I am a filmmaker from West London. I read English Language and Literature at University College, Oxford.

My first film, a short documentary called Under the Shadow of Rhodes, explored the 'Rhodes Must Fall' movement in Oxford. It featured David Olusoga OBE.

My next film was a fiction short, The Pacifist. It tells the true story of John Fulljames, an Oxford student during WW2 who, while claiming conscientious objection, shot and murdered a fellow student. The Pacifist was selected for the Oxford University Film Festival 2023.

The Breath of Bones (2025) is a psychological drama about a cursed painting that turns a young woman's world upside down, forcing her to confront the sins of her national and familial past. It takes place in Paris, and is grounded in the Nazi Occupation and the stolen art trade of WW2. It was selected for the Belfast Film Festival 2025, Minute Shorts and Euroshorts Poland.

More recently, I have being making more experimental narrative shorts. One is about photographer Man Ray's muses and fragmentation (selected for Belfast Film Festival 2026), and another is based on poet JH Prynne's essay A Note on Metal. My most recent is Animal Spirits, a playful exploration of the connection between John Maynard Keynes' colourful personal life and his innovations in economic theory. 

Day to day, I am an English tutor to students young and old.

matthew@hardyfilm.com

+44 7720 834 558