Matthew Alford's PhD thesis applied Noam Chomsky's Propaganda Model to contemporary Hollywood and his subsequent research similarly concerns the representation of Western exceptionalism.

He teaches on a range of subjects - Film & Media, International Relations, and British & American politics - and is a Fellow of the HEA.

Dr. Alford's first documentary feature film, The Writer with No Hands (2014), followed his investigation into the disappearance of a Hollywood screenwriter.  It premiered at Hot Docs, Toronto and received three wins at festivals worldwide.  The stage adaptation of the associated novel was previewed in 2020 at independent venues and on Livestream. 

Alford's second documentary, Theatres of Command:  The Military Occupation of Hollywood (2020) is distributed worldwide by the Media Education Foundation in Massachusetts.  The film is based on his co-authored book National Security Cinema: The Shocking New Evidence of Government Control in Hollywood (2017; 2020) and draws on his research trip to the Department of Defense's film archive in Washington DC.  

In 2018, he co-authored the book Union Jackboot:  What Your Media and Professors Won't Tell You About British Foreign Policy.  His first book was published by Pluto Press in 2010 and later translated into Chinese and French.