What We Do
Documentary filmmaker interested in the intersection of wildlife, people and the environment.
About
Matthew Falcon is a cinematographer and editor who strives to bring authenticity and quality to his work above all else. His work spans from commercials with Polaris, Honda and Itacate Foods to documentary shorts with PBS, the Yosemite National Park and the Oakland Museum of California.
Always looking for interesting projects Matthew has also worked on short films like the award-winning Alternative Timeline and documentaries, which are his true passion. Having worked as a wildlife biologist for many years, and combined with his degree in Environmental Policy, Matthew has a very unique background and uses that to help guide his approach to film.
Matthew's life work is dedicated to helping tell critical stories related to wildlife, environment, Indigenous cultures and community that aren't seen, in a way that respects all who are involved. He understands that a good story isn't enough to make sure the message is heard and must also be visually captivating as well.
He is well versed as an editor and colorist in Davinci Resolve and Adobe Premiere Pro, as well as VFX in Fusion and Adobe After Effects. Additionally, he has experience filming on multiple camera systems.
Featured Work
Restoring Tribal Tending of Black Oaks in Yosemite Valley
The black oak tribal stewardship project aims to restore reciprocal caretaking relationships among tribally affiliated people with Yosemite and the oak groves. Currently working on a multi-year effort in gathering acorns, planting oak saplings and building burn piles to reduce heavy fuels in the groves and implement a prescribed landscape/cultural fire to kill off filbert weevil pests that larvae in the duff layers. As of 2023, nearly 1000 young black oak saplings with close to 100 different tribal participants including youth and elders.
View Online
Fire | In Their Element: Earth, Air, Fire, Water
California’s Indigenous communities know how to fight fires with fire. Will state and federal firefighters learn from this knowledge? Today California has out-of-control wildfires, but for centuries Indigenous tribes tended the land with fire. One North Fork Mono leader is on a journey to bring back and legalize controlled burns for cultural purposes. This is the third episode of “In Their Element: Earth, Air, Fire, Water” a four-part docuseries that spotlights Indigenous leaders who work to protect these elements that sustain life. Learn more here: https://to.pbs.org/3N8YR4T
View Online
Groundworks
Groundworks profiles four of the California Native co-creators of the “Groundworks” project—a performance on Alcatraz Island on San Francisco’s first official Indigenous People’s Day in October 2018. While weaving together these artists’ stories and their contemporary ways of sharing traditional knowledge, the Groundworks documentary considers issues of land management, water rights, and food security—concerns for all Americans, especially in an age of climate change. We travel from traditional acorn gathering spots to the studios where the “Groundworks” performance was rehearsed before being shared after dawn, 50 years after the Indians of All Tribes occupied Alcatraz. This documentary brings the audience into the lives of the collaborators as they face pressing issues as Native Californians. By exploring their creative practices and connections to their communities, this project highlights these Indigenous artists’ contemporary relationships to traditional territories of Pomo, Ohlone, Onatsatis, and neighboring communities and their efforts to “re-story” the land through creative reclamation. An important component of decolonization and Indigenous sovereignty is revealing the hidden, overlapping histories of place through art, performance, and story. Profiled in the documentary are musician Ras K'Dee, Pomo, with ties to multiple bands in Sonoma and Mendocino Counties; Bernadette Smith, singer and dancer from the Manchester Point Arena Band of Pomo Indians; Kanyon Sayers-Roods, a multidisciplinary Ohlone artist from Indian Canyon, a sovereign Indian Nation outside of Hollister, California; and L. Frank, a Tongva-Acjachemen artist, tribal scholar, cartoonist, and language advocate. These artists, through their practices and activism, bring attention to contemporary Indigenous life in California.
View Online
Yurok Tribe Reintroduces California Condor After 100 Year Absence
The critically endangered California condor has been absent from Northern California redwood forests for over a century -- until May 3rd, 2022, when the Yurok Tribe and Redwood National and State Parks reintroduced two birds to the woodland area, the culmination of a 15-year reintroduction project. There are only around 200 adult California condors left in the wild, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Of these, only 93 have produced offspring. For more information visit: https://www.yuroktribe.org/
View Online
