Matthew Heineman is a renowned filmmaker, acclaimed for his work in both documentary and narrative filmmaking. He has received numerous awards and nominations, including an Academy Award nomination, nine Emmy Awards, and two DGA Awards. The Sundance Film Festival has praised him as "one of the most talented and exciting documentary filmmakers working today."
Heineman's feature film debut, A Private War, was a critical and commercial success, earning two Golden Globe nominations and widespread acclaim. The film tells the story of legendary war reporter Marie Colvin and stars Jamie Dornan, Tom Hollander, Stanley Tucci, and Rosamund Pike.
His latest film, American Symphony, is a portrait of musician Jon Batiste, who receives 11 Grammy nominations and is at a career high. However, his life partner's cancer diagnosis threatens to upend his trajectory. The film premiered at the 2023 Telluride Film Festival and was acquired by Netflix and Higher Ground.
Heineman's documentary work includes Retrograde, which offers a cinematic and historic window into the end of America's war in Afghanistan. The film premiered at the Telluride Film Festival and received widespread critical acclaim. Retrograde was shortlisted for an Academy Award and won several awards, including the PGA Award for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Motion Pictures.
Prior to Retrograde, Heineman directed and produced The First Wave, a feature documentary about the Covid-19 pandemic. The film received the International Documentary Association's prestigious Pare Lorentz Award and was shortlisted for an Academy Award.
Heineman has also directed Amazon's The Boy From Medellin, a portrait of international superstar J Balvin, and co-directed the Emmy-winning documentary Tiger, which explores the rise and fall of global icon Tiger Woods.
Additionally, Heineman has directed and executive produced The Trade, a Showtime docu-series that chronicles different topics each season, from the opioid crisis to human trafficking. The show premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and received critical acclaim and awards recognition.
Heineman's documentary film City of Ghosts, which follows a group of citizen-journalists exposing the horrors of ISIS, premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and was distributed worldwide by Amazon Studios. The film won several awards, including the Courage Under Fire Award from the International Documentary Association.
Cartel Land, which explores vigilantes taking on the Mexican drug cartels, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and won several Primetime Emmy Awards. The film premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and was released theatrically nationwide by The Orchard.
Heineman founded Our Time Projects, a New York-based production company, in 2009. He is a 2005 graduate of Dartmouth College and is based in New York City.
