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Sebastian Heidinger was born on December 3, 1978 in Füssen, Allgäu. After his civilian service in a center for the elderly, he made the semi-documentary short film "Ahab im Altersheim" in 1999, which was nominated for the Bavarian Youth Film Award. From 1999 to 2001 he worked as a writer, production assistant and editor as well as other jobs in Hamburg and Berlin. From 2002 to 2007, he studied film and television directing at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (dffb), where he made further semi-documentary films, among them "Lichtenberg" (2004) and the doc triptych "Der Prinz/Ludwig Zwo/Harakiri".
While Heidinger was shooting his graduation film "Drifter", he founded Boekamp & Freunde Filmproduktion together with Nils Boekamp. "Drifter," a portrait of three teenagers in the drug and prostitution scene around Berlin's Zoo station, won the Dialogue en perspective award at the 2008 Berlinale.
After shooting a segment of the 24-hour observation "24h Berlin," he took an unusual look at the Afghan capital in "Traumfabrik Kabul" ("Kabul Dream Factory", 2011), portraying police officer, actress and film producer Saba Sahar, who advocates for women's rights. "Traumfabrik Kabul" was awarded Documentary of the Month by the German Film Rating Board FBW.
Heidinger then worked in various capacities on projects by other filmmakers and was involved in the international documentary film project "Cinema en curs – Filmen macht Schule" with schoolchildren. In the documentary "Der Hellseher" ("Blind Man Watching", 2018) by Fausto Molina about his own blindness, he was both co-producer and editor.
Sebastian Heidinger died on May 27, 2021 at the age of 42.