Aaron Matthews is an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose films have appeared on national and international television and in numerous film festivals around the world.

His current documentary, THE PAPER, goes behind the scenes at a university newspaper embroiled in controversy, following America’s future journalists as they confront the pressures and problems of working in media today. This “fascinating” film “provides insight into the problems facing all news organizations," according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, and was a New York Times Pick of the Week. It received a Cine Golden Eagle Award, and is now being broadcast nationwide on PBS’s Independent Lens series.

In A PANTHER IN AFRICA, Matthews explores the legacy of the 1960s through the eyes of former Black Panther and American exile, Pete O’Neal. The film, hailed by critics as “elegant,” “unique,” and “intimate,” screened at over 35 film festivals worldwide and was nationally broadcast on PBS's P.O.V. series in 2004. It received a Cine Golden Eagle Award, won Best Documentary at the St. Louis International Film Festival, and is now showing nationwide on PBS's Global Voices series.

Matthews made his feature documentary debut with the highly acclaimed
MY AMERICAN GIRLS, which chronicles one Dominican family’s immigrant experiences in Brooklyn. The film, “packed with uncommon honesty and humor,” according to the Los Angeles Times, was also nationally broadcast on P.O.V. in 2001 and was selected for an encore P.O.V. broadcast in 2002. It won Best Documentary at the San Francisco International Latino Film Festival, aired throughout Europe and Latin America, and is now being broadcast nationwide on PBS's True Lives series.

Matthews began his career making short documentary films. TADDO, (about the oldest barber in Brooklyn) played at numerous festivals around the country and was broadcast on The History Channel, as well as public television. TADDO won Best Documentary at The Brooklyn Arts Council Film Festival, won a Bronze Apple Award of Excellence from The National Education Media Network, and was a Finalist at the Independent Film Channel’s National Film Student Competition. THE ART OF THE MOMENT (an in-depth look at three professional New York City improvisers) won The Brooklyn Arts Council’s Tribute to Brooklyn Filmmakers award and was broadcast on New York Public Television.

Matthews has received grants from The Sundance Institute, The Independent Television Service (ITVS), The Jerome Foundation, The New York State Council on the Arts, The Latino Public Broadcasting Company, and The Brooklyn Arts Council.

In addition to his film work, Matthews has worked as a writer and producer for A&E, The History Channel, and The Sundance Channel, and as an English as a Second Language teacher in New York City.

Born in Venezuela, Aaron Matthews grew up in Brooklyn and graduated from Wesleyan University with a degree in English literature.