people staring at me (Including the DOP) asking “so what do you want chief?” it was the scariest moment of my life.

Balancing the parts of his life, be it Film Making, Relationships or Work, can be a real challenge, according to Matt. He currently works full time in the telecommunications industry and has to fit production around his work and social requirements. The biggest hurdle for many film makers out there is the huge time requirements production has. The short film ‘Uncle Don’ was purposely done on a smaller scale with a much smaller set up, making use of the Canon 5D, to avoid the the hassles of a bigger production.

With several Short Films behind him and some success with awards and festivals, Matt is conscious of the hard road it has been and the distance to go. Looking to the future, Matt is wondering if there is the correct ecosystem in Australia to peruse a career in film making, if there is, is there is much more benefit to making yet another short film, or whether that same level of effort and time can be better put towards getting a feature film moving.

Matt is determined to keep moving forward with his Film Making adventure and is currently developing a feature film script based on the character Uncle Don from the short of the same name. He is also taking the time to consider the prospect of walking away from his full time job to pursue the goal of Feature Film director full time.

Check out some of Director Matt Graham’s work bellow:

Billy was Matt Graham’s first Short Film, shot in 2007.

Rosy & Me won the ACS Cinematography award in 2010.

Uncle Don was shot over two nights on the 5D using a much smaller crew in 2010.

If you have any questions for Matt, leave them in the comments below and we will be sure to hit him up for more info.

You can find Matt Graham’s website here.