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Jon Matthews, (born September 1, 1977) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. He is best known for his documentary, Surviving Cliffside, which premiered at the 2014 South by Southwest Film Festival, "When Industries Collide: SXSW 2014 Courtney Sheehan". Sense of Cinema. June 2014 and for "Black Dog, Red Dog" a film he co-directed with James Franco.
Matthews attended West Virginia University, and there was exposed to a wide variety of film styles. He studied Sociology and took classes on feminist theory, and race and gender stratification in society. He was active in civil rights groups on campus.
Matthews enrolled in West Virginia University's College of Law in 1999. There he started an American Civil Liberties chapter and re-formed the National Lawyers Guild chapter at the law school. He graduated in 2002.
Four years later Matthews was hired at a private firm, where he continued to do civil rights cases. Also during this time, Matthews became Legal Chair of the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia, coordinating their legal docket and litigating cases himself, including a religious discrimination case, where a Mormon student was denied a state-funded scholarship. "Mormon regains Promise Scholarship". West Virginia Public Broadcasting, December 7, 2007.
Matthews became the Legal Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut and went to live in Hartford. He represented the free speech rights of a hunger striker, the religious freedoms of death row inmates, and advocated for same sex marriage and LGBTQ rights. "The Pick List: This Week's Recommended Events". Seattle Weekly, Oct 28 2014
During this time Matthews also played steel guitar in a country band.
After graduation, Matthews moved to Los Angeles, where he has written several feature films, television pilots, and commercials. In 2013, he and actress Abby Wathen started a kickstarter campaign to raise funds for one of their projects. "Local actress, director hope 'Unlovable' finds love". Gazette Mail, Bill Lynch, May 10, 2013.
During the summer of 2014, Matthews made a commercial for Castrol GTX Motor Oil. He also made a commercial for Chevrolet 4G LTE, which won second place in an international contest sponsored by MoFilm.
In the fall of 2014, Matthews programmed the inaugural Appalachian Queer Film Festival in Lewisburg, West Virginia. The festival, which he co-founded with activist Tim Ward, featured two films from Sundance and the Grand Jury winner from South by Southwest.
In 2015, Matthews began filming a feature film, Khali the Killer. "Heeeeeere’s Jon Matthews!". Huffington Post, Kay Smythe 11 September 2015
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