Matt Kieley

Matt Kieley is an independent filmmaker, born and raised in Bakersfield, California. From age two, his grandmother, an avid film lover, took Kieley and his older sister to movies frequently, which sparked his love for movies at an early age. He always knew he wanted to make movies, and at age 10, decided to finally do it. However, neither he, nor any of his friends, or their parents, had a camera, so his dream would have to be put on hold. But, in the year 2000, the universe, and his parents, entered the new millennium and purchased a Hi8 camcorder, and so he made his first film; a slasher movie parody. And it was terrible, but Matt Kieley continued to spend his adolescence making movies and honing his craft. He spent his weekends as a teenager making bad horror movies and comedy shorts with his friends. In school, he would take any opportunity to turn in a movie instead of a paper. During his senior year of high school, he made a movie based on "King Lear" for his English class, which turned out to be a hit among his peers. His English teacher passed the film around to other teachers, who would show the movie in their classes. Soon, younger students he didn't even know would stop him in the hallways between classes and tell him how much they liked the movie. It was his first taste of a real audience response. The next year, six of his short films played at a local film festival, the Bakersfield Independent Film Festival. The films played favorably, and were written about by local writer N. L. Belardes. That was 2006, the year Kieley decided to make a feature film. He wrote a 130 page screenplay titled "Seeing Red"; a gritty revenge film involving alcoholism, mistaken identity, and amnesia. He wrote four drafts, and even held auditions for the film, but the project ultimately fell apart when he couldn't find the cast he needed. Kieley was in a temporary funk about the film, and his work in general. That fall, he discovered the films of John Cassavetes, which changed him as a filmmaker. He read "Cassavetes on Cassavetes" and soon gained a new perspective on cinema. He was introduced to the concept of honesty in storytelling, as well as stories of everyday people, and our triumphs and tragedies. He began writing a semi-autobiographical screenplay in September of 2006, shortly after his 19th birthday. Nearly two years, ten drafts, and several failed attempts later, he began shooting the film: his first feature "Carte Blanche" is the story of the complicated relationship between a heartbroken artist and a filmmaker. Produced on a budget of $2,000 from February-March 2009, the film was completed in late 2009, and released online in 2010, and screened in Bakersfield, CA to positive reactions. He hopes to continue to make more personal, micro-budget character-driven films.