5 Questions #4 : Matthew Heineman

The Director of American Symphony, Retrograde, City Of Ghosts and others.

When I was at Amazon I got the opportunity to pick up Matthew Heineman’s doc CITY OF GHOSTS for distribution — that was when the GSPs still acquired films that spoke truth to power. Like everything, we had a few issues to take care of on that film, and I got to see how committed to solving problems Matthew was and is. It may be his superpower. You also see it in his filmmaking — challenges abound in every situation like any movie, but he confronts them, and finds the art and drama inherent in them — the human factor. He is the definition of a brave filmmaker. Frequently though we link that phrase with conflict zones and other high stress situations, but it can also be the case in the most intimate and personal of situations too. It is one of the reasons I was so excited to see AMERICAN SYMPHONY, but nothing could have prepared me for what it turned out to be. Yes, it is a portrait of an artist — or rather two — but it is so much more, including one of the most beautiful finales, if not entire third acts, of the year.

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What's been one of the skills that you had to develop in your filmmaking process, that's been difficult to master, but elevated your work? What were the barriers to mastering it and how did it elevate things?

I think the skill I’ve developed over the course of my career is adaptability and an openness to the unpredictability of documenting life as it unfolds. When I was 21 years old, I heard one of my mentors say, “If you end up with the story you started with, you weren't listening along the way.” That's beautiful advice for life, and it's beautiful advice for verité filmmaking—be open to the story changing, don't be dogmatic. And that has proved true over and over during my career, and certainly was the case with AMERICAN SYMPHONY. We initially planned more of a process film about Jon’s symphony, but life intervened, and the film became a beautiful meditation on what it means to be an artist and to persevere during tough times and good times. I love embracing this type of unpredictability and adaptation inherent in making vérité films. 

If there are certain qualities in cinema that lift the good into the great, what are some and what do you think we can all do to get closer to them?
For me, it’s the final 10%. I always view every film as if it’s my last, every shoot as if it’s my last, every shot as if it’s my last. I think that fear–and fear of failure–is a great motivator, especially as you’re trying to lock an edit and the pressure is mounting. I never stop cutting until every stone has been unturned, every frame has been debated or argued about or contemplated. And this extends into mix and color for me too, which is often undervalued. I’ve found attention to detail in these final stages of post to be vital in making audiences viscerally feel like they are in the rooms, stages, war zones, etc. where my films take place.

What are some of the things you do to try to communicate well? What does "good communication" mean to you?
Because of the way I work, I’m often deep in production before a story has revealed itself or the full scope of a situation has become apparent. And, when it does, I stay for as long as is necessary to capture every arc, character beat, etc.  So, trust and communication with the participants in my films are the bedrock of the access and intimacy I get. With AMERICAN SYMPHONY, Jon and I had talked about creating a process film about the making of his first symphonic work, but then he received eleven Grammy nominations and Suleika was re-diagnosed with cancer. So, before we’d even started filming, the lens of the film had shifted.  That was a leap into the unknown for all of us.  For all his time in the public eye, Jon really protects his privacy, and the idea of opening up his life in an unguarded way wasn’t natural to him.  And Suleika wasn’t sure she wanted to be a part of the film at all.  She didn’t want to be the “sick antidote” to Jon’s success, which I completely empathize with.  It took constant conversation and dialogue to make them comfortable with my intentions and with the practical realities of filming 12, 14, 16 hours a day; 7 days a week; for around 8 months -- and that dialogue had to be ongoing.  More than any other film I’ve made, we were constantly talking about how we were feeling and if it felt okay to keep going. At a certain point, the film–and our relationship within it–took on an undeniable momentum and we all looked at each other and said, “if we’re going to do this, let's REALLY commit to it.” 

Are there any quotes you keep front and center? If so, what are they and why do they mean so much to you?
As Jon says in the film, “Be yourself.” It’s simple advice, but very profound. Jon and Suleika are both inescapably authentic. I’ve truly never met people who know themselves so well. And despite all of the points at which they could deviate from being who they are, they both stay radically authentic. That was a beautiful thing to capture and it’s something I know I took away from the film and that I hope audiences take away too. 

How do you know you are done?
I think as I’ve gotten older and matured as a filmmaker the “when do you stop filming” question has become clearer. For example, earlier versions of myself probably would have continued filming with Jon and Suleika for many more months–there was so much exciting, interesting, and dramatic stuff happening in their lives. But the current version of myself felt deeply confident that we had captured the full arc(s) of the story I wanted to tell. I never looked back and that feels good. 

Matthew Heineman is an Academy Award-nominated, nine-time Emmy Award-winning, and two-time DGA Award winning-filmmaker. In 2019, he received a nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement of a First Time Feature Film Director from the Directors Guild of America for his narrative debut, A PRIVATE WAR—making Heineman and Martin Scorsese the only filmmakers ever nominated for both narrative and documentary DGA Awards. Heineman’s latest film AMERICAN SYMPHONY premiered at the 2023 Telluride Film Festival where it was acquired by Netflix and Michelle and Barack Obama’s Higher Ground Productions. Heineman previously directed and produced RETROGRADE which was shortlisted for an Academy Award®  and won three Emmy® Awards. A year earlier THE FIRST WAVE was also shortlisted for an Academy Award and won three Emmy Awards, including Best Documentary. Heineman previously directed CARTEL LAND, which was nominated for an Academy Award and won three Emmy Awards and a DGA Award; CITY OF GHOSTS, for which he won a DGA Award; and two seasons of the Emmy-winning docuseries THE TRADE. He also directed HBO’s Emmy Award-winning TIGER and THE BOY FROM MEDELLIN.