Quotes from Matthew Heineman

You can't win a battle against an idea with bombs, with guns, or militarily.

Sundance is incredible and has been very important for my career as a filmmaker, but it's also not the only route to success. There are a ton of great movies that don't get in and go on and do wonderfully.

I think health care is incredibly, incredibly important.

We have a disease care system, not a health care system.

We as a society need to become healthier.

I think it doesn't matter, the color of your skin; it doesn't matter where you are from. It matters how you relate to people, how you connect with people, and the open-mindedness with which you approach the subject. That's to me what matters when you are making a film, not who you are or where you are from.

It's hard making people sitting in hotel rooms interesting.

Too often, we rely on other people - whether it be politicians or institutions - to effect change.

I'm not a war reporter.

My dad sent me a clipping about the self-defence militias in Mexico. Immediately, when I read it, I knew I wanted to create a parallel story about vigilantes on both sides of the border.

Hospitals should be paid to keep patients out of the hospital, not for signing up more and more patients.

I was fascinated by what happens when government institutions fail and citizens take the law into their own hands.

I have faith in an audience being able to interpret complex material.

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.

The amount of money that's being put into long-form investigative journalism has become less and less.

I almost obsessively began reading about what was happening with the so-called Islamic State. But I couldn't find an angle on the story.

When you are part of a cartel, you don't have a Costco card that says, 'I'm a card-carrying member of the cartel.'

I fell in love with Mexico. I fell in love with the people.

I think in 'Escape Fire,' we really look at the military as a microcosm for the rest of America.

I think we as a society, a global community, we as governments, need to figure out ways to combat ISIS, not just as a military force but as an idea.

Sound is the most important thing on any film, especially documentaries.

I was fascinated by what motivates men and women to fight for what they believe in.

I barely speak Spanish.

In the Affordable Care Act, Congress provided access to medical care for nearly 30 million uninsured Americans. Access is critically important, but offering access to an already broken system won't provide a lasting cure. We need to ask and answer the underlying question: Access to what?