Directed by Matt Morris
Winner
Best Short Documentary
Woodstock
Film Festival 2008
Winner
Best Short Documentary
Florida
Film Festival 2008
SCREENINGS & AWARDS
2008
Aspen Shortsfest
Mountainfilm Telluride
Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival
Woodstock Film Festival- WINNER Diane Seligman Award Best Documentary Short
New Orleans Film Festival
Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival
Cucalorus Film Festival
Ellensburg Film Festival
Ojai Film Festival- HONORABLE MENTION
St. Louis International Film Festival
Asheville Film Festival
2009
Big Sky Documentary Film Festival
Cinequest Film Festival
Florida Film Festival- WINNER Grand Jury Award Best Documentary Short
Nashville Film Festival
Santa Cruz Film Festival
Cape Fear Independent Film Festival
Marin County Short Film Festival- WINNER Jury Award
Flyover Film Festival
Palm Springs Shorts Fest- BEST OF FEST program- Documentary
Producer’s Guild of America Producer’s Challenge- FINALIST
Film Independent Cinema Lounge
Indie Memphis
Charlotte Film Festival- WINNER Best Music in a Documentary/ Best Cinematography in a Documentary
Wild & Scenic Film Festival
2010
Clermont Ferrand Short Film Festival
Festival du film court d’Aigues-Vives
Jencheon International Music and Film Festival
MOUNTAINFILM ON TOUR
Over 40 venues around the country, including Sony Pictures Entertainment, The San Diego Natural History Museum, and Dartmouth University.
“I love it. Made me cry it’s so beautiful.”
Norman Lear
Producer/Creator- Good Times, All In The Family, Sanford and
Son, The Jeffersons
“Absolutely lovely to say the least.”
Zach Galifianakis
Actor- The Hangover
“I really enjoyed Pickin’ & Trimmin’!”
Ted Hope
Producer- American Splendor, The Savages, Adventureland
“The reception to Pickin’ & Trimmin’ was incredible. People were whistling, clapping, and cheering throughout and at the end of the film. The audience couldn’t stop raving during the credits...the buzz was quite delightful.”
Laura Vogel
Program Coordinator- Aspen Shortsfest
"A Twilight Zone journey to a place not touched by the river of time, because time is kept at bay by music that is timeless."
Terry Rossio
Academy Award nominated writer- Shrek, Aladdin,
“Pickin’ & Trimmin’ is a beautiful, lyrical tribute to small town America.”
Don Payne
Emmy Award-winning writer- The Simpsons, Fantastic Four 2
"I hope Morris might consider trying to qualify this piece for a Best Doc Short Subject Oscar; it's a superb piece of storytelling clocking in under twelve minutes with lots to say about all kinds of things, in a subtle and artful way. I could have watched a lot more." - Still In Motion
“Another buzzed-about world premiere doc was the 23-minute “Pickin’ & Trimmin’” a look at a barbershop/hootenanny by Matt Morris. Many were surprised when the audience-pleaser failed to win any official kudos at the fest.” - IndieWIRE
"Wilmington, North Carolina, resident Matt Morris traveled to the film festival to showcase his very first movie, Pickin' and Trimmin', a documentary about a barbershop in the mountains of North Carolina. Morris described the movie, shot in just two days, as "a time capsule of 50s southern Americana." When his name was called as winner of The Diane Seligman Award for Best Short Documentary, a stunned Morris leaped the four and a half feet onto stage. "I've been making short films since I was 16, and this is the first time I ever got an award for anything, except a pottery award in junior high school," a grinning Morris said.” - Woodstock Times
“After about five minutes in you realize you are watching the most endearing thing captured on film since the birth of a baby lion. Seeing old dudes waving at cars while they tell you about a guy who plays the banjo “different every time” honestly made me happy to be alive.” - Street Carnage
"One of the simple and direct charms of this series was “Pickin’ and Trimmin’” by Matt Morris, revealing the inner world of a Drexel, North Carolina barbershop. Most of the businesses have left town, and the town barber shop goes by its generic name with the same barber who’s been at the chair for 60 years. The magic is that musicians come from miles around for lively bluegrass jams in the equally generically named Back Room. Filmmaker Matt Morris’ vibrant portrayal of clean fun in good people is perfectly done." -The Record
“This short was G-R-E-A-T.” - Poughkeepsie Journal
“Pickin’ & Trimmin’ is a short but endearing film.” - The Valley Advocate
At a North Carolina barbershop, the atmosphere is laid back, the conversation free, and the music a cut above the rest. An engagingly genuine slice of old time Americana.