Matthijs Van Heijningen (1944) has been a director for over a decade, but he has lived and breathed film his entire life. The son of a prominent Dutch movie producer, Matthjs spent his teenage years taking photographs and working on his father’s films in every capacity, learning each facet of filmmaking from building sets to lighting to editing. It’s no surprise, then, that he has a preternatural talent for telling stories on film, nor that he has become one of the most acclaimed commercial directors in Europe.
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Since1999, Matthijs has won a half-dozen Cannes Lions, the most prestigious awards in advertising, as well as countless other festival honors and awards. His work on behalf of Toyota, Peugeot, Renault, Stella Artois, Pepsi, Heineken, Visa, insurance companies Delta Lloyd and Central Beheer, and his stunning spot “Chess” for the Archipelago electronic stock exchange-among many others-have all reinforced Matthijs’ commitment to developing multi-dimensional, human characters within the short-form context. “People are interested in characters’ adventures and this catches the audience’s attention for the message,” he says. His deeply-felt connection to his characters gives Matthijs’ spots a uniquely warm quality and a vividly intelligent sense of humor. “Your commercials should be personal,” he says. “If you don’t feel a personal attachment to what you make, it’s somebody else’s and it probably won’t have a soul.”
Joining MJZ in 2003, Matthijs has brought his dry, sometimes absurdist, world view to an American audience. “Nobody asks to watch a commercial,” he says. “I think you should entertain people one way or another.” Matthijs collaborates with agency creatives throughout the development process, to find unexpected depths in any concept. This commitment to telling great stories with arresting visuals, combined with his interest in the quirks of his characters, leads to a smart, comic sensibility that plays on either continent.
Finally, his process is about having fun. From the short films he made during his legal studies as a young man, to some of the biggest, most high-profile jobs in the global advertising world, this signature sensibility is visible in all the film he shoots. Ironic comedy, solid narratives and a beautiful cinematic aesthetic will always be fundamental to his work. For all his filmic dexterity, however, Matthijs does admit, when pressed, that he is an extremely clumsy man.
