Matt Shepard Is a Friend of Mine

In 1998, a 21-year-old American named Matthew Shepard was brutally murdered in Laramie, Wyoming for being gay. People were scared, angered and shocked by the tragedy, and it set off a wave of outrage in the United States. Proponents and opponents of gay rights spoke out, while the sensation-seeking press focused on the grief of Matthew’s family. His social circle and the gay community at large could only hope that his death would at last wake up the lawmakers. Fifteen years after the murder, Michele Josue made this film about her friend Matt, so that the world could get to know him as she did and not forget him. Josue visits Matt’s family and friends and chronologically follows the path of his life. We get to know a kind and talented boy who was very interested in other people. And we discover how after his youth, which he spent in Saudi Arabia as the child of an oil industry safety specialist, he was delighted to make good friends at a Swiss boarding school. But a trip to Morocco took a terrible turn, and it was years before he started feeling better – in Laramie. And the terrible incident that took place there continues to haunt both his loved ones and so many others. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)