Halflife Films was founded by award winning writer/director/producer Matt Harlock.
Matt’s latest feature film Blockhead (2025) is a dark psychological thriller about creative obsession, and stars Danny Horn, Joe Sims & Richard Glover. His second feature is currently out to festivals through sales agent Bluefinch (Oddity, Deadstream, Swallow).
Matt’s previous project Deep Clean (2019) a sci-fi comedy horror starring Paul Kaye (Game of Thrones, Dennis Pennis) amassed 1.3M views online, won awards at numerous festivals (Frightfest, Aesthetica, Screamfest LA & London Short Film Festival) and was in development as a series with Sam Raimi/Ghosthouse.
Matt's first feature film American The Bill Hicks Story was the 2nd most successful documentary released in UK cinemas in 2010, played over 40 international festivals, was Grierson-nominated, winning several Best Doc awards (Dallas, Little Rock, Downtown LA, Biografilm Bologna). It was released theatrically in 35 US cities and broke records for its US VOD partner Gravitas. It was a top10 iTunes UK All-Time Bestsellers Docs chart and no.4 on Rotten Tomatoes Best Films of 2011.
Matt previous short films have been shown on VICE, Channel 4, Film4, HBO and Sky, winning awards from Manhattan SFF, TCM & Film London and the National 48 Hour Film Challenge, and include Ink, Cocks & Rock'n'Roll (2016) a hybrid doc / horror film that premiered on VICE, played London SFF, Dublin, LOCO, won Shooting People's Film of the Month and Best Film at Sochi.
Matt has hosted panels at SXSW, Raindance and Comic Con, and given masterclasses about VOD, split rights distribution, presenting projects and crowdfunding at SheffDocFest, SPAA Melbourne, Raindance, Directors UK, Creative England, Film London, LOCO.
Matt is the founder of NoDirectionHome, the London directors community, and has interviewed Walter Murch, Mike Leigh, Ben Wheatley, Alice Lowe, Prano Bailey Bond & many more, hosting 45 events since 2013. www.nodirectionhome.com
He was a Berlinale Talent in 2014 and has appeared on BBC 6 Music (3 times), Sirius FM, Kermode & Mayo 5 Live, Anthony & Opie, PBS & many more, and is a guest lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University and London College of Communication.
TESTIMONIALS ABOUT MATT’S WORK
“Absolutely fascinating”
Edgar Wright“Thoroughly engrossing, my Film of the Week.”
Mark Kermode“Outrageous fun”
Corin Hardy (The Nun, Gangs of London)"Great piece of work to dip my head into.”
Marc Munden (Utopia, National Treasure)“Legendary - great work!”
Benson & Moorhead (The Endless, Loki)“Impressive and ambitious”
Richard Holmes (The Ritual, 45 Years)“A good yarn, niftily directed.”
Tony Grisoni“A real example of the get-up-and-go, make-it-happen,
forge-your-way-through attitude.”
Jonathan Wakeham, LOCO
