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Remembering Matt on TakePart Live
- Posted on 4th Feb
- Category: news
Through what feels like a wonderful stroke of luck, we were invited to come on Pivot TV's TakePart Live show to talk about the film. After hanging out in the dressing rooms, enjoying the free snacks, going through hair and makeup so we're not super shiny, and enjoying the fun live taping, we were on the air! We had a great chat about Matt with the hosts. We're so grateful to have had this opportunity to come on TPL and spread the word about the film and the work of the Matthew Shepard Foundation.
Everyone was so incredibly kind and helpful, and we had a really great time. Thanks so much to the great TPL team for being so nice, making us feel so welcome, and making live TV feel not so scary. And extra thanks for the free mug:)
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A Little Kickstarter Shout-out
- Posted on 23rd Jan
- Category: news
During an IDFA Q&A with Pat Aufderheide, Director Michele Josue gives a nice shout-out to our many Kickstarter supporters who helped make MATT SHEPARD IS A FRIEND OF MINE a reality. We're looking forward to bringing the film to more audiences! Check out the video clip.
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Words of wisdom
- Posted on 20th Jan
- Category: news
"I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear." -Martin Luther King, Jr.
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A Letter to Matt by Francesca Caparas
- Posted on 16th Jan
- Category: news
Dear Matt,
I still remember when I first heard about what happened to you. I was in AP English class and our teacher, Ms. Hamblin, told us what those two men had done. At that time you were still in critical condition; it wasn't until the following week that Ms. Hamblin told us you had died. We had been reading Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead that week, and the news of your death struck me as equally surreal. To live in a world where something so brutal could happen: how did life become so irrational, so absurd?
Since your death, many stories have been told about you by different people. The people who knew you very well—your mom, Michele, Nikki, Zeina—have told powerful stories about you. And then there are people who did not know you but who have been moved by your story. To be sure, there are many stories that have been told and many stories left to tell. If I were to write my own story about you, I would try to include all the little details I remember.
I remember the way the saliva gathered at the corners of your mouth when you talked. I remember the big Doc Marten boots you used to wear that made your legs look even skinnier than they were. (Of course, it was the 90's so everyone was wearing Doc Marten boots then.) I remember the time you tried to surprise our friend, Nikki, and I totally ruined it by giving it away. You got so angry at me, and I remember how you stomped your big Doc Martened foot as a sign of your frustration. I never got a chance to apologize; I didn't even know how big of a surprise I had ruined. I didn't know that you had left school a few weeks prior because you had been through your own personal hell. I didn't know that you had just gotten back to school that day and this was the first time Nikki was going to see you. When you covered Nikki's eyes and told me not to tell her it was you, I quickly blurted out your name. I was a rebellious teenager and in my ignorance I thought it would be funny to give you away. But when I saw the way Nikki's face lit up at the sound of your name, I realized this had been no ordinary surprise. She looked as if she had just witnessed a miracle, and I had stupidly robbed it of some of its magic. I've always regretted my actions that day because years later you went through another hell, but this time you didn't come back. I never had a chance to redeem myself, to let you surprise Nikki again with a miraculous return. I've always wanted to say I'm sorry for ruining that first surprise. Maybe that's why I'm writing a letter, rather than a story.
I could have written a story, but this letter is how I choose to keep your memory alive. However, even though this letter is addressed to you, I should be honest and tell you that I'm not writing it entirely for you. I'm writing it for my students, too, and I hope you don't mind if I share it with them. Yes, I'm a teacher now. In the years since you've passed—years filled with facts and fictions and memorials and laws, all in your honor—I've gone to school, become a teacher, and now I teach my own English classes. My classes focus on social justice, and what surprises me every year is how fewer and fewer students have actually heard your story. When we discuss civil rights, often my students have little knowledge of the actual people who sacrificed their lives, sometimes unwillingly like yourself, in order to secure rights for others. That's what made me realize I needed to write this letter. I saw your story slipping out of our collective memory, and I knew I had to do something.
In my English composition classes I have my students write letters: to themselves, to me, to their relatives. I use it as a way to instill in them an awareness of their audience. Through the letter-writing process they have to envision their reader, to be conscious of what the reader knows or needs to know about the topic being discussed. So in writing this letter, I have had to envision you. I've had to draw from the things we shared, the things we knew about each other, and the things we might still teach each other. And in choosing the words to fill that space between what we know and what we still want to share with each other, I feel like I might have found something that had been slowly slipping away.
Writing a letter means being part of a conversation, and I'm keeping your memory alive by having this conversation with it. This is what I'll teach my students when I show them this letter. Then I'll encourage them to maintain their own dialogue with your memory. I want your story to be part of their story. I want them to know you and remember you so that one day when they are writing a letter to someone who has changed their lives, then maybe...maybe, they'll think about that time in English class when they heard about what happened to Matt Shepard.
Wishing you a peaceful rest,
Chesa
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Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine by Heidi Clemmer
- Posted on 14th Jan
- Category: news
Matt is a very dear friend of mine and I miss him more than words can say. Matt's mother and my mother are cousins and very good friends. They lived in Wyoming and we lived in California, so we didn't see each other very often. And even though there is photographic evidence that we had previously been mischievous together, I don't recall hanging out with him until I was 11... Matt was 13. The whole family gathered in Cody, WY to celebrate my grandparent's 50th wedding anniversary.
When I first saw Matt on that trip (I can't believe I am admitting this), I was bummed that we were cousins. He was so sweet and CUTE... Gosh, was he cute. Call it a crush, whatever, he was fun to be around and I instantly loved him. We caught snakes and played imaginative games while the adults did the talky talky drinky drinky thing that grown-ups do. We had a blast together!
Before our journey home, we went to Thermopolis for a stinky swim. I understand now the uniqueness of the hot springs, but then I just remember the natural water smelling too disgusting to swim in. But after we got past the smells and the many jokes, we hit the slides. Matt, being a small guy, thought it would be funny to stop himself in the small blue tube and wait for me. He would always be in a different spot so I never knew where I would slam into him. We would laugh and laugh and shoot out into the pool together. We did this over and over all day long. The pure joy on his face waiting in that blue tube is the image of him that I will hold in my mind forever. I even have recurring dreams about falling down a tunnel or a mudslide and finding Matt waiting there. It's very reassuring.
After that trip, Matt and I became pen-pals. He would send me letters, pictures, and postcards and I would do the same. I remember him asking me to send more pictures of myself because his roommates really liked them. (I think I stopped sending pictures of myself after that.) He would tell me all about the amazing places he was going, and for about 5 years I got pictures from Spain, Switzerland, and Italy. I don't remember exactly what year the letters stopped, but I think it was after his trip to Morocco.
It makes me so sad that I was not there for him in those 4 years we lost touch... those 4 years he needed me most. I often thought of him and told myself I would go see him when I had time. But while attending college in Dallas, I turned on the news and saw that Matt had been killed. I was in shock! Why would anyone hurt Matt? The confusion set in.
This was the first time I had heard, out loud, that he was gay. Of course he's gay. Who cares? I didn't need him or anyone else to tell me. Just like I didn't need to tell him or anyone else that I was straight. It is what it is. You are who you are. Why should it matter? And no one deserves to be tortured because of that... NO ONE!
I clearly remember the moment I knew Matt liked boys. When we were at the hot spring, we walked right through a group of giggling 13 year old girls in bikinis and he didn't take a second glance. At first I thought it was odd, and then we went past some boys and I commented on how cute they were... he blushed and didn't disagree with me. It didn't even phase me. I knew then that he and I had the same type, and that only made us closer. It only got weird when society said it had to be.
I could go on and on about the healing process, the regret, the hurt, the forgiveness, etc. But all I want to do is to remember that smiling face waiting for me in the water slide.-Heidi Clemmer
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Happy New Year
- Posted on 31st Dec
- Category: news
Goodbye 2013!
It's been an amazing whirlwind of a year, and we're looking forward to what the New Year will bring. Wishing you all the very best in 2014!
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We're going to Amsterdam!
- Posted on 27th Oct
- Category: news
We are extremely proud to announce that "Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine" has been officially selected to have its International Premiere at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). IDFA is the largest and arguably THE best documentary film festival in the world, so you can only imagine how excited we are to be invited to this esteemed festival. Having received more than 3,000 submissions, this year's program will include 288 titles (including ours!). Since starting in 1988, IDFA has become one of the most pivotal documentary film festivals on the international cinematic front. This year's festival runs from Nov. 20-Dec. 1.
I have also been selected (along with only 7 other North American filmmakers) to participate in the festival's World Documentary Exchange program. WDE aims to support filmmakers in search of distribution for their film as well as deepen their knowledge of the documentary market. So during my time at IDFA, I will be attending the WDE panel discussions, one-on-one meetings with sales agents and TV buyers, and social networking events. I feel so incredibly lucky to be given this huge opportunity and so much professional support at the festival!
More exciting news: IDFA is programming its very first "Gay Night" on Nov. 27th, in which they will screen "Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine." We are also extremely honored that Judy and Dennis Shepard will be joining us at IDFA towards the end of the festival for our film screenings and post-film discussions.
If you're in Amsterdam (or in the vicinity), we sincerely hope you can join us for our International Premiere! We should be finding out our IDFA screening times shortly and will keep everyone posted. We also have some great upcoming screening events happening nationwide. Coming up this month: Chicago, Sacramento, San Francisco, Pittsburgh (just added!), and Reno.
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The World Premiere of "Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine"
- Posted on 4th Oct
- Category: events
Tonight is the coast-to-coast premiere of Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine. Yesterday we stopped by the Cathedral to take a walk through the space and we met with Richard and Ruth who are organizing the weekend honoring LGBT youth. We are so excited, it's been a long journey to this point and can't believe this is the very first time we are sharing the film with the public. If you are attending one of the screenings, please say 'hi,' we would love to meet our wonderful supporters.
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Our first film tour begins
- Posted on 2nd Oct
- Category: distribution
Since Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine is having its world premiere in both Washington, D.C. and at the Mill Valley Film Festival 36 this Friday, the team is splitting up temporarily. Michele and I are on our way to our hometown of Washington, D.C. for the East coast premiere. We will be jetting off to San Francisco on Saturday to catch the second screening of Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine at the Mill Valley Film Festival 36. And if you're wondering what's in all those bags, they're filled with our new silk screen Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine merchandise. We will be selling our new posters and t-shirts at all of our film screenings.
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Coming soon...
- Posted on 27th Sep
- Category: news
Fresh off the Press!
The silk screen press that is :)
Coming soon to our store:
American Apparel t-shirts in NEW colors: Indigo blue, light blue, and heather gray
Tote bags
Limited edition "Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine" poster & official film poster
Here's a little glimpse:
