LoVE AND EX MORTUUS

Originally from the Centre region, Mathieu Morel moved to Paris in 2014 to study cinema. He acted in Permis de construire and, until 2020, in L’Odeur du sans plomb, in which he played the lead role alongside Denis Lavant, Bertrand Bonello, and Mathieu Carrière.

In 2015, together with Léolo, he founded the association Horschamp – Rencontres de Cinéma, sponsored by Thierry Frémaux, which promotes heritage cinema and organizes screenings and discussions with numerous artists. These events allowed Mathieu to meet filmmakers who mentored and guided him, including Bertrand Bonello, Jean-Gabriel Périot, and Olivier Ducastel.

In 2018, he directed Night of the Living Sluts, which enabled him to join the La Fémis Residency program until July 2019, when he graduated with honors from La Fémis. His graduation film Aussi fort que tu peux (As Hard As You Can) went on to compete in numerous festivals and won Best Short Film at the Rome LGBT Festival. Mathieu balanced his work for Horschamp – Rencontres de Cinéma with filmmaking. In 2020, he directed a version of Beauty and the Beast.

In 2022, Mathieu directed Cum in My Heart (or the fabulous letting go of Thomas Timbère), Killing Myself Tomorrow, and Love et ex Mortuus, his first medium-length film, which received support from the CNC’s “Jeunes Sortis d’Écoles” grant, produced by Local Films.

In June 2023, a retrospective of Mathieu’s films was held at the Cinémathèque Française (a seven-film monograph) as part of the SEXPERIMENTAUX program. The films 404ERROR and The Deep Queer Massacre (Local Films) were also released in 2023.