Matt H. Mayes - Director
At 16, Matt Mayes was awarded a scholarship to The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. After graduating, he exhibited in galleries in London, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Alongside his art practice, he ran education programs, at the Mountain School of Arts, and the Museum of Contemporary Art and taught art and technology at Otis College of Art and Design.
In 2007, Mayes was commissioned to produce a public installation in Guadalajara, Mexico. Around this time his work shifted towards documentary and narrative filmmaking. His short films with Democratic presidential candidate, Senator Mike Gravel, were awarded ‘best director’ and ‘best political video’ from Vanity Fair, and hailed by the New York Times as the ‘first avant-garde video featuring a presidential candidate’.
In 2008, he began collaborating with the Los Angeles Poverty Department (LAPD), a theater group made up of principally homeless people from Skid Row, Los Angeles. He traveled to Bolivia to direct Agentes y Activos, a film exploring how the LAPD’s performative art catalyzes discussions between various communities affected by and involved in the drug trade.
His recent short narrative film, ‘Aurora Borealis’, premiered at Slamdance 2011, and continues to screen at prestigious film festivals internationally. It was recently awarded ‘Best Short’ at Big Apple Film Festival 2011.
Ahsen Nadeem - Producer
Mr. Nadeem was born in Saudi Arabia, migrated to Pakistan during the Gulf war and spent his formative years in Ireland. After graduating from the prestigious Queen’s University of Belfast, he worked in London, producing interactive commercials for advertising and music clients such as BBC, MTV, Nickelodeon, Adidas and Warp Films, Mercury Records and Universal Records,
In 2007, Nadeem relocated to Los Angeles where he art directed socially conscious campaigns for clients such as Los Angeles Times and Oprah Winfrey Networks. In 2008, he worked with Participant Media, producing videos and interactive media promoting social outreach programmes for films such as The Cove, Fair Game, Casino Jack, Food Inc, Informant and The Soloist.
Recently, he produced the award winning short film Aurora Borealis, in competition at Slamdance Film Festival, Seattle International Film Festival, Los Angeles Shorts Film Festival, Galway Film Fleadh and many more.