(2009 – SVT and The Swedish Film Institute, 80’ and 52’)
Black Nation takes an uncompromising look at the state of Black men in America today. Despite the fact that a Black man has reached the most powerful office in the world, young Black men remain increasingly caught in the double jeopardy of crime and unemployment. Set within the framework of a Father’s Day service at the controversial Detroit Shrine of the Black Madonna, Matts Hjelm’s daring film tracks the desperation and exhaustion of the Church’s congregation, while highlighting their hope and struggle for a better future. World Premiere at the Dubai International Film Festival and screened at an additional 12 festivals around the world. Backed by Swedish broadcaster SVT and The Swedish Film Institute, and broadcast on CBC/Doc, NHK and SBS, among others.
Work
Yearbook
(2024) (TVO Original, 6×30) Political Blind Date The series follows the meaningful and nostalgic journey back to people's youth as they attempt to reconnect with key people from [...]
Political Blind Date
(2017 - present) (TVO, 24x30) – This hit original documentary series and format seeks to see what happens when you send two politicians from opposite ends of the spectrum out on “blind dates” based around an issue they disagree on.
Intervention Canada
(2011 - present) – (A&E and Blue Ant Media, 67x1) Based on the Emmy Award winning A&E series Intervention, this documentary series seeks to intervene and help those trapped in a deadly cycle of addiction.
Margin of Error
(2020 – TVO, 60’) feature documentary in post-production that follows Ottawa-based company Advanced Symbolics, Inc. which uses an artificial intelligence algorithm they call “Polly” to scrape social media platforms and predict election outcomes more accurately than traditional pollsters.
Cracked Not Broken
(2007 – HBO, 52’) this feature documentary is a searing portrait of a crack addicted prostitute from the “right side of town”.
Independent America: The Two Lane Search for Mom & Pop
(2006- Sundance Channel, 80’ and 52’) feature documentary for Sundance Channel, tackles the subject of the assault of big box corporate America on independent business, through the eyes of Emmy Award winning former NBC foreign correspondent Hanson Hosein and his journalist wife Heather Hughes.
Pure Intentions
(2012 - CBC/Doc Channel, 70’) – feature documentary which looks at the challenges encountered by a high profile first world philanthropist as he tries to deal with the reality of post apartheid education in South Africa.
Black Nation
(2009 – SVT and The Swedish Film Institute, 80’ and 52’) theatrical feature documentary takes a hard look at the state of black manhood in America, through the prism of the streets of Detroit past and present and that city’s controversial Church of the Black Madonna.
Independent America: Rising From Ruins
(2009, Super Channel 71’) – feature documentary film that focuses on the crucial role played by independent business during and after Hurricane Katrina.