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 the producer for Masisi Radio, an online radio centering Black, Queer, and Caribbean voices. He was a 2025 Cité Internationale des Artes Resident in Paris, France, 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, and he is a four time Suncoast Regional Emmy Award Winner. His work has been exhibited at David Castillo Gallery, Tunnel Projects, Walter McBean Gallery, Express Newark, Kestner Gesellschaft and the Everson Museum,.
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.