The resulting footage (which Heineman dubbed, "rough, guerilla filmmaking") became Our Time (2011), a feature-length documentary about American youth.

Heineman directed and executive produced a five-part television docu-series entitled The Trade that premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and was recently honored by the International Documentary Association as the Best Episodic Series of 2018.

The critically acclaimed Showtime series chronicles the opioid crisis through the eyes of those most affected—growers, cartel members, users, and law enforcement.

It was described by The Hollywood Reporter as "a thriller...like Traffic only current and real",[12] while the New York Times said, "Heineman has shown an uncanny ability to gain access to hard-to-reach people and places.

Heineman won his second Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary Award from the DGA for the film—one of only three directors to win the prestigious honor twice.

Documentary Competition at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, where Heineman won the Best Director Award and Special Jury Prize for Cinematography.

Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare is a 2012 feature-length documentary directed by Matthew Heineman and Susan Froemke and released by Roadside Attractions.

Escape Fire premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, opened in select theaters on October 5, 2012, and was simultaneously released on iTunes and Video-on-Demand.

The film tells the stories of physicians and patients, alike, taking creative steps at improving the U.S. health care industry.

It gets its name from the practice of protecting firefighters battling wildfires by pre-burning a small patch of area so that the oncoming blaze will move around it.

[15] "What Americans desperately need is a way to transition from the current system, which is fragmented and focuses on high-cost, high-tech interventions after illness strikes, to a modern system that delivers coordinated, high-touch, lower-cost, patient-centered care with an emphasis on primary care and prevention," Heineman wrote in an opinion piece at The Huffington Post in 2012.

Mireles leads a group of citizens who take up arms against drug traffickers, sometimes resulting in gun battles on the streets and clashes with federal police.

Heineman conceived the film after reading a news article on the New York City Subway about vigilantes tracking drug cartels along the U.S.-Mexican border in Mexico.

"[19] The film's story then shifted to parallel storylines about two groups of vigilantes fighting against the drug trade on both sides of the border.

"The pic's lush, aestheticized imagery is an impressive surprise, and the film has no shortage of ace handheld work," wrote reviewer Ben Kenigsberg.

[20] IndieWire called it: "Disturbing, dangerous, and thrilling, Cartel Land is a fearsome reflection on the breakdown of order and the line between obeying the law and staying alive.

City of Ghosts is the story of a group of Syrian citizen journalists as they face life undercover, on the run, and in exile.

[22] The film has received many positive reviews, including five stars from Charlie Philips at The Guardian, who called it the "definitive contemporary documentary about the tragedy of Syria.

[25] A Private War is a 2018 American biographical drama film directed by Matthew Heineman and starring Rosamund Pike as journalist Marie Colvin.

At the 76th Golden Globe Awards, the film earned nominations for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama (Pike) and Best Original Song ("Requiem for A Private War"), and Matthew Heineman received a nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement of a First Time Feature Film Director from the Directors Guild of America.