A Quote by Matt Barr

I think I've found my passion in life. I'm going to direct a couple of short film on hiatus. That's what I really want to do. — © Matt Barr
I think I've found my passion in life. I'm going to direct a couple of short film on hiatus. That's what I really want to do.
I want my kids to have passion for life, to really have a passion for life. I think when you have a passion for something, you can overcome obstacles, if you float through life without having anything to hold on to or get you fired up emotionally and to focus on, I think it's really hard to overcome things.
What you learn when you direct a film, even more so than as a producer, it's a marriage. It's like a relationship with that film so you've got to make sure that it's really something that you want to live with for three years or however long it is. So I haven't found the right thing to marry yet.
We had this idea, and I think a lot of people did going in, that you can make some short film and it's going to get industry attention and that's going to be your thing. And it was only later on at school that we realized that's very rare that a short film is going to capture the attention of anyone.
I think the power of the short film is incredibly underrated. It is way easier to get someone to watch a 15-minute film then a full-length feature. In those 15 minutes you have the opportunity to express your voice as an artist and hopefully connect with your audience. If you are trying to be a first time feature director then a short film that demonstrates you have a grasp on the themes and concepts of the movie you want to direct is a no-brainer. Whether they are collaborators or potential investors, filmmaking is a visual art form so you obviously need visuals to show them!
I'm an actor who loves to direct film, if I find something that I'm compelled to do and want to spend three or four years doing. I really love the process, though. I might have to just say, "Yeah, I want to direct that," because I want to direct something, but that's just not the way my being is. It's got to be a necessity for me, otherwise I'll just keep acting.
What I want to do is make things that I think people want to watch. I'm a film fan, so I think I'm in touch with other film fans and that they might want to watch stuff. The other reason I really don't care is because no matter what you do in life, no matter what you wear, or what you say, people are going to like it or they're not. And that is all. Everything, down to the socks I chose today - people are going to like them or they're not and there's nothing you can do about that.
It's not my ambition to direct lots of films. I think if I direct one film in my whole life, why rush it?
I do want to direct, eventually. I don't know if it will be a short film or a music video or a feature, but I know that I want to at least try it and see.
You can do a short film in three to four days, and then you can show it. Look at the careers you seen go either through Tropfest or outside of Tropfest. You can make a short film in a couple of days, and if it's great, it can go in the Internet or go to a film festival like this one or another.
I was writing short films and I was going through this really, really, really terrible end of a relationship that I didn't want to be going through. It was too much for me to process and all of a sudden I had this idea for my first feature film and I knew right away I had to start writing it.
To be a film director is not a democracy, it's really a tyranny. You're the head of the project, for better rather than worse. I write the film and I direct the film, I decide who's going to be in it, I decide on the editing, I put in the music from my own record collection.
I started as a short filmmaker and found that one of the toughest challenges was getting your film to be watched. I would enter it in competitions and release it online, but getting a mainstream theatre-going audience to view the film is difficult.
Well I'm Superman, just not action. I'm kind of looking for something with a lot less action and more talking and listening. I also have a film that's premiering Vegas Film Festival, short film, directed by Joel Kelly, it's called Denial and it's a story, short film, 35 mm short film and it's about a man's struggle to choose between the woman of his dreams and his reality, so it's definitely different than Superman. So I'm really proud of that.
I did short film with Damian Lewis from Homeland, that was a really incredible experience. He's one of the best actors I've ever worked with. Even though that's a short film for Jaguar that's really, in essence, a commercial, it didn't feel like it, at all.
Life is short, youth is finite, and opportunities endless. Have you found the intersection of your passion and the potential for world-shaping positive impact?
In film school, I knew I wanted to be a director, but I found out pretty damn quickly that nobody was just going to hand me a script to direct.
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