Director's Works
I'm Not Going Anywhere Matthew Palmer
Matthew is an award-winning filmmaker splitting his time between Los Angeles and the Bay Area. He began making film at the age of 12, exploring the world around him with a unique eye and perspective that continues to grow and evolve to this day. His dedication to his craft led him to New York University, where he received a degree in film production. He directed his first feature-length film, Friends of Mine, at the age of 22. The film premiered at the prestigious Hollywood Film Festival, where it screened in the iconic ArcLight Hollywood movie theater. Matthew then began directing commercials for brands such as Ralph Lauren, Apple, Meta, and more.
Matthew's love of music led him to collaborations with Jacob Collier, Shawn Mendes, Sam Fischer, and Romain Collin. Matthew's most recent feature-length film, This Land, premiered at Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, the largest documentary film festival in the Western United States, and was praised by The New York Times as being "an intriguing time capsule" and was named the best documentary of the year by Film Threat.
Matthew’s work has been screened, published & exhibited globally on prime time TV, during the Winter Olympics, at the de Young Museum of Art, at the Berlin Commercial Awards, Cannes Lions, and film festivals around the world. His work in commercials and short films earned him the honor of being a part of the Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors Showcase, a Shots Creative’s Rising Star, an official nominee at the Berlin Commercial Awards, a two-time AICP nominee, and the recipient of eight Vimeo Staff Picks.
I'm Not Going Anywhere began as a quiet question: what if a tree could speak? Not just speak, but reflect on its life, its purpose, and what it means to have truly lived - just like humans do? I’ve always been drawn to characters who sit on the edges of stories, watching life unfold around them. This film's oak tree felt like one of those characters: a witness to time, rooted in place, blessed (and burdened) with perspective.
The story emerged from that idea of stillness. We often think of movement as the marker of a life well-lived. But what if standing still - simply paying attention - offered its own kind of richness? As our oak tree confronts his own mortality, what begins as regret slowly becomes gratitude. Through his conversations with a young sapling, his “child”, he comes to see that his life wasn’t lacking. It was full - of change, love, sorrow, and quiet beauty.
Stylistically, I wanted the film to move between stillness and motion, echoing the tree’s own experience: life swirling around him while he remains anchored. The story is reflective, lyrical, and grounded in emotion. It explores legacy not as something grand or heroic, but as something tender and enduring - wisdom passed down, quietly, to the next generation.
At its heart, I'm Not Going Anywhere is about embracing where you are and recognizing that even a single life, rooted in one place, can hold multitudes.
