Matthew Kohn

Cinematographer, Director, Editor, Filmmaker, Narrator, Producer, Screenwriter and Videographer

New York City, New York

Member Since:
November 2015

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> 2 weeks ago

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About Matthew

Matt Kohn started his film career after he graduated from Brandeis University; there he received a degree in Politics with minors in Film and Feminist Political Theory, having served as the President of the Student Senate.

The breakout of the Gulf War led to his first documentary film, On Demand: Soldiers for Peace, about conscientious objectors who went to prison instead of fighting, and combat veterans who fired weapons at unseen enemies. He worked for ten years on feature film productions in many positions, including as line producer and AD before switching to post-production and editing.

His first feature documentary, distributed and reviewed in Variety, was Call it Democracy (2004). CID told the story of the Electoral College and the effort to understand and reform the U.S. voting system in the aftermath of Bush v. Gore, the Supreme Court decision which blocked the counting of votes in Florida. It starred Birch Bayh, Vincent Bugliosi, John Conyers, and notably featured Rep. Jamie Raskin as a constitutional law expert. As part of its process, Call It Democracy was the first feature film that used the internet to get a group of filmmakers to shoot original footage. After premiering at the Palm Springs Film Festival, Matt spent two years using the film as an activist and educational tool across the US, from theaters to NYU School of Law to local churches.

In 2014, Kohn was one of the producers of Charlie Victor Romeo, the first 3D feature film to play at the Sundance Film Festival. From 2008 - 2015, he shot a documentary with NBA star Manute Bol, living and dying in his village at the border area between Muslim northern Sudan and Christianized southern Sudan, the near-center of a 50-year civil war.

Matt is also the host and creator of Speakeasy Cinema, a unique monthly film screening event that has been running for 15 years. Matt curates a guest independent filmmaker who he asks to present a film of their choice, but the choice remains a secret from the audience until the lights go low. At the end of each screening, a long and hard debate ensues with everyone in the room. Video and audio of any kind is never recorded during the event, in order to “keep it real” - a real speakeasy.

As a poet, he toured America with his book, Lake Success, in 1996. As a screenwriter, he started in the sixth grade to write many an idiosyncratic short film and feature screenplay. He is prepping the first fiction feature film he will write and direct, using all his accrued experience.