Matta: The Eye of a Surrealist is a 60-minute documentary about Roberto Matta, the most profound and important painter of the 20th Century to come out of Latin America. With artwork that spans over half a century, he surpassed membership in the Surrealist group, stimulated the development of the Abstract Expressionist School of Painting in New York City and inspired artists and audiences throughout the world.

This documentary's focus is on original material filmed with Matta at his studios in Italy and Paris, and his retrospective at the Centre Pompidou. Additional material includes interviews with Gordon Onslow Ford, who was with Matta, Andre Breton and the other Surrealists in France and NYC during their exile and with Matta as he led his Saturday afternoon workshops with artists such as Robert Motherwell, Jackson Pollock, William Baziotes and Arshile Gorky. Martica Sawin discusses the significance of Matta's painting and the impact it had on modern art, particularly the Abstract Expressionists of the 1940's and 50's. Elizabeth Smith of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, who was co-curator of Matta in America, the first major museum exhibition in the USA since the Museum of Modern Art in NYC in 1957, guides us through the many complex ideas Matta explores in his work and explains the evolution of his painting and its significance for us today.