Filmmaker Philosophy & Approach – FAQ

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1. Who is Matan Tal, and how would you describe your work?

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I'm Matan Tal — a filmmaker, writer, and film essayist working primarily in essay film and desktop documentary.

My films are puzzles: intellectually rigorous but playful, serious but full of humor and exploration. I see myself as a bridge between the artist and the philosopher. My goal is to take complex, abstract, or intimidating ideas and make them understood and felt—not in an academic way, but in a lived, experiential way. Something abstract and concrete simultaneously.

I make films for viewers who want cinema that thinks and feels at the same time.

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2. What differentiates your approach as a filmmaker?

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I focus on the invisible. I'm less interested in the image as object and more in rhythm, editing, sound—things that exist beyond the frame. The image often serves something deeper.

Every director is known for something—Stanley Kubrick for imagery, Chris Marker for voiceover, Ernst Lubitsch for humor. What I pursue is the ability to make the invisible visible: to take abstract ideas and give them physical, almost metaphysical presence through cinematic form.

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3. How do you define the modern essay film?

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As I argue in both my films and writing, an essay film is documentary that places subjectivity at its core. It's generated from real life but refuses objectivity, offering instead a personal, intimate perspective—an artist's way of seeing truth rather than claiming it.

The modern essay film, as I practice it, addresses defining questions of the 21st century: technology, memory, digital identity, and how our lives now exist simultaneously in our heads and on screens. These films take an overwhelming abundance of images and condense them into form that allows us to understand each other—and the world—more intimately.

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4. What themes recur across your films?

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One central theme is attempting to communicate with the dead. Sometimes that means the past—which is a form of death, since it no longer exists in the present. Sometimes it's a person, an idea, or an artist no longer physically here.

My films repeatedly try to bring ghosts back into the physical world—to give presence to things that exist only as memory, trace, or residue. This theme appears in The Invention of Chris Marker, My Sister Shira, and The Same Snowy Ground.

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5. What role does voice and authorship play in your work?

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Voice is central. Whether it's my voice, a character's voice, or the voice created through editing and sound, it represents direct thought.

My personal presence is unavoidable—even when I'm not on screen or speaking. Every cut, every sound placement, every framing choice is an act of authorship. This is the only way I'm interested in filmmaking: one artist speaking directly to the audience, like writing or painting.

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6. How do you approach editing in essay films and desktop documentaries?

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I think of editing as staging in time. Many of my films exist across decades, across physical and digital spaces, or between past and present.

Editing and sound allow me to bring things that are no longer there back into physical experience. I used this approach extensively in My Sister Shira and The Same Snowy Ground. For me, editing is how time becomes material.

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7. Who are your main artistic influences?

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In cinema: Chris Marker, Claude Lanzmann, Carl Theodor Dreyer, Jean-Luc Godard (early work), Agnès Varda and the Lumière brothers.

In literature: Ernest Hemingway, Knut Hamsun, Peter Altenberg, Franz Kafka, and Robert Walser have influenced me even more deeply than filmmakers.

In philosophy: I've engaged with Plato, Spinoza, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Arthur Schopenhauer, Carl Jung, and Sigmund Freud—not as direct influences but as ongoing dialogues.

One formative influence was Dr. Henry Unger, a professor at Tel Aviv University who helped me understand the relationship between cinema and philosophy.

 

8. Do you teach or mentor filmmakers and writers?

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Yes. I mentor writers and filmmakers, particularly around freeing themselves from perfectionism and limiting beliefs.

My role is not to impose a voice but to help people see what they can't yet see. Through feedback, exercises, and perspective shifts, I help students gain clarity, confidence, and ownership over their craft.

Writing doesn't need more angst—it needs momentum.

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9. Who tends to connect most with your work?

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My work resonates with people who love cinema deeply—especially those familiar with essay films and hungry for the form's next evolution.

Viewers who want films that engage with cinema as both emotional and philosophical inquiry. People interested in the spirit of 21st-century digital culture rather than repetition of old forms.

My films are for audiences who value cinema that thinks and feels simultaneously.

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10. How can people collaborate with you or invite your films to screenings?

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The best way to reach me is by email through this site.

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I'm open to:

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• Film festival screenings and retrospectives

• Panel discussions and Q&As

• University lectures and guest teaching

• Collaborations and commissions

• Curatorial consultations on essay film​

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I'm always curious about what emerges when people reach out—so don't hesitate to get in touch.