Matthew Harmer // Cinematographer & Director

Filmed in Xela, Guatemala — a country with one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancy in Central and Latin America — MARGARITA documents the life of an indigenous Maya woman whose experiences mirror those of countless women across the region. In this cinematic documentary, we follow Margarita’s journey to heal generational trauma and provide her children with a better life.

MARGARITA is currently on the festival circuit and will be available online later in 2026.

CREDITS:

Director – Kristin Zimney
Producer – Sophie Outhwaite
Co-Producer – Sergio Ramirez
Cinematography – Matthew Harmer(A-Cam) & Kristin Zimney (B-Cam)
Editor – Tommaso Di Paola
Additional Editor – Ben Prideaux
Composer – Theo Elwell
Sound Designer – Saul Rivers
Colourist – Fabio-Miguel Campos
Production Assistant – Darinka Yoli
Boom Operator – Roberto Minelli
Drone Operator – Mario Estrada
Funded by The Pollination Project
Post Production – Coda Post Production

A short social-impact commercial commissioned by Vodafone, produced by Nice and Serious, about the issue of social media algorithms pushing misogynistic content to young boys.

CREDITS:

Client: Vodafone, Global Action Plan

Agency: Nice and Serious

Director: Serafima Serafimova

Producers: Kate Mclaughlin, Amy-Jade Chapman

Associate Creative Director: Lily Peters

Creative Art Director: Sadie Devane

First AD: Lily Peters

Second AD: Yumna Matar

D.P.: Matthew Harmer

AC: Danni Baxter

Sound Recordist: Simone Picknett

Sound Assistant: Kylion Buck

Gaffer: Joe Sampson

Runner: Paul Daly

Runner: Sara Abou Dan

Set Design: Karin Brink

Costume Designer: Nevo Burrell

Hair and Makeup: Bobbi Smith

Editor: Serafima Serafimova

Colour grade: CHEAT

CAST:

Sholto Cleeve

Arthur Galiano

Kaianne Brown

Cecily Cleeve

Dominique Lubin

Cannon Hay

Josiah Choto

Liubomir Danev

Inigo Cleeve

Charlotte Summers

As part of the Rivers 2050 project, The Wildlife Trusts commissioned us to make a short documentary about the River Trent. We decided to make the river the main character, voiced by Vicky McClure, that we follow from source to sea. Along the way, we meet people whose lives are shaped by the river, for better or worse, and through this story we start to imagine a future where rivers run clean and wildlife can thrive.

CREDITS:

Produced and Directed by Matthew Harmer and Eleanor Church

Cinematography: Matthew Harmer

Editor: Eleanor Church

Colourist: James Galbraith

Voice Over: Vicky McClure

Scriptwriter: Matthew Gaw

Music and Sound: Simon Keep

Drone: Joe Bird, George James, Richard Parkin, Quinton Quayle

Additional Footage: Logan Walker, ACE Nature, Finn Varney

Featuring:

Lucy Forster

Scarlet Jones

James Sread

Martin Sread

Andrew Sread

Cara Thompson

Mark Marsland

Peter Cast

Monika Smieja

No one but old women themselves know what it's like to be one. But what if their stories were told by those who need to hear them most? Could becoming an old woman be something to look forward to, rather than something to dread?

This hybrid short documentary tells their stories.

CREDITS:

Director – Serafima Serafimova

Producer – Kate Mclaughlin

Writer – Hayley Dunlop

Cinematographer – Matthew Harmer

Gaffer – Joe Sampson

Editor – Serafima Serafimova

Music – Bad Women by Tiger Island, City Horizon by Terry Devine-King

Colourist – Jasper Brown

Graphics – Georgia Chambers

CAST

Jamie Kenna as Sue King-Spear

Lizzie Alabi as Gloria Simon

Scout O'Toole as Ann Russell

Nuestras Semillas (Our Seeds) is a short documentary filmed in Guatemala that examines the impact of climate change on farming and how the solution to crop failure may lie in returning to traditional Mayan farming practices.

The film is currently on the festival circuit and will be available online later this year.

CREDITS:

Director: Kristin Zimney

Producer: Sophie Outhwaite

Co-Producer: Sergio Ramirez

Cinematographer: Matthew Harmer

Drone Operator: Mario Estrada

Boom Operator: Roberto Minelli

Editors: Tommaso Di Paola & Ben Prideaux

Original Music: Theo Elwell

Post Production Studio: Coda

Sound Design: Saul Rivers

Colourist: Fabio-Miguel Campos

Production Assistant: Darinka Yoli

We often take internet access for granted, but for many people, a lack of access can be crippling. This short branded content film shows how crossing the digital divide is so important in finding employment, starting a business, or connecting with family.

CREDITS:

Agency: Nice and Serious 

Creative Lead: Lily Peters

Director/Editor: Serafima Serafimova

Producer: Kate Mclaughlin

Cinematographer: Matthew Harmer

Gaffer: Joe Sampson

Spark/AC: Jordan Wright

Set Designer: Holly Bruce

Colourist: James Galbraith

Since August 2020 to July 2023, there has been 1,197 knife offences in Greenwich. This social-impact narrative film for the Borough of Greenwich raises awareness of the issue by focusing on the life of one young man and the future dreams that can be snuffed out by knife crime.

CREDITS:

Agency: Nice and Serious

Director - Serafima Serafimova

Producer - Katie Barney

Assistant Producer - Sam Bristow

Creative Development and Script - Lily Peters

Director of Photography - Matthew Harmer

Gaffer - Oliver Craig

Runner - Sara Abou Dan

Editor - Serafima Serafimova

Colourist - Aiden Tobin

VO Artist - Andre James

Music - Vilatile Vogue by Cat

CAST (in order of appearance):

Francesco Di Rauso

Saïna Penrake

Yaryna Herechka

Antonio Aakeel

Ellie-Mae Siame

Marlon Kameka

Emily De Cosimo

Liliana Siame

Broadcast on TV and used across social media, accompanied by an OOH campaign across the country, this commercial was designed to show how volunteering with RSPB can help bring people together.

CREDITS:

Creative Agency: Futerra

Production Company: Nice and Serious

Director: Nick Earp

Producer: Kate McLaughlin

DP: Matthew Harmer

AC: Danni Baxter

Gaffer: Olly Hearsey

Technical Assistant: Luke Barkaway

Grade: Harbor

In this narrative film for Southwark Council, a teenage boy navigates through some unwanted attention on his way to school in South London.

CREDITS:

Agency: Nice and Serious

Client: Southwark Council

Director: Serafima Serafimova

Producer: Katie Barney

Assistant Producers: Yumna Matar, Ella Rogers

Creative Development: Serafima Serafimova and Elizabeth Bransby

D.P.: Matthew Harmer

Editor: Serafima Serafimova

Runner: Ann Kaguima

CAST (in order of appearance):

Tyrelle Boyce

Letisha Ferriera

Sophie Marsden

Lydia Brayshaw

Morayo Adeagbo

Annalea Doyle

Yinka Olorunife

Helen Lauren

Katie Barney

A short social-impact campaign film highlighting the issue of surveillance advertising to kids. The aim was to create a film that portrays young people's online experience, showing the insecurities and pressures they are subjected to in order to buy products they don't want or need – in increasingly manipulative ways.

We used wide angle lenses to not only mimic the field of view used on phone camera, but to create an uncomfortable, anxiety inducing close-up.

CREDITS:

Client: Global Action Plan

Agency: Nice and Serious

Creative Director: Lily Peters

Art Director: Sadie Devane

Director/Editor: Nick Earp

Producer: Kate McLaughlin

Cinematographer: Matthew Harmer

Sound Recordist: Miguel Rodriguez Puente

Technical Runner: Tom Slade

Costume Design: Natalie Wilkins

Make-up Artist: Jessica Doyle

A TV and cinema ad for MSC's new "Wild" campaign. 

Creative Director: Tom Tapper
Writer: Chris Fiorello
Director: Tom Tapper
DOP: Matthew Harmer
Drone: Aerial Republic
Editor: Nick Earp
Producer: Rickey Welch

Client: MSC
Agency: Nice and Serious

Following the lives of the fisherman in Thorupstrand, the last fishing cooperative in Denmark, this short documentary focuses on the issue of overfishing and how it threatens not only the fish stocks around Denmark, but also the livelihoods of these sustainable fishermen.

Directors: Ben Carver, Matthew Harmer

DOP: Matthew Harmer

Editor: Tommaso di Paola

Producers: Ben Carver, Christina Koll

Client: Seas at Risk

Production Company: Raindown Films

A short documentary-style film about Charlie, a specialist sustainable beef farmer in Cornwall. Charlie is in search of the "perfect steak", by raising and caring for his animals in the right way.

Creative Director: Tom Tapper
Writer: Matthew Harmer
Director: Tom Tapper
DOP: Matthew Harmer
Drone Operator and 2nd Camera: Sam Sutaria
Sound: Jeremy Brown
Editor: Nick Earp
Motion Graphics: Reimo Oun

Client: Sainsbury's
Agency: Nice and Serious

Shot in Mini DV and 4k, this short film is about the amazing girls at Hackney Laces football club, who inspire women of all ages by spreading the message that football is not just for boys!

Directed by Matthew Harmer and Serafima Serafimova
DOP: Matthew Harmer 
Mini DV Operator: Serafima Serafimova
Editor: Serafima Serafimova

A short branded documentary following Manisha as she tells us about her life in her community in Kolkata and how the Photovoice initiative has given her the power to create lasting change.

Director: Nick Earp
Producer: Rickey Welch
DOP: Matthew Harmer
Editor: Serafima Serafimova

Agency: Nice and Serious
Client: RB/Save The Children

A series of six documentaries focusing on six different charities which PWC supports. Through PWC’s help, each charity is able to effectively change lives, whether that’s helping people off the street and into work, supporting young LBGTQ people in crisis, or teaching kids in Harlem about where food comes from.

Creative Director: Tom Tapper
Writer: Matthew Harmer
Director: Duncan Morrison
DOP: Matthew Harmer
Producer Amber Parsons
Editor: Serafima Serafimova
Motion Graphics: Reimo Oun

 
Agency: Nice and Serious
Client: PWC (US)