David Matthew Johnson

David Matthew Johnson, also known as The Octopus, is the award winning director of Ode to The Whale of Christ and The Sublime Hubris. He is also founder of the Octopus Marquee. As a filmmaker, The Octopus focuses on creating unique passion projects that allegorically expresses himself. As a producer, The Octopus strives to work with Auteurs to share their vision. As a festival director (of the Octopus Marquee Independent Film Festival), The Octopus focuses on shining a spotlight on underground artists and oddballs who create one of a kind pieces. David Matthew Johnson loves cinema.

"I try to look at movies less like a book and more like a sculpture or a building. All these scenes, pieces of film or digital media being sculpted together with attributed sound and narrative to create a complete work of art. From beginning to end. A moving painting. What is being said and shown? Why is it formed this way? Why make that edit? Do the performances fit or leave the piece unbalanced? I enjoy floating though the story and appreciating the journey it takes me on, but I appreciate it for the mass in front of me, as a whole. Physical and the soul of its form.

My goal is to construct wonders to be gazed upon. Cathedrals in honor of Cinema, where we can all worship. The dwellings we can call home and the houses we can rest in. " - The Octopus, David Matthew Johnson

Press

As a filmmaker:

“[David Matthew Johnson’s] drastically minimal yet passionately and often unnervingly human filmmaking marks him as a hauntingly personal outsider auteur.” - CineSalon

“Johnson succeeds in one of the most difficult creative operations: making aesthetics and content coincide.” - Rome Prisma

Ode to the Whale of Christ:

“Ode to the Whale of Christ is a stylish short movie that dares to be black & white and silent.” - Eduardo Kaneco, Luminous Frames

“‘Ode to the Whale of Christ’ is an extraordinary film that has a deep influence on the viewer. David Matthew Johnson makes an inventive use of silence.
By silence he totally captures the attention of the viewer, pointing out that very important, sacred acts take place here. Furthermore, he introduces a tension, which at times takes your breath away. The silence severely intensifies the viewer's emotional involvement in the drama.
The use of text phrases instead of moving images by the director, the frequent substitution of the film action by its verbal description is exquisite, inventive and original. They masterly add drama to the narrative. These text phrases function as a protective veil of respect for what is narrated. Moreover, they allow the viewers to fill and enrich them in the manner they envisage. Additionally, they offer a rhythm to the narration according to the way the director conducts them, by regulating the timing of their appearance on the screen, their position on the screen, their succession, and the pauses among them. In this manner, the director has an excellent control of emphasis in his film.
Most importantly, David Matthew Johnson manages to elevate an unpleasant but not so rare story of supporting a helpless man, to an admirable universal paradigm of human struggle and dignity. He accomplishes to lift a next door woman to a symbol of self-sacrifice and greatness. Far beyond their Christian content, these qualities are attributes of holiness, in a sense demonstrated by man who honorably struggles against insurmountable obstacles. David Matthew Johnson's film is indeed an ode to the holiness of human fight and perseverance against his tragic nature.” - K. Akrivos, PhD, Short Encounters

“The imagery and camerawork is usually striking, taking inspiration from religious art. The bareness of it all is hard to erase. In place of dialogue, intertitles populate the film. Their style and usage is rather unconventional.” - Indie Shorts Mag

“‘Ode to the Whale of Christ’ is a complex film, even obscure, yet so brave and powerful, in form and narration, to be able to reach every viewer, in ever-changing shades. The approach of the director, David Matthew Johnson, is strongly experimental, but lacking the empty and superb stylization of certain experimental approaches. Johnson’s film seems rather the result of a mediation between the ages. The use of the language of silent cinema expresses a story with an extremely contemporary charm that seems to recall the metaphorical surreality of a certain Asian cinema. A woman looks after a man who is eternally asleep. These are the premises of “Ode to the Whale of Christ”. The silence and black and white, which envelop the splendid and intimate shots of this film, seem to suspend the film outside of space and time in a muffled still dimension, in which only spirituality and our deepest urges keep us alive.

Johnson succeeds in one of the most difficult creative operations: making aesthetics and content coincide. This homogeneous creative act is a film of rare fluidity of writing, original but discreet, intimate and lyrical, up to the disturbing finale. The breaking of modern conventions allows Johnson to free himself from the burden of structures and the film, in its frequent written parts, seems to urge the spectator himself to compose his vision. A rare and precious work.” - Rome Prisma

The Sublime Hubris:

“Never seen anything like [The Sublime Hubris]. Love the structural aspect - moving, still and black. Very effective. Beautifully shot and scored.“ - Michael Higgins

“What primarily stands out are the filmmaking techniques, how the feature moves from long takes, to stills, then to a black screen, in order to create a narrative. The creativity is to be recognised and so is the intriguing dark story.” - Jason Knight, UK Film Review

As a Festival director:

“As well as being a unique and powerful cinematic voice, Johnson’s festival The Octopus Marquee Independent Film Festival is a major inspiration for CineSalon.” - CineSalon

“David is one of the most heartfelt film  Festival owners I have met, has so much passion and love for experimental cinema.” - Charlie Jimenez

“David is awesome, such a kind and considerate communicator.” - Dianne Diep

“A champion of the underground” - Strange Attractor