Pages Matam
~ FILM-POET & AGENT OF IMAGINATION ~
“The function of freedom, is to free someone else” - Toni Morrison
About
PAGES matam (They/He), is a genderqueer med-school dropout turned award-winning multi-hyphenate who was late to their own birth (aka almost didn’t survive) after a near 11-months pregnancy. Now, they strive to create timely and timeless stories centering Black & Queer characters who defy the odds.
Fluent in five languages, they are a published poet and spokenword artist, burlesque performer, high-concept drama TV writer, pleasure advocate and agent of imagination born and raised in Cameroon, Central Africa who then blossomed in Washington D.C. (Piscataway Land). PAGES loves anime, mario kart and fried plantains as much as developing character-driven projects centering Black and queer folx exploring their complicated relationship with parents and grief that teaches us it’s never too late for self-discovery. Their writing, merging West-African folklore and magical realism with hood mythology, is fueled by their cultural and immigrant experiences as well as Toni Morrison’s words: “the function of freedom is to free someone else.”
As a film-poet, they hold fellowships with Circle of Confusion, TRIBE at Super Special by Amy Aniobi, Artist DISRUPTORS at the Center for Cultural Power, Writers Discovery with Circle of Confusion, Callaloo Writers at Brown University, and Define American. Additionally, they are a TEDx presenter, National Poetry Slam Champion, and Cultural Ambassador to the National Fair Housing Alliance.
They work in Los Angeles (Tongvan Land) as Lead Story Expert at The Professional Pen, a Black-owned Script consulting & screenwriter development agency. Short term goals for PAGES are to be staffed and sell TV/Film projects; long term goals to showrun and be a development executive. Currently, they are working on a new pilot and feature while completing their next poetry manuscript and choreopoem as well as gearing up for their directorial debut proof-of-concept, ALL HEARTS ARE OCEANS, an experimental “short-film-in-verse” based on their life as a touring artist.
PAGES MATAM HAS WORK IN THE FIELD OF: Poetry & Spokenword, Screenwriting, Script Consulting, Hosting & Performance, Sensitivity Readings, Cultural Competency workshops, Creative Director, Editor, Educational Workshops.
