Melanie Meadows (a fan) says...
I have been a fan of the films of the very talented award-winning film director and writer Matthew Marshall for years. Since my teenage years, I saw such films as "Reflections" and "Choices" through school and the health unit. Matthew’s award-winning film list reads like chapters in my life. From teenage rebellion through drinking and drugs to living with addictions because of that rebellion, to being bullied by people at school, to living on the streets and selling myself for money, to being pulled into prostitution and eventually into human trafficking, to teenage pregnancy and finding freedom and peace in my life. To being too connected to a cell phone or mobile device and not focusing on real relationships in life. I have lived it all and each is a film that Matthew has done.
He brings a reality to his productions that for someone that has had life experiences similar to his films can feel almost too real. It both scares me and brings me tears of sorrow and joy to see these films on screenplay out. But yet not one of his films is based on my personal story and he has not come to me for insight. That is what to me makes his films that much more powerful. To know he tells stories that I relate to, yet my story has ever been told on screen through Matthew’s films. It profoundly strikes me. He creates these films that touch people deeply going through real-life events and things that his films are about. It’s like he is in my mind. Yet he doesn’t know my story until I tell him how much he touches me with his stories.
Matthew’s company of m & s Marshall Productions has a tag line about “Capturing real-life in drama.” That is something most certainly that happens when you watch a production done by him. He invokes emotions from crying to anger, to joy with what he presents on screen. He creates discussion and conversation that allows people to share thoughts and feelings that they may not have otherwise shared. Because he opens the dialogue.
It’s not hard to understand why Matthew and several of his associates working with him have productions that have won a large number of awards as they are touching people on a real and personal level with their work. People identify with the stories they are telling and through them, he is changing lives. Especially the lives of youth and young people. These films are not only changing lives of the people that see them, but Matthew and his group are changing the lives of those that are in the film as they learn new life lessons, and are gaining experience, having fun and having opportunities to be a part of films and the film industry through working with this team on productions and in doing so earn film credits.
Due to life circumstances, I will never be on the screen to act out what I have gone through and I let very few people in close enough to tell my story. Yet through Matthew’s productions and the stories told by the people he is associated with, my struggles are lived out and discussed and brought into the light for the world to see. Matthew is a true "Social Justify Advocate" for the marginalized and those that have no voice. I am proud to know Matthew and I look forward to each new film he and his associates release to see the journey they have embarked on and how they tell a story that I know people will relate to on a profound personal level.
Melanie Meadows
FM-MM-17-10