Matthew Victor Pastor is a Filipino Australian filmmaker. An alumnus of the prestigious Victorian College of the Arts his feature and short films have been selected at over 70 international film festivals. In October 2020 The Neon Across the Ocean (91 mins) world premiered at the 44th São Paulo International Film Festival. In 2021 A Pencil to the Jugular (121 mins) premiered at the Moscow International Film Festival (the second oldest film festival in the world). Recently he worked on two feature films which premiered at the 70th Melbourne International Film Festival as associate producer on Anak (91 mins) and as director of photography on PUB: The Movie (78 mins). Screen Australia, Film Victoria, and AFTRS have funded his short film Fun Times which was penned by AACTA nominated writer Llewellyn Michael Bates. It premiered at the 37th St Kilda Film Festival and had a successful run at both Academy & Goya qualifying film festivals, including screening at the 2020 Adelaide Film Festival and winning best film & best screenplay at the 25th Canberra Short Film Festival. His vlogs and social media posts have strong community engagement and have generated over 25 million views across TikTok and YouTube. This led to a documentary about social media ‘Untitled / Unfinished’ which had its Melbourne premiere at the 40th StKilda Film Festival in June 2024.

“Rather than romanticising the everyday, Pastor strips back the “day in the life” format seen in the other TikToks to something more firmly rooted in his own experience” (Jamie Tram, The Age 2023).

“It’s about seeing those faces, it’s about seeing those stories. It has a lot of weight.”, said Matthew Victor Pastor, in a 2019 interview with The New York Times. One thing is for sure, the young director will stop at nothing to see diverse stories told.

I’m a filmmaker and storyteller with a Bachelor of Film and Television from Swinburne University. Over the years, I’ve been nominated for several awards for my work as a director, writer, and producer. Currently, I’m producing two short films set to shoot in early 2025. I’m passionate about sharing my love for creative storytelling and empowering others to tell their stories, no matter what resources they have.

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Inspired by Sean Baker's iPhone filmed movie Tangerine, Schultheis established Smartphone Stories in 2019 with a mission to encourage everyone in the community to be able to make films using their smartphone devices. 

Schultheis has worked in community filmmaking and education for more than 25 years, was selected as an ISSI Fellow in 2013 researching microbudget movies, and is passionate about smartphone storytelling in community and cultural development settings. Daniel has also been a producer of television and independent feature films, and is the founding committee member of Melbourne-based cultural diversity screen organisation Cinespace Inc. Daniel also co-organised the group Smartphone Filmmakers and Mobile Social Media Producers together with other smartphone filmmaking organisations MINA and #filmbreaker.