The Art of Cheese

Director’s Statement

I have always been drawn to the crafts that resist, or almost reject, speed as a means to success. Cheesemaking is one of the rare human practices that cannot be optimized to its fullest potential without respect for and a willingness to collaborate with time itself. What begins as fuel and sustenance for an animal becomes something far more complex to be enjoyed and savored by humanity. Cheese is shaped by land, bacteria, climate, and care. In that transformation, I see culture, art, time, and history work together to create something that we all know and love - something that binds humanity in a way only great art, edible or not, can.

This documentary began its life in my mind more than twenty years ago. As a young restaurant professional who found himself working his first fine-dining job, a single taste of Cypress Grove "Humboldt Fog” goat cheese turned my life into an exploration of art, culture and craft as seen through food, wine, spirits and most importantly, cheese. Taking up and carrying the mantle of a struggling actor, filmmaker, and waiter ran its course, so I made the move to break free of the doldrums of picking up shifts in-between auditions and monthly digging through my coat pockets for rent money and found myself working 12-hour shifts in a string cheese factory in eastern Colorado.

You heard that right - a string cheese factory.

But, it was there that I learned the ins and outs of food production on a massive scale and the divide between small, family-run dairies and industrial cheese manufacturing. A far cry from that tiny morsel of labor-intensive, made-with-love bite of tangy, herbaceous goat cheese I’d tasted over two decades earlier. And it was there that I was able to build a new motion picture business on the side and eventually take it full-time. The true start and new iteration of my career as a filmmaker began to take flight.

The Art of Cheese is not a documentary about food trends or competition amongst chefs. It’s about people who have devoted their lives to a process that requires more humility than it does control. From small-scale artisans to industrial producers, from ancient caves to modern facilities, this film seeks to highlight a world in which each participant is a part of preserving history and driving innovation all to the delight of our taste buds.

Visually, the film is observational, tactile, and thoughtful. I want the audience to feel the weight of a wheel of cheese, the cool air of a cave, and the rewarding discipline of repetition. This motion picture will allow the sounds, textures, and voices of the people themselves, and the cheese itself, to lead. Ultimately, this film is an invitation to slow down and enjoy. Cheese endures because it has created a throughline within generations. In telling its story, I hope to honor the patience, care, and humanity that still exist in the making of beautiful things that are meant to last.

The world doesn’t need another true crime documentary. The world needs cheese.

• Matt Jackson, January 2026