Time With Ruth Baxter-Tagliatela Award Winner, Matthew Johnson By Ethan Richmond

Since 1981, Shoreline Arts Alliance has championed Scholarships in the Arts, a juried scholarship competition for high school juniors and seniors. In its 44 years, this program has awarded over 400 scholarships to students throughout the 24 towns we serve. This article is the first in a series of interviews conducted with some of our

scholarship winners...

Matthew Johnson is a filmmaker from Old Saybrook, CT who was a Shoreline Arts Alliance visual arts honorable mention in 2021 and a first place scholarship winner in visual arts in 2022. In addition, that same year, his documentary won the Ruth Baxter-Tagliatela award in the Future Choices exhibition. “That was the first award I won for my work,” he said when I asked him about his recognitions from Shoreline Arts Alliance. “Especially for documentary, that is what solidified me to want to do video work for my career.”

His documentary that won titled “Glad to Lend” is about Richard Bourn, an older gentleman from Old Saybrook who has been volunteering to take photos of student athletes for decades. He’s been taking photos since 1981, the year Shoreline Arts Alliance started Scholarships in the Arts. Mr. Bourn also photographs and documents gravesites, connecting people who don’t know where their relatives are buried to their ancestry. “I’ve lived in Saybrook my whole life so I really wanted to do a piece that was going to connect the community together and highlight the special parts of Saybrook.” He explained the scholarships he won from Shoreline Arts Alliance were his motivation to keep working hard. “Since then I’ve continued to do more and more and pushed myself, and because of that I’ve been on track to graduate early.”

Matt is finishing up his third year at the University of Connecticut, and through his dedication, he will graduate this spring. He is pursuing a degree in digital media and design with a concentration in film and video production in the fine arts department. He calls himself a unique example of a film student, as he didn't actually learn a lot technically about camera work in college. He'd already picked up a lot of skills in high school. Instead, he spent his three years learning how to shape, identify, and create stories, and he’s grateful to have met a lot of people passionate about what he does, especially professors. “Education is one thing, but your network is so much more valuable. College has been a playground for me to enhance and hone in on my skills.”

Right now Matt is freelance and has his own LLC, but his goal is to work for a creative agency. He is looking to do more commercial work for his career, though still wants to continue doing work with a documentary narrative focus. Agencies specialize in working business to business, so working under one would allow him to focus specifically on the video work. “It’s what I’m doing now as a freelancer, but it would cut out all of the extra business relations.” In addition, he loves camera and cinematography but he doesn't want to be a director. “My best relationship is when I’m working with a director who has a clear vision of their story, and I can connect that visually and tie it together.” However, Matt has done his fair share of total filmmaking, and to great success.

In high school, other than “Glad to Lend,” Matt made a film called “Pain is Temporary” which won Best Film and Best Cinematography in the 2022 Quiet Corner Film Festival. After graduation he made a documentary called “Just a Piece of Freedom” which won the Bonnie B. Carney Award of Excellence in Communication in 2022 from the state of Connecticut and won first place at the UConn Film Festival in 2024. The film highlighted the stories of students on a mural in Old Saybrook and their diversity of background. He is currently working on his senior project, a documentary about a young fisherman who abandoned traditional higher education to work full-time on his boat. Matt thinks this film is the best video documentary work he’s done, and the story is the longest, taking place over several months. What he told me he’s most proud of thus far is finding a style that really connects with him and the stories he tells. The style is completely observational so there are no formal interviews; the audience discovers who the subject is as a person exclusively through the camera. “The biggest thing for me is when I film things, I'm able to show people the way that I think and the way that I see the world,” Matt said. “Through documentary and especially non-fiction things, the stories write themselves. Sure, you do a bit of directing or in the edit you have the final say of what's shown, but the stories are there. You just have to go and get them. It’s raw and it's real people doing real things. To me, that is the best and most rewarding… The big focus I've had is giving voice to people who don't normally have a lot of representation.” 

His process and vision appeared to me to be unfolding as a sort of ethnography. When I asked him about his research Matt said, “Research is an important term to identify. For me, in documentaries, it’s about meeting people. The real research is getting to know the people who are behind the stories you want to tell… establishing a connection and friendship before making the film… that is where you build the trust to make films. You can't just walk in anywhere and be like ‘I’m going to film this because this is cool!’ No, you have to do your research, which is about relationship building and learning about these people.”

As we neared the end of our conversation, I asked Matt if he had any advice for aspiring filmmakers. After a moment of surprise and contemplation, as he felt he’s usually the one asking others for guidance, he offered some great words of wisdom. First, he said to keep shooting and keep looking for the people and stories who will elevate your projects because you can't do it alone. “Film is the most collaborative art. Your project will always be 1000x better when you're working with people.” Second, he said to seek out the stories that you not only connect with, but that you're truly going to learn from.

“I'm only 3 years out of high school so I'm still personally trying to find my own way,” he concluded. “I still have probably a decade or two more of doing that so I’ve got a long road ahead of me. But I'm excited for it.”