Calvin College
Festival of Faith & Music
Matt Hinton 
Matt Hinton and his wife Erica are Sacred Harp singers from Atlanta, Georgia, who met while they attended Georgia State University, where Erica studied English and film and Matt studied religion and English. It was in Erica's documentary film class at Georgia State that the seed for Awake, My Soul was sown. Seven years later, the couple completed this massive project and in the process got married and had a baby, both of which took less time than making the film. Matt holds a Master's degree in theology from Emory University (Atlanta, Georgia); plays guitar in a rock and roll combo called Luxury; sells architectural antiques; and teaches religion at Morehouse, a historically black college in Atlanta. When Erica is not taking care of their daughter, Anna, she operates Sir Chalk and Bunn, a print shop devoted to the art of letterpress printing in which she sets movable type on a century old letterpress. Her letterpress makes a brief, but important, cameo in the first five minutes of the film. Awake, My Soul: the Story of the Sacred Harp is the Hinton's first feature length documentary.