Matthew Reichman – Alexandria

INFO

As an artist, I've always felt I was merely a means through which the world found expression.
I was raised in San Francisco in the Upper Haight Ashbury by a painter-father and a journalist-mother. I initially studied fine arts under Wayne Thiebaud, Robert Bechtle, and Jay DeFeo intending to pursue painting as a career. But something was missing. I moved to New York City, enrolled in an intensive summer film production class at NYU with Brian Winston, a renegade British documentarian. My whole life changed. I felt I'd found my true calling.
While my friends moved into New York University's Graduate Film Program, I opted to study stage directing at the Lee Strasberg Institute. I assisted Off-Off Broadway directors. I focused on dramatic structure and collaborating with actors. I kept my hand in film by rewriting and storyboarding my friends' short films and by working as a storyboard artist and as an art department assistant on the indie circuit. But something was missing.
I moved to Los Angeles and into the USC graduate film program, where I had the good fortune of studying under Robert Estrin and Judy Irola. Happily, two of my class projects, "Loverboy" and "Twelve", fared well on the festival circuit. Tuition validated. Upon graduation, I jumped into advertising as an art director to avoid the wolf at my door. I created commercials and brand stories, and then I met my wife while working on a series of spots for AFIFEST. We married, had a son, and I launched my own advertising studio. But something was missing.
So, I sat down to pursue my true calling and write the story I'd wanted to direct for my first feature. Alexandria.