Matthew Lessner

Matthew Lessner
Matthew Lessner at the Sundance 2014 Awards Ceremony
Born	Walnut Creek, California
Nationality	American
Occupation	Filmmaker
Notable work	Chapel Perilous, The Woods, By Modern Measure, Darling Darling,

Matthew Lessner is an award-winning artist and independent filmmaker.

Born in Walnut Creek, California, Lessner was raised in Roseburg, Oregon, where he attended Roseburg High School. He graduated in 2005 from Chapman University, where he studied film.

Lessner's directorial debut was the 2005 short film Darling Darling starring Michael Cera, which screened at over 30 film festivals worldwide including the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, Comedia, and the Ann Arbor Film Festival where Lessner won the Tom Berman Most Promising Filmmaker Award. The film is included on the sixth issue of Wholphin DVD magazine with alternate audio versions by John Cleese and Daniel Handler.Darling Darling was included the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival's Retrospective 2014: the twenty-first century American short films.

Lessner's second short film, By Modern Measure, premiered at South by Southwest and screened at 30 film festivals including the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. In January 2011 the Sundance Institute released "By Modern Measure" on The YouTube Screening room as part of its Sundance Film Festival Classics series.

His third short film, Chapel Perilous featuring Sun Araw was an official selection at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival where it won the Short Film Audience Award. The film premiered internationally at the . In March 2014 Chapel Perilous was selected as a Vimeo Staff Pick.