AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums About Belize Gone but not forgotten Matthiew Klinck

Mayor Daniel Guerrero, the San Pedro Town Council & Staff, along with the town of San Pedro are saddened by the sudden death of Matthiew Klinck.

Matthiew was the director of La Isla Bonita Telenovela which featured local actors of San Pedro Town. He was also well known for his movie that was filmed entirely in Belize, The Curse of the Xtabai. As many knew him, he was very enthusiastic about Belize's Film Industry and hoped that one day Belize be recognized internationally for its film talent. We hope he may find eternal peace. R.I.P. Matthiew.

As a cold front blows through Belize today, it brings with it a wind of incredible sadness, shock and anger at the senseless murder of our kind, generous, creative and talented friend Matthiew Klinck in Cayo, Belize. I didn't know Matthiew well as so many of you did, but the brief time I spent with him I was grateful for. Unfortunately our paths did not cross again after the opening night of La Isla Bonita Telenova and I will always regret that. What a zest for life Matthiew brought with him and shared with the world. It breaks my heart that we have to say goodbye.

- Karen Brodie

Director of La Isla Bonita Telenovela, Matthiew Klinck has been found dead near his home in Selena Village in the Cayo District. The body of the 37-year-old Canadian National was found on Monday, January 4th at around 8:40PM lying about 15 feet away from his home. Klinck was apparently killed during a burglary, as his home had been ransacked according to police reports

According to a report by Cayo Police, they received information from nearby residents that the body of a male person had been found. Upon inspecting the area, police found Klinck's body just 15 feet away from his home in the initial stage of decomposition. Closer observations revealed what appeared to be a stab wound to the left side of the neck. Police also observed that the house had been ransacked of all valuables, indicating that Klinck was murdered as a result of a robbery. Due to state of the body, a postmortem had to be carried out on site which took place on the morning of Tuesday, January 5th.

The National Institute of Culture and History, the Belize International Film Festival and the Belize Film Commission wish to offer our sincere condolences to the family, friends, colleagues and associates on the untimely death of resident Canadian filmmaker, Matthiew Klinck.

Matthiew was a visionary with a passion to create Belizean films as the name of his production company MAKEBELIZE FILMS proclaimed. At times his extraordinary passion was incendiary, but the vision of strengthening Belize's film industry was mutual. His enthusiasm and willingness to help to train young people facilitated a partnership with us to teach ANIMAGIC: the first Belizean clay animation workshop in April 2012 in Belize City shortly after his move to Belize and was also the genesis of 2012: THE CURSE OF THE XTABI, a Kriol language Belizean horror film he directed and produced with a vibrant group of budding Belizean filmmakers in the Cayo district. Though he continued to be based in Cayo, Matthiew also collaborated with similarly enthusiastic members of the San Pedro community to direct the first Spanish Language Belizean telenovela called LA ISLA BONITA which was one of the Opening Films for our 10th Anniversary Edition of the Belize International Film Festival in July 2015 and also the winner of our Best Dramatic TV Series award.

News of Matthiew's untimely passing has caused shock waves through Belize's nascent film community but his vision, enthusiasm, energy and determination to see the Belize Film Industry succeed was contagious. We are confident that in his short time with us here in Belize, Matthiew inspired many young people to look at filmmaking as a career choice and we hope they will continue in his footsteps and make Belize Films of their own in tribute. R.I.P. Matthiew Klinck.

Following tragedy in Belize, a look back at the career of Quebec filmmaker Matthiew Klinck

On Monday, police found the body of Canadian filmmaker Matthiew Klinck, 37, near his home in Selena Village, Belize. According to the San Pedro Sun, Klinck was stabbed to death during an apparent burglary. As officials begin to investigate the killing, and Canadian consular officials provide assistance to Klinck's family, a picture has emerged of a talented filmmaker whose career was just about to enter an exciting new stage.

Matthiew Klinck (left) and Thomas Michael on the set of Hank and Mike in 2008.

Small-screen start Klinck was from the former city of Aylmer, Que. (the city became a sector of the city of Gatineau in 2002). Along with fellow Aylmer natives Thomas Michael and Paolo Mancini, Klinck created the half-hour sketch comedy series Y B Normal?, which aired on the local Rogers Cable channel before being sold to the Comedy Network in 1998, where it lasted two seasons.

Among the characters featured on that series were two crude out-of-work Easter bunnies (played by Michael and Mancini, in pink costumes), which the trio later developed into the leads for a 2000 short film, and then the 2008 feature Hank and Mike.

Greg & Gentillon But before the creative partners worked on Hank & Mike, Mancini, Michael and Klinck produced their first feature film, the 2005 mockumentary Greg & Gentillon. The low-budget bilingual comedy followed the exploits of two small-time Quebecois comedians as they set their sights on fame and fortune. Klinck directed, produced, shot and edited the film, while Mancini and Thomas wrote the screenplay and starred, alongside frequent collaborator and fellow Aylmer native Louis Durand.

After playing a brief run on the Canadian festival circuit, the film opened to enthusiastic reviews in 2007, with Montreal's The Gazette praising its "subtle satire" and engaging, Borat-like structure. The Globe's Rick Groen awarded it three stars, singling out the comedy's sly and occassionally heartfelt moments.

Hank and Mike Three years later, the Aylmer collective were back on the big screen with Hank and Mike - and with a significantly bigger budget, too. While Greg & Gentillon cost just $275,000, the new film cobbled together a $1.8-million budget to tell the tale of two vulgar Easter bunnies looking for their big break.

Like the group's first film, Klinck directed and edited the slacker comedy, while Michael and Mancini wrote and starred. The filmmakers even wrangled cameos from famed character actor Joe Mantegna and American Pie star Chris Klein.

Shot in an empty Canadian Tire store in the middle of a Toronto winter, the film was the only movie on the city's production slate at the time, allowing the project to snap up "all the plum production crews," according to an interview Michael gave to The Globe and Mail in 2009. "People came on the set and volunteered, just to keep busy."

Cynthia Amsden, who worked in the props department on the film, recalls Klinck as a filmmaker determined to make his own way in the industry. "He was part of a freshly minted group of filmmakers, strongly supported by Paolo Mancini and Thomas Michael, friends from way back, all of them giddy in that new filmmaker way about charging ahead," Amsden told The Globe on Wednesday. "He was a charming, running-through-traffic spitfire."

While the film enjoyed a long run on the festival circuit - including screenings in Hong Kong, Palm Springs, Seattle and Karlovy Vary - it received only middling reviews (The Globe's Jennie Punter awarded the film just one star, saying it delivered neither "the outside laughs of a broad comedy nor the interior chuckles of darker fare").

Make Belize Films After Hank and Mike, Klinck worked as a producer and cinematographer for the 2008 feature documentary Tuning In, which explored the psychic "phenomenon of channeling," and put in work as a cinematographer and editor. In 2011, he decided to move to Belize, where he started his own production company, Make- Belize Films.

The outfit has since produced a number of films - including Klinck's feature Curse of the Xtabai - while Klinck also produced La isla Bonita, a Spanish soap opera.

But it was Klinck's work on an upcoming project that may be his greatest legacy: CBS's new prime-time drama, Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders. The hour-long show, starring Gary Sinise (CSI: NY) and Alana de la Garza (Law & Order) is a spinoff of the wildly popular series Criminal Minds, and is set to premiere March 2 on the American network.

Klinck was head of the series' Belize shooting unit, with the show following "an elite team of FBI agents solving cases regarding American citizens on international soil."

Other Make-Belize Films clients included Amazon Studios, which was producing its new series Mad Dogs, starring Michael Imperioli (The Sopranos) and Steve Zahn (Dallas Buyers Club).

"It's really a shock for all of us in the industry," Brent Toombs, of the Belize Audio Visual Industry Association, told Channel 5 Belize. "Within a few months of being in Belize he managed to get people excited and believing in his vision that it was possible to make feature films in Belize with really nothing more than just enthusiasm and passion for the craft. I think that's Matthiew's legacy: not just the film itself but the fact he was able to get so many people excited about the art of filmmaking."

The Globe and Mail

Candlelight Vigil for Matthiew Klinck

If you knew Matt, you knew he was as positive as they come. It's shocking that a person so full of life is gone. There will be a candlelight vigil in his honor at the Cayo Welcome Center tonight at 6:30pm. Earlier, in Spanish Lookout, they'll have the funeral and celebration of life. We'll all miss you, Matt!

Celebration of Life for Matthiew Klinck

The Celebration of Life for Matthiew Klinck shall be at:

2pm Saturday January 9, 2016

Location: Fountain of Life Church in Spanish Lookout

Friends are asking, if you wish, to bring a plate of pastries or cookies as there are many people that have expressed their desire to share in the Celebration of Life for Matthiew Klinck.

Directions to the Church are:

Once you get to Spanish Lookout with Caribbean Tires being on your left hand side- make a right on the main road in Spanish Lookout- then make your 1st left hand turn. Continue on this road for 1 mile and when the pavement ends go another 1/8 of a mile and make a right hand turn when you see the sign for Fountain of Life Church Retreat Center

Friends of Matthiew Klinck gather to remember murdered Gatineau filmmaker
Friends of Matthiew Klinck gathered on the Ottawa River shoreline Saturday to remember the Gatineau filmmaker, six days after he was found stabbed to death outside his home in Central America. "His mother, his dad, and his brother are in Belize - they're having the funeral this afternoon," said Howard Powels, Klinck's friend and neighbour. "And we thought it would be appropriate to do a memorial thing by the river here [today], which he loved." Klinck, 37, was found lying face-up outside his home in the Belizean village of Selena, in the west part of the country, on Jan. 4. "Matthiew was up for anything. That was one of his strong points. He was just up for any adventure - any crazy thing you could think of, he would be up for it." Christiane Charest knew Klinck's mother Louise well, and said she'd spent the past few days trying to find out more about what happened to the son of her friend. She hoped Saturday's ceremony would give her and those who knew Klinck some comfort. "It's important to be here, to be present, to give love and energy and courage," Charest said. "I pray that he's okay, somewhere, in the universe."

Klinck's family at the Memorial Service

Memorial Service and Candle Light Vigil held in his honor

Residents of San Ignacio Town in the Cayo District, including friends from neighboring communities and other parts of Belize held a memorial service to celebrate the life of Klinck on Saturday, January 9th. The memorial service took place at the Fountain of Life Church in the farming community of Spanish Lookout.

The service started at 2PM and saw several testimonials from different people whose life Klinck touched greatly. His parents and brother were present, sharing memories of their beloved to a mourning audience. Before the services wrapped up, a presentation featuring two of Klinck's favorite songs, along with photographs of him from his childhood to his last days in Belize were featured. "It was an overwhelming event, full of many memories that will last a lifetime," said The San Pedro Sun staff reporter and friend of Klinck, Dion Vansen who was in attendance. "There were no dry eyes in the room."

Following the memorial, at 6:30PM, a candlelight vigil/walk was held through the streets of San Ignacio Town to honor Klinck and to make a call against violence. The vigil commenced at the San Ignacio Welcome Centre and ended at the San Ignacio Police Station. There, the group of supporters, each one with lit candles in hand, stood for a few minutes before returning to the Welcome Centre where a minute of silence and closing prayer was held. "Matthiew will always be with us. May you rest in Peace Matthiew," says Vansen.

Matthew Klinck moments 2012

Matthew doing what he did best, make movies and inspire people to make movies, in the little time he was in Belize he inspired and train so many young people to make films, i was very lucky to have collaborated with Matthew. Here are clips of him working on his first training and film project we did in 2012,you can view full documentary on Matthews vimeo page Make Belize Films, Creative Kaos.