Quin Mathews Films

10/28/2024

At a time when the objective press is stressed and pulled beyond any time in my experience, I am proud to report it's alive and well at UT Austin. I spent all last week doing filming for a documentary for 2025 on the 125th anniversary of America's most honored student newspaper, The Daily Texan. Now reduced to just two print days a week, the paper has taken up the old wire service motto that the deadline is always now.

Here the managing editor and top editors go over the budget for the night's print deadline. I was impressed. The number one story was early voting, on campus and in Austin. Number two was a story about the debate over the city's police budget. The hundreds of students who staff The Daily Texan are an inspiration to me and proof that solid, fair news coverage is out there. Just look for it and read it, wherever there's a news outlet you can support.

I'm inspired by the commitment to get all the facts and get them straight.

The Daily Texan shaped me and thousands of others. It's still doing the job. I'll keep you posted on this project.

08/02/2024

New book on radio treasure WRR comes out on Monday. Kristi Nedderman, assistant Dallas city curator, did an outstanding job on the station's history, coming up with many things I hadn't known. Sharon Benge and I were honored that Kristi asked us to do the foreword.

https://www.arcadiapublishing.com/products/9781467161749/?queryID=e4e5c320808c09150975495d3091aed8&objectID=9781467161749&insightsIndex=arcadia-publishing_products

07/15/2024

Am I the only one who missed this notice?

07/03/2024

When Lloyd Doggett speaks, it pays to listen. He employed me as his press aide 51 years ago in his first political race, and although I haven't seen him in years, we met daily back then, if not more often, and I learned how he makes decisions. He is smart and always informed. I would take his assessment seriously.
https://www.texastribune.org/2024/07/02/lloyd-doggett-joe-biden-withdraw-election/

07/01/2024

God save the King.

Your vote counts. Today's regalist Court is the direct result of the election of three presidents: Bush, Bush, and Trump. What you do in November counts.

06/14/2024

06/12/2024

I'm honored to be included in a show opening next week at Erin Cluley Gallery in Dallas called "Petite Moments." Twelve artists have been invited to contribute small works. Mine are four triptychs with 4x4" images, non-editioned, so they're one of a kind.. A sample is below.

The opening is June 22. I'll post more info later.

Here is the full list of artists in the show:

"LEXA BROOKS (Madrid, Spain)
KRISTA CHALKLEY (Chicago, IL)
DU CHAU (Dallas, TX)
DREA COFIELD (New York, NY)
JARRETT MIN DAVIS (Boston, MA)
RILEY HOLLOWAY (Dallas, TX)
TAMARA JOHNSON (Dallas, TX)
QUIN MATHEWS (Dallas, TX)
SHELBY MEIER (Philadelphia, PA)
NNA MEMBRINO (Dallas, TX)
BEN MUÑOZ (Dallas, TX)
NIC NICOSIA (Dallas, TX)
SARITA WESTRUP (Dallas, TX)"

05/19/2024

I didn't hear mention in the obits of fine actor Dabney Coleman his starring role in a CBS network movie set in Dallas in the mid 80s. Coleman played defense attorney Edwin Sigel, who in real life got a new trial and acquittal for Lenell Geter, an engineer wrongly convicted of a robbery.

The show employed probably half the actors and crew people in Dallas, including me in several scenes as an unnamed Morley Safer. I was briefly out of a job and happy to have four days of work on the film.

I was meeting with WFAA news director Marty Haag when I got a call from the film's casting director, who wanted to know my minute-to-minute whereabouts. I told Marty I had to take a call from CBS, which gave us both a good laugh. I started at WFAA that week.

The big three networks, as we called them, frequently came to Dallas to shoot movies of the week. At the time, Dallas had three big equipment houses, lots of soundstages, union crews, and a strong SAG chapter. The production business has changed in the last forty years, but Texas continues to have a great community of talent.

05/17/2024

Many thanks to Jeremy Spracklen for the great HD transfers of my childhood home movies from the 1960s that made up a key part of the film "City of Hate." Jeremy's attention to detail brought out the sense of Dallas at the time of President Kennedy's assassination. The films will continue to be part of the Sixth Floor Museum's archive, and now the vivid HD transfers will also. I was so impressed I've had Jeremy transfer all my old home movies, including some with sound from the early 1980s. Film lives—even on video!

05/11/2024

Here's to the best agent in the USA, Mary Collins, on the 40th anniversary of being the new kid in town. She signed me in 1987 or 88—my brain click right that far back—and took a chance on a youngish guy who needed a broadening of opportunity. Mary was even younger than I was, and she made it a practice from day one the stick to the highest ethics and have the best people in the business.

Mary guided me through Walker, Texas Ranger, a weird French/Spanish/Italian production with Martin Sheen, countless corporate productions, and after I quite on-camera work, hundreds of voice-overs, the latest celebrating fifty years of D/FW Airport. Her performers are seen around the world, and she has made Texas a center for talent in the industry.

Congratulations Mary and team, Kim Trusty (on the left), Sara Rhodes (right), and Alice Galipp (hidden thanks to the bad photographer—me).

04/27/2024

Thanks to all of you who showed up for the screening of City of Hate last night at the Dallas International Film Festival. It was sold out. (And special thanks to Bart Weiss, our executive producer, who prodded me to make this film in a personal way.).

Ticket holders: We're up for an audience award, so please vote should you be stirred to do so!

This link should get you there.
https://diff2024.eventive.org/tickets

04/25/2024

Thanks to Thérèse Powell of KERA listing "City of Hate" as one of the "can't miss picks" at the Dallas International Film Festival.

"What it’s about: City of Hate reveals what Dallas was like 60 years ago when President Kennedy was about to visit the city. It's told by people who lived through it, including the filmmaker, who saw Kennedy just before the assassination, a documentary 60 years in the making.

"When to see it: Friday, April 26, 5 p.m. at Violet Crown Theater - Auditorium 2
Q&A with the filmmaker follows the screening.

"Why you should see it: There are many documentaries, feature films and books about the assassination of President Kennedy but few address how Dallas became known as the “city of hate,” a moniker that would take decades to shake. Filmmaker Quin Mathews chronicles the acrimonious atmosphere in Dallas leading up to the President’s visit here and how the city healed after his death."