During October and November of 2004, award winning independent filmmaker Matt McCormick will be touring the country presenting "From Tugboats to Polar Bears," a collection of short films he has made over the past five years that is being released on DVD by the Peripheral Produce video label. Matt's work blurs the line between documentary and experimental filmmaking, and fashions abstract and witty observations of contemporary culture and current issues.
The touring program, which roughly mirrors that on the DVD, will feature the premiere of two new films, including Towlines (22 min, 2004), an experimental documentary that explores the role of the tugboat in modern society and features an original soundtrack by James Mercer (front-man for the widely popular band The Shins). Also making its debut on the tour will be Grounded (5 min, 2004), a cinematic portrait of heavy industry and urban wildlife. Other titles featured in the collection include American Nutria (11 min, 2003) which examines the calamitous saga of an imported rodent(and narrated by Calvin Johnson), Sincerely, Joe P Bear (4 min, 1999) which uses found footage from the 1960's to contemplate how polar bears deal with heart- break, and Matt's signature film The Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal (16 min, 2001), an experimental documentary that makes the observation of how theprocess of destroying one art form unwittingly creates another. Matt's work has screened in film festivals, galleries, and D.I.Y. art spaces around the globe, appeared on MTV and the Sundance Channel, and has received positive reviews from the likes of The New York Times and Film Comment magazine. Matt has worked and collaborated with many artists and musicians, including The Shins, Miranda July, The Postal Service, and Calvin Johnson.
Matt has had three films screen at the Sundance Film Festival, and has received awards including Best Short Film from the San Francisco International Film Fest, Best Experimental from the New York Underground Film Fest, and Grand Prize from the Media City Film Fest. His film `The Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal' was also named as one of the `Top 10 Films of 2002' by both The Village Voice and Art Forum magazine.
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