Joddy Eric Matthews

Joddy Eric Matthews is a Clio Award-Winning Director, Cinematographer, Editor, and VFX Artist with a wide range of credits, including directing spots for Altria, Dow Chemical, USVision, JC Penney Optical, Phillip Morris, Vodaphone, General Motors, Winslow, and Sherwin Williams. Recently, he produced and edited the Network Television show, CaribbeanGirlNYC. The dramatic comedy, produced by Overeasy/Gwada of Guadeloupe and CaribbeanTales of Canada, premiered on the FLOWTV Network in September of 2017, Netflix UK, and then FranceTV.

He also produced and edited Pass Interference: The Davone Bess Story, directed by ESPN’s Believeland Producer Branson Wright, which chronicles the troubled life of Ex-NFLer Davone Bess and his battle with mental illness.

He also served as American Cinematographer on the Israeli produced Netflix Doc, The Devil Next Door about the life of the convicted Nazi war criminal John Demjanjuk.

On the directing side, Joddy has helmed the Fox Sports\Bally’s Documentary King of The Block, Hulu feature #50Fathers (Best Feature, GCUFF, TIFF), along with CCBFF 2015 Best webisode and upcoming AppleTV Plus Realtime Virtual Production Series Nina Blue: Seeing Tomorrow and well received documentaries including Capoeira: Live The Game (2018 Latin Festival Winner), have screened at thirty-seven film festivals in twelve countries.

2018 and 2020 also saw Joddy snag Best Documentary wins for two films, Capoeira: PLAY and Sankofa: Solving X (Capital City Black Film Festival and The Urban Film Festival) along with a PBS airing for the doc, One Team.

Currently, Joddy is developing a cinematic action-adventure education PC Game Franchise, entitled Cypher’s Journey: Among Kings and Queens, that introduces little known and underreported historical moments of Pan African, Meso & Native American, and Latino culture. The game has garnered the participation and attention of Legendary Hip Hop DJ Pete Rock, Colorfarm’s Erica Alexander (Living Single), game platform engine company EPIC Games (Fortnite), the United Black Fund, and financial solution providers such a PWC.

In 2019 he launched HOVA360, an eLearning platform focused on teaching STEAM and Tech skills to at-risk and communities of color. HOVA360 has already conducted workshops in C++ and Game Development using Python and C++ nationwide with classes online, in Atlanta, Memphis, and in several school systems in Cleveland, Ohio.

Joddy broke ground in the early 90’s by being one of only a handful of African Americans to enter and work in the visual effects business. Later in the decade, he joined Alias as a part of the visual effects technical crew that researched fluid and particle dynamics for the company’s groundbreaking new animation software, Maya.

The team also consulted in the development of thermal and fire simulations for the film “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace”. He continues to serve as a consultant/developer for NVidia, Adobe, SideFX and as a select previewer for VR/AR solutions such as Amazon’s Sumerian solution. A member of the motion capture society, Joddy regularly mentors' persons of color on employment opportunities in the visual effects industry. He has also served as a Creative Director at two Tech companies before launching his VFX boutique company, MadWerkz Studios. MadWerkz regularly provides on set effects support for industry VFX headliners on films such as Avengers and Captain America.

Locally, he has collaborated with Barbershop (starring Ice Cube) story writer Don Scott Jr. and directed the local Emmy award-winning video, The City Agenda, featuring R&B Singer Usher for The YMCA along with Get out the Vote commercials with 21st District Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge and Sean Combs. A diverse artist, Joddy’s work as a graphic and environmental designer can be seen in the form of the 83 foot long PSL Bronze and Nickel Monument inside Cleveland Browns Stadium.