Matt Finlin | |
|---|---|
| Born | |
| Occupation | Filmmaker |
| Notable work | The Movie Man |
Matt Finlin is a Canadian documentary filmmaker, [1] who is partners with Karen Barzilay in the Door Knocker Media film studio. [2] He is most noted for his 2024 film The Movie Man [3] and his 2025 film Matter of Time. [4]
Born and raised in Cambridge, Ontario, [1] he earned an Honours degree in Psychology from the University of Guelph, followed by a Bachelor of Education from the University of Ottawa. After graduating, he worked as an English as a Second Language teacher in Taiwan, [5] where he directed The Glass Box, a short film exploring Taiwan's betel nut trade. [6] He later moved to New York City, where he released Below New York (2011), a documentary capturing the lives and performances of the city's subway buskers, in 2011. [7]
Finlin founded Door Knocker Media in 2014 with producing partner Karen Barzilay. With the company, he worked as a director and producer of television specials and sponsored films for charitable organizations, including We Day specials, [8] and a posthumous tribute special to actor Leslie Jordan. [9]
The Movie Man, his feature documentary debut, premiered in February 2024 at the 39th Santa Barbara International Film Festival, [10] and had its Canadian premiere at the Kingston Canadian Film Festival. [3] The film received a Vancouver Film Critics Circle award nomination for Best Canadian Documentary at the Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards 2024. [11] Pete Hammond of Deadline dubbed the film "a Canadian Cinema Paradiso." [2]
In 2025, Finlin released Matter of Time at the Tribeca Festival. [12] The film profiles Eddie Vedder's series of fundraising concerts to raise money for research into a cure for epidermolysis bullosa. [13]