Matthew J. Abaya
Director/Editor/Writer/Producer/Director of Photography/Actor
Surrealist horror filmmaker, Matthew J. Abaya, is not afraid to expose the true nature of human existence in his work. When he started screening his films to various film festivals across North America, he quickly earned a modest reputation for making some of the most "freaky" and "bizarre" films to hit the indie short film circuit. "Embrace Madness", the filmmaker's third student short and his first 16mm film production, was completed on a shoestring budget and was nominated in Oct 2000 1st aMedia awards for best short film. "EM" was produced while he was attending the City College of San Francisco Film Dept and earning his degree in Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University. With his unique blend of socially consciousness subtext, B-horror antics and cinematic poetry, Matthew challenges his audience to simply "Embrace Madness".
"Embrace Madness" Cast and crew:
Director/Editor/Cinema Photographer
Matthew J. Abaya
Assistant Director
Rosa Lau
Cast
Kelvin Tan
Janet Abaya
Jeffrey Lei
Voice Talents
Xenia
Matthew J. Abaya
Writers
Matthew J. Abaya
Wei Ming Dariotis
Musicians
Jimi Tiw
Mark Abaya
Screening and Television History for "Embrace Madness"
· APAture Film and Video night Oct 1999 World Premiered
· San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival 2000
· Hapa Issues Forum Conference 2000 in Berkeley CA
· Cinema Fest 2000 in Los Angeles
· Seattle Underground Film Festival 2000
· Freaky Film Festival 2000 in Champaign IL
· Chicago Asian American Showcase 2001
· Cal State Hayward's Filipino Film Fest 2000
· PiNoiseTV SF Cable Access Program 2001
· Benefit screening for the 63Collective in NYC Oct 2001 @ the Film Anthology
· Toronto Reel Asian Film Fest 2001
· CineManila International Film Fest 2001 in Makati Philippines
Other Short Films In Circulation:
"EO9066"
(2001, digital animation, 3 min, color)
Experimental short describing the incarceration of the Japanese during WW2.
"[f(x)]"
(2001 US, S8mm on video, 14 min, color, English)
A surreal martial art flick that pairs up a mutant clown with a psychotic cannibal. When their worlds collide, mortal combat ensues.
"Earthworms"
(1998 US, S8mm on video, 18 min, color, English)
Dr. Seeman Lee, worm scientist, slowly begins to loose his mind after the failure of a bizarre experiment.
"HoME: an Experiment in Cinema Poetry by Pin@y Lit Artists"
(2000 US, S8mm, 16mm elusion scratches and DV, 5 Min, color, English and Tagalog Intertitles)
A group of young Pin@y literary artists interpret their personal meaning of "HoME" with a cinematic montage of words, images, and tribal beats.
Also contributed to:
Dan Wu's "[untitled-hitman flick]" - Director of Photography/Co-Producer
Jeffrey Lei's "Take-Out" - Director of Photography/Cameo Acting Role
Rosa Lau's "Insomnia" - Sound Designer
Current projects
Matthew will continue the blood thirsty "Embrace Madness" short film series in cine-poetic horror with the help of the63collective and two dangerously talented Pinay poetesses, re:verse's Leah Taguba ("Passport" 2000 by Don DeLeon) and Barbara Jane Reyes from Pusod. "EM2 [Bampinay]" is currently in preproduction stages, but the production will most likely start in February of 2002. He is also currently writing his first feature length film titled "Duwende" after the Philippine mythological dwarf and seeking funding for a possible feature length documentary on Pacific Front atrocities during WW2.
Inspirations in Filmmaking
David Lynch, Shinya Tsukamoto, John Woo, Lino Brocka, Raymond Red, Ed Wood, Maya Deren, Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Speilberg, Terry Gilliam and Sergei Eisenstein
Links:
"Embracing Matt-ness" - http://asianamericanfilm.com/features/mattabaya.html
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