Matthew Puccini (born c. 1992/1993) is an American filmmaker. He is known for his short films that deal with LGBT-related subject matters.[1] These include The Mess He Made (2017), Marquise (2018), Dirty (2020) and Lavender (2019). His films have played at several festivals including Sundance, SXSW, Aspen Shortsfest, Palm Springs ShortsFest, and Outfest Los Angeles. His work has also been featured on Topic and The Huffington Post.[2][3][4][5][6]
Matthew Puccini | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1992 or 1993 (age 31–32) |
| Alma mater | New York University (BFA) |
| Occupation(s) | Director, Producer, Writer, Editor |
| Years active | 2010–present |
| Notable work | Lavender (2019) Dirty (2020) |
| Website | http://www.matthewpuccini.com |
Life and career
editPuccini grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2015, while attending New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, he made his first film as writer and director, Solo, which starred Tommy Nelson and Matthew Mindler. It earned Puccini the King Award for Screenwriting at NYU’s First Run Film Festival and won the 2017 Golden Reel Award for Best Student Film at the Tiburon International Film Festival.[7][8]
After graduating from NYU in 2017, Puccini made his next film, The Mess He Made, which showed the experience of waiting for the results of an HIV test through the eyes of a man, played by Max Jenkins.[9][10] The film premiered at SXSW in 2017, where it became a finalist for the Iris Prize. That same year, Puccini became a member of the 2017 New York Film Festival Artist Academy, a Richie Jackson Fellow at Tisch School of the Arts and a Creative Culture Fellow at the Jacob Burns Film Center. He then produced two more short films, Stumped and Marquise, the latter of which was acquired for streaming by Topic Studios.[11]
In 2018, Puccini was named a Sundance Ignite Fellow.[12] He created a Kickstarter campaign to fund Lavender, which he then produced later that year, starring Michael Hsu Rosen, Ken Barnett and Michael Urie. The film premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for both the festival's Short Film Grand Jury Prize and Vimeo’s Best Drama of 2019, and won the Here Media Award for Best Queer Short Film at the Provincetown International Film Festival. Its distribution rights were acquired by Fox Searchlight Pictures after its Sundance premiere.[13]
In 2020, his next film, Dirty premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for the Jury Award for Best Short Film. The film was screened virtually at SXSW due to the COVID-19 pandemic,[14] where it was nominated for the Grand Jury Award for Narrative Short and received a Special Jury Award for Acting.[15][16] It then went on to play at BFI Flare, Outfest Fusion, Atlanta Film Festival and the Palm Springs ShortsFest.[17][18] In October 2020, the film's streaming rights were acquired by The Criterion Channel.[19]
In 2024, Puccini and Lavender co-producer Casey Bader participated in the Creators Market at that year's Tribeca Festival to pitch what they hope will be Puccini's feature directorial debut.[20]
Personal life
editPuccini lives in Los Angeles.
Filmography
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | A Fiberglass Affair | Editor | Narrative short |
| 2014 | Do Us Part | Editor | Narrative short |
| 2014 | Anchovies | Editor | Narrative short |
| 2015 | Backyard Portal | Editor | Narrative short |
| 2015 | Solo | Director, writer | Narrative short |
| 2016 | Where People Hide Away | Editor | Narrative short |
| 2016 | Burning Child | Editor | Narrative short |
| 2017 | The Mess He Made | Director, producer, writer | Narrative short |
| 2017 | Stumped | Director, writer, editor | Narrative short |
| 2018 | Marquise | Director, writer, editor | Documentary short |
| 2019 | Lavender | Director, writer | Narrative short |
| 2020 | Dirty | Director, producer, writer | Narrative short |
| 2021 | Queer/Elder | Director | Documentary short |
| 2022 | Starfuckers | Executive producer | Narrative short |
Awards and nominations
editFilm festival awards
edit| Year | Festival | Film | Award | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | NYU First Run Film Festival | Solo | King Award for Screenwriting | Won | |
| 2017 | Tiburon International Film Festival | Golden Reel Award for Best Student Film | Won | ||
| SXSW Film Festival | The Mess He Made | Grand Jury Award for Narrative Short | Nominated | ||
| Sarasota Film Festival | Grand Jury Prize - Narrative Short Competition | Nominated | |||
| 2019 | Sundance Film Festival | Lavender | Grand Jury Prize - Short Film | Nominated | |
| Sarasota Film Festival | Grand Jury Prize - Narrative Short Competition | Nominated | |||
| SXSW Film Festival | Grand Jury Award for Narrative Short | Nominated | |||
| Provincetown International Film Festival | Here Media Award - Best Queer Short Film | Won | |||
| 2020 | Sundance Film Festival | Dirty | Grand Jury Prize - Short Film | Nominated | |
| SXSW Film Festival | Grand Jury Award for Narrative Short | Nominated | |||
| Palm Springs International ShortFest | Best LGBTQ+ Short | Nominated | |||
| Montclair Film Festival | Fiction Shorts Competition | Nominated |
References
edit- ^ "Matthew Puccini". Filmmaker Magazine. 27 August 2019. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
- ^ About – Matthew Puccini
- ^ Alumni Spotlight - Matthew Puccini – NFFTY
- ^ Matthew Puccini
- ^ Sundance: Fox Searchlight Buys ‘Lavender’ With Michael Urie – Variety
- ^ "Michael Urie Heads Gay Throuple in Evocative Fox Searchlight Short 'Lavender' – Watch". IndieWire. 2019-05-15. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
- ^ "2016 Wasserman Awards". NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Retrieved 2020-12-25.
- ^ "2017 Golden Reel Awards". Tiburon International Film Festival. Retrieved 2020-12-25.
- ^ "Watch This Short Film on the Terror of HIV Tests, 'The Mess He Made'". www.advocate.com. 2017-12-01. Retrieved 2020-12-25.
- ^ "'High Maintenance' Star Max Jenkins Sheds the Laughs in Poignant Short Film About Waiting for an HIV Test – Watch". IndieWire. 2017-12-01. Retrieved 2020-12-25.
- ^ "Fox Searchlight acquires Matthew Puccini's 'Lavender' Short Film". The Wrap. 2019-01-25. Retrieved 2020-12-25.
- ^ "Sundance Institute Announces 2018 Sundance Ignite Fellows". Sundance Institute. 2019-01-25. Retrieved 2020-12-25.
- ^ Torch Song’s Michael Urie and Michael Hsu Rosen Reunite in Short Film Lavender at Sundance | Playbill
- ^ "2020 Sundance Preview: 10 Must-See Short Films in Park City". IndieWire. 2020-01-23. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
- ^ "The 2020 SXSW Film Festival Announces Jury and Special Awards". SXSW. 2020-03-24. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
- ^ "SXSW 2020: Best Short Films Streaming Online". The Young Folks. 2020-05-09. Retrieved 2020-06-03.
- ^ "Palm Springs ShortFest Selects 2020 Films". Palm Springs Life. 2020-06-05. Retrieved 2020-06-05.
- ^ "Take a look: ShortFest announces lineup of 332 short films". Palm Springs Desert Sun. 2020-06-04. Retrieved 2020-06-05.
- ^ "October 2020 Programming on the Criterion Channel Announced". Criterion Cast. 2020-09-24. Retrieved 2020-12-25.
- ^ Dunn, Jack (2024-06-04). "Tribeca Festival 2024 Reveals Creators Market Participants (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 2024-06-28.