they/them
Arts Division
MFA Student
Graduate
Science & Justice Research Center
Kresge College Academic Building
1202A
Film and Digital Media
Matte Hewitt is a filmmaker, writer, and environmentalist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Their work is influenced by research from the fields of natural history, environmental humanities, queer Indigenous studies, integrative biology, feminist science and technology studies. As part of their MFA thesis, Matte is producing a nonfiction film that explores Indigenous knowledges and settlor histories through the trans figure of the hummingbird. They’re also researching military drone technology and biomimicry in relation to hummingbird physiognomy and other winged beings.
Before joining the Social Documentation program at UC Santa Cruz and becoming a Science and Justice Training Program Fellow, their documentary production training began in Philadelphia’s Scribe Video Center, a media center for social change and community empowerment, founded in 1982 by Louis Massiah. There, Matte developed and produced the documentary “With Hope,” a film centering on the experiences of BIPOC and LGBTQ+ people in Philadelphia who reconnect to the outdoors through the act of birding and, by doing so, discover a profound sense of belonging, joy, and hope. Matte holds a BFA in Sculpture from the Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University.
Multispecies Anthropology, Natural History, Conservation Psychology, Queer Indigenous Studies, Participatory Community Media, Essay Film
2024 Robert Leet-Corday Memorial Scholarship
2024 Florence J. French Scholarship
2024 UCSC Soc Doc Summer Fellowship
2024 Ken Corday GROW grant
2022 Independent Creative Production grant
