Matthew Jones is a junior Torrey Honors Institute student attending Biola University majoring in Cinema and Media Arts. In June 2006 Jones completed Be the Man, which was filmed during his freshmen year at Biola. The film, awarded the 2006 DGA Student Film Award: African-American, has screened at festivals across the country including the Urbanworld VIBE Film Festival and the Black Harvest International Film Festival in Chicago.
In the summer of 2006, Jones worked with FGW Productions under executive producer Stephanie Frederic. With Frederic, Jones did PR work at the 2006 BET Awards and was an Associate Producer on a BET special for the film Miami Vice. Because of this work, he was hired as a writer and producer for the Idlewild BET special. In the summer of 2007 Matthew was a Disney/ABC Production Intern on ABC’s General Hospital. That same summer he interned at Cooke Pictures as a script reader/production assistant. In the Fall of 2007, Matthew was an intern with Warner Bros TV at New Deal Productions as an assistant to the Head of Television Programming, Kelly Goode.
His latest production, Choices, was shot on Super 16 film with film donated from Kodak as part of the Kodak Emerging Filmmaker Grant, part of the DGA Award. His passion is to become a professional director/producer/writer who crafts stories with a purpose.
- Choices (2007) Director, Writer (post-production)
- Smooch (2007) Director
- Outkast Goes to Idlewild: The Rebirth of Cool — TV (2007) Writer, Producer
- Deep Undercover with 'Miami Vice' — TV (2006) Associate Producer
- Be the Man (2006) Director, Writer, Executive Producer
- Distracted (2005) Director, Writer, Producer
- Separating Affect (2004) Director, Writer, Producer
Be the Man Awards and Nominations:
Directors Guild of America Student Film Awards, 2006
Won: Best African-American Film — West Coast, Matthew Jones
Urban Media Makers Film Festival, 2006
Honorable Mention: Best Short Film
San Francisco Black Film Festival, 2006
Nominated: Best Student Film
Independent Black Film Festival Screening, 2007
Nominated: Best Short Film
Be the Man Screenings and Competitions:
- San Francisco Black Film Festival (June 2006)
- Martha's Vineyard African-American Film Festival (August 2006)
- Urban Mediamakers Film Festival, Georgia (October 2006)
- International Student Film Festival, Hollywood (November 2006)
- Directors Guild of America Student Film Awards (November 2006)
- SE Manly Short Film Showcase, BHERC (December 2006)
- Independent Black Film Festival Screening, Georgia (March 2007)
- Del Rey Beach Film Festival, Florida (March 2007)
- Urbanworld VIBE Film Festival, NYC (Summer 2007)
- Roxbury Film Festival, Boston (Summer 2007)
- Black Harvest International Film Festival, Chicago (Summer 2007)
Distracted Awards and Nominations:
NAACP ACT-SO (LA Branch), 2005
Won: Gold Medal, Matthew Jones
International Student Film Festival Hollywood, 2005
Won: Best Socially Relevant Teenage Drama
studentfilmmakers.com Summer Shorts Contest, 2006
Top 10 Finalist
Distracted Screenings and Competitions:
- Amazon.com Tribeca Film Festival Short Film Competition
- LA and National NAACP ACT-SO Competitions
- San Francisco Black Film Festival (June 2005)
- Martha's Vineyard African-American Film Festival (August 2005)
- International Student Film Festival Hollywood (November 2005)
- SE Manly Short Film Showcase (BHERC) (November 2005)
- Black Soil Film Festival, Amsterdam (December 2005)
- Distracted Television Screenings
- Nachtpodium on VPRO in Amsterdam (November 2005)
- BETJazz Short Film Program (April 2006)