Mathivanan Rajendran | Producer

Mathivanan Rajendran | Producer

Mathivanan ‘Mathi’ Rajendran is a producer and programme director based in Goa. Mathi spent his early years working as an industrial engineer from Virginia Tech while also travelling as a performance artist to various international fringe festivals.

In 2010, he founded Stray Factory, a collective of Chennai’s most compelling talents, which tours internationally. This transitioned online with the web series Black Sheep (2016) on Stray Factory’s YouTube channel. Growing up in Dubai on 90s’ genre films, Mathi’s first produced feature was inevitably a psychological horror, Nirvana Inn (2019), which premiered at the Busan International Film Festival. His next film, Nasir (2020), won a FIPRESCI India Grand Prix award and was nominated for Best Indian Film of the Year by the Film Critics of India. Next came The Tremor and Freddie’s Piano (both 2020), alongside the impact short film B.Selvi & Daughters (2020), which was nominated for three India Critics’ Choice Awards.

An alumni of the prestigious European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs’ Producers Workshop, Mathi is the creator and programme director of root.ax. This transmedia accelerator is dedicated to maximising the potential of original stories from the region by helping creatives to expand their impact and revenue across multiple media.

At the moment, Mathi is researching the intersection of media and blockchains to support the creator economy and build greater transparency.