Mary Matheson

Mary Matheson is the Course Director at MIAT for Immersive Storytelling, she is an award-winning immersive director specialising in character-led documentaries, high-end branded content, commercials and PSAs. Her clients have included NASA, Sky/Comcast, Google, Lenovo, the United Nations, UK Government (BEIS), Save the Children and the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center. Her films have been broadcast on mainstream platforms like the Discovery Channel, BBC & Channel 4 (UK), as well as at international festivals and events such as the UN Climate Change Summit, UN General Assembly, Sheffield Doc Festival, Annecy International Animation Festival & EarthX film festival.

Her interactive VR experience about the Yazidis in northern Iraq won the 2022 VR Awards for Social Impact and the 2023 Telly Awards for Social Impact. Her most recent VR documentary Walk to Westerbork VR, telling the story of Dutch Holocaust survivor Rodi Glass, has been selected for SXSW 2024 VR Festival. She cut her teeth as a journalist in Colombia, covering the capture of the Cali cartel for NPR, TIME Magazine and the Guardian (UK). Since then she has filmed in multiple post-conflict zones, focusing on untold stories and under-represented narratives. She is currently directing an interactive VR documentary about the Russian invasion of Ukraine along with a VR art piece exploring body politics in the US. 

Matheson is Professor of Narrative & Immersive Media at Arizona State University’s center for Narrative & Emerging Media in Los Angeles, CA.