An Interview with Filmmaker Matthew Harris

A few weeks ago I sat down with East Anglian and Royal Television Society (East) nominated filmmaker Matthew Harris to talk about his 25-year career, his early inspirations as filmmakers, his penchant for the experimental style and advice he’d give to budding filmmakers. Having recently written and delivered an introductory course on Video Art through the Sir John Hurt Film Trust in Norwich, I was interested in finding out what Matthew had to say about these topics. 

I began our conversation by asking what it was that made him want to pursue filmmaking in the first place. “I was lucky […] because in the 1990s there was a wave of independent film that became very popular, providing exposure to alternative viewpoints and storytelling. [I realised] there was a world beyond mainstream cinema, and it excited me and that was where I really wanted to go.” Those fascinating alternatives for Matthew included the likes of Potter’s Orlando (1992), Campion’s The Piano (1993), Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction (1994), Loach’s Land and Freedom (1995) and Lynch’s Lost Highway (1997).  

Despite saying that some of these early inspirations have changed over the years, it is Lynch who has remained a firm favourite for Matthew. “He remained very true to artistic form up until the end. Whether you like him or not, he did exactly what he wanted to do and I really admired that. And that’s why, in the end, you’re not seeing Lynch doing features, he’s doing more short films and working in music and other artistic forms.” In a similar vein, Orson Welles became an inspiration for the way he too stood firm in his filmmaking style, making commercials to fund his films as he faced rejection later in his career. “I’ve taken with me those [filmmakers] that I think were almost unflinching, possibly even failing, but always interested in the leftfield.” It’s clear how important it is to Matthew to, in a similar way, develop his own artistic language and discover alternative meaning through different approaches to film. 

In exploring more about his own short films and his experimental style, I asked what his personal definition of the experimental style was considering it often encompasses many different meanings and interpretations. He said that the ‘experimental’ label is often used on anything that deviates from the well-established norms of narrative and genre. But interestingly for Matthew, his idea of being experimental in his films is by “trying to avoid genre more than narrative. I’m very happy to tell a story from the beginning, middle and end, but then layer that with perhaps something more abstract in terms of visuals.” And his recent short film The Waiting (2025) is a perfect example of this. It’s a documentary short that explores the health problems of a man and how this impacts his family, told through interviews across six minutes. Whilst the narrative it tells is constructed in a simple format, it’s the visuals that stand it apart. His recently RTS nominated short, A Kaleidoscope of Butterflies (2024) also plays with this idea of experimentation and tone whilst developing a clear story: it’s a celebration of the beauty of butterflies but is accompanied by an unnerving tone. This tone is created by an unusual, if not eery, piece of music that makes you question what it is you’re seeing and what you might see next. In this way, Matthew enjoys when audiences might be left feeling off-kilter after seeing his films, having to question whether they liked it or not. 

In an industry that is constantly trying to create the next big commercial hit, it’s a testament to Matthew’s passion for filmmaking when he describes why the experimental film style appeals so much to him. He says that “unconventional filmmaking appeals because it becomes a challenge in a way that you might feel you are trying to be even more original than what is on offer, and to be successful at that and find an audience is very satisfying.” And despite the difficulties in being able to make a living from making such films, Matthew loves that one can make experimental film on a much lower budget compared to mainstream films. This in turn allows for more creative freedom – there are no big producers to please, no audience expectation and no traditional genre or narrative hallmarks one must abide by. 

And whilst experimental film can sometimes give the impression of randomness and that the director has run away with an idea, Matthew is keen to emphasise that for him, his experimental filmmaking process is never random; there is always a process and a deep level of thought behind the ideas for his projects. He describes his process as like working with a sketchbook and taking a concept and building on it. For example, his recent short Home (2025) came from a technical concept of wanting to work with light, prisms and screen material. 

I was also really keen to ask Matthew what kind of role the audience plays when he is making his films versus his own personal vision. Sometimes directors hope a particular message or feeling is taken away from their films by audiences, and I was curious as to whether this applied to Matthew and his experimental films. As I’ve touched on, his film Home focuses on light and prisms, but why call it ‘Home’? Is there a particular feeling Matthew wanted audiences to have when watching the film? Or was it a title that just felt right for him and his vision for the film? “Perhaps, I am leading the audience too much with Home as a title? But as the shapes of light emerged on the canvas it was my immediate thought and feeling. It was very reactionary. Maybe I should have left it blank so the audience could fill it in themselves?…”  

Matthew described that with experimental film, you have the freedom of being able to start with your own concept/vision as opposed to having to think right off the bat about what it is audiences might want to see: “In conventional filmmaking, there’s a constant dialogue between what producers supply and what audiences demand. With experimental work, I find there is freedom to start with a personal vision. Just to develop an idea creatively and intellectually without those immediate commercial pressures, and to complete it to a standard that feels meaningful and worth sharing with an audience.” For Matthew, whilst his process begins with his own concept, the audience gradually becomes an important element because at the end of the day, he still wants people to watch and appreciate his work. With Home, it wasn’t so much as wanting the audience to feel a particular way, but rather question what it was they were supposed to feel. ‘Am I supposed to feel Home as a comfort? What is it I’m supposed to feel?’ It’s a film that creates an unnerving tone despite its ethereal visuals of light. Matthew’s goal is to always provide something original: “there’s so much more we can offer audiences than simply giving them what we assume they want.” 

Given the length of time Matthew has been working as a filmmaker, one of the last things I wanted to ask him was what he thought about the current state of accessibility in the arts/filmmaking for young people: “It’s an ongoing challenge, really. Those from middle-class backgrounds with financial support can weather the uncertainties more easily. They can afford the degrees, sustain themselves in expensive cities like London, and spend time building industry connections. For many of us without that financial cushion, it’s incredibly difficult to sustain yourself through those lean periods. You have to be tenacious and fight to maintain your position in the industry.” 

As in line with wider cultural conversations about this topic, there is clearly still a lot of work to do in order to make the arts not only more accessible but also considered a respectable and meaningful passion to pursue. Matthew adds that a “film education has been fundamentally important to me as a filmmaker, and I think we need to recognise that a film degree can be just as rigorous and valuable as work experience. Developing an appreciation for film means developing a more complex understanding for the visual language which makes cinema.’ 

And finally, the last thing I would like to leave you with is Matthew’s advice to those looking to start a career in filmmaking in Britain: “It is a long game of learning your craft and what it is that you are interested in… the financial rewards are difficult to gain, so you do need to believe it’s something you really want to do. If it is something you really love, then take the time to develop it and don’t feel pushed or panicked if you don’t see results immediately.”  I would second this. 

Check out Matthew's The Blah Blah Company website here.