Bio
Juan Luis Matos (b. Havana, Cuba) is a multidisciplinary artist and filmmaker based in Miami, FL. He studied at the Hochschule für bildende Künste in Hamburg, Germany and received his BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. He is a member of Third Horizon, a film collective that hosts an annual film festival in Miami, and he is a four time Suncoast Regional Emmy Award Winner. He is a 2022 MacDowell Colony fellow and currently an artist in residence at the Bakehouse Art Complex in Miami, FL. His films have exhibited at DOC NYC, Blackstar Film Festival, New Orleans Film Festival, and Miami Film Festival, among others. His work with the Institute of Queer Ecology has exhibited at the Kestner Gesellschaft in Hanover, Germany as well as the Everson Museum in Syracuse, New York.
Juan is the top prize recipient for the 2022 Knight Foundation Made in MIA Award at Miami Film Festival for his short film, 'You Can Always Come Home'. He is currently a 2024 Cinematic Arts resident at Oolite Arts working on his debut feature film. His work is in the collection of Indiana University Black Film Center & Archive and the MacDowell Library.
You Can Always Come Home
2021 | USA | 6 mins | English
Written, Directed, and Edited by Juan Luis Matos
Original Poetry by Arsimmer McCoy and Reginald O’Neal
Produced by Monica Sorelle
Executive Produced by Germane Barnes
Cinematography by Javier Labrador Deulofeu
Music by Dion Kerr
Sound Design by Joel C. Hernandez
Color by Javier “Bilu” Coello
You Can Always Come Home explores the domestic realm through the eyes of young children in Miami. The film was commissioned by architect Germane Barnes for the 2021 Architectural League Prize: Housekeeping.
Narrated with poetry by Arsimmer Mccoy and Reginald O'Neal, the film highlights the joy, ritual, family, love, celebration, and culture that is made in the home.
New Orleans Film Festival
Miami Film Festival
BlackStar Film Festival
Key West Film Festival
Trinidad+Tobago Film Festival
Afrikana Film Festival
Cucalorus Film Festival
Official Latino Film and Arts Festival
Exhibitions
INTERSECTIONS, National Building Museum, Washington, DC
Rosie’s Fare: Germane Barnes, Oolite Arts, Miami Beach, FL
Things We Do in the Dark: Cinematic Experiments in Kinship, Express Newark, NJ
Architectural League Prize: Housekeeping, Virtual
Miami Film Festival, Knight Made in MIA Award, First Prize
Collections
Indiana University Black Film Center & Archive
MacDowell Fellowship
Press
Deadline
Eater
2022 | USA | 7 mins | English
Written, Directed, and Edited by Juan Luis Matos
Produced by Amanda Bradley
Executive Produced by Oolite Arts
Cinematography by Javier Labrador Deulofeu
At the intersection of his grandmother’s death and the redevelopment of the public housing project his family has lived in for generations, artist, community advocate and father of three, Roscoe B. Thicke III reflects on his childhood in the Pork n’ Beans projects and the influences behind his work.
Screenings
DOC NYC
New Orleans Film Festival
Miami Film Festival