Matthew Leutwyler is an acclaimed writer, director, and producer from Los Angeles with a decades-long career in Hollywood. His directing credits include the adaptation of the acclaimed novel The River Why, starring Academy Award-winner William Hurt, Zach Gilford, and Amber Heard; the critically acclaimed sci-fi drama Uncanny with Mark Webber and Rainn Wilson; and others. He also executive produced James Gunn’s Super, starring Rainn Wilson and Elliot Page, and The Girl Most Likely with Kristen Wiig and Annette Bening.

In 2012, Matthew co-founded the theatrical distributor The Film Arcade, overseeing the marketing of acclaimed films such as Afternoon Delight — a Sundance winner and Independent Spirit Award nominee starring Kathryn Hahn and Jane Lynch — as well as Sundance entries The Other Dream Team and A.C.O.D., featuring Amy Poehler, Adam Scott, and Jessica Alba. He later returned to producing with the award-winning documentary Spinning Plates.

In 2018, Matthew co-created The Bank for The Africa Channel, and in 2019 he spent six months in Mumbai directing and co-showrunning the ZEE5 series State of Siege: 26/11, based on the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks. The series became one of India’s most-watched shows and earned six Filmfare OTT Award nominations — including Best Actor, Cinematography, Production Design, Background Music, and Original Soundtrack — all while being produced at roughly one-third the budget of comparable Indian prestige dramas.

Since 2020, Matthew and longtime collaborator Anton Laines, through their company KG28 Media, have been documenting the life of legendary Congolese boxing champion Kibomango and the all-women boxing team he built in response to sexual violence and poverty. In August 2022, they began production of a scripted dramatization titled Fight Like A Girl, written, directed, and edited by Matthew. It received eight Africa Movie Academy Award nominations, including Best Screenplay, won Best Film at the South African Independent Film Festival, and Best Feature at the 2024 Dances With Films Festival: LA, and will be released in North America and Europe in late 2025.

In January 2025, following a rebel attack on a village in Eastern Congo, Matthew helped coordinate the evacuation of 40 children supported by his NGO, We Are Limitless. Kibomango, a central figure in the film, was instrumental in the mission but was tragically killed while assisting in the evacuation. The story was covered by both CNN and BBC International, and Fight Like A Girl is now dedicated to his memory.

Now based in Rwanda, Matthew continues to run We Are Limitless, which has provided education and healthcare to Rwandan and Congolese youth since 2012. He also owns Lavana, a popular Kigali restaurant named after his mother. His commercial work includes campaigns for Chevy Volt, Coke Zero, and a music video for Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds. He is developing a Nigerian oil-piracy thriller, the comedy series The Republic of NGO with South Africa–based Academy Award nominees Rose & Oaks, and two India-set projects: The Change Agent, a conspiracy thriller about a former military lawyer who uncovers dark secrets behind a Hyderabad biotech giant’s gene-editing breakthrough; and The Rickshaw Rally, a comedic adventure about two unlikely women who enter a chaotic cross-country rickshaw race.