Biography

Matt Amato is a director and co-founder with Heath Ledger in the Los Angeles based visual arts collective, The Masses. Amato has directed music videos for a wide range of artists including: Beach House, Bon Iver, Barbra Streisand, Wild Nothing and many other influential artists. Amato returned to his hometown of St. Louis to write and direct his first feature, Never My Love, starring Sheryl Lee, Grace Zabriskie and Jay R. Ferguson. The critically acclaimed romantic drama will have its official release in 2021.

"Amato is a radical filmmaker, willing to make a movie that travels like a river, or unfolds like a piece of music or a real human life, something that seems alien after we've slumped in theater seats, over-dazzling our retinas with exploding cars and exploding planets. He realizes the transformative power of seeing-and not seeing. Of showing the full spectrum of a full human life, with a slice hidden in shadow. That unsettled, mysterious place makes room for the watcher but throws down the challenge to do more than just watch. Is this is a particle, or a wave? it asks. Who are you? What's in your pockets? And what do you see?"
- IMDb mini biography by: Stefene Russell

I was very well aware of the movies Heath wanted to make, because we shared the same values," Amato reflects. "We definitely wanted to make movies for smart women. I think he had his daughter in mind, as well. We hated violence in our culture. We're very against it. We wanted to flip that paradigm and focus on women and love, and chess.

It's about connecting with people. I've had some great opportunities to connect in a very personal way with some of the artists I worked with on music videos. There is that sense of nostalgia, even while you're there, on some music videos. I'm thinking particularly of the family I stayed with in Scotland when I did the Withered Hand video. Or working with Justin out in the woods during the Bon Iver video. Those are very powerful memories for me.