# Motto Pictures

Motto Pictures is a documentary production company based in Brooklyn, New York, specializing in producing and executive producing documentary features. Motto secures financing, builds distribution strategies, and creatively develops films, and has produced over 25 feature documentaries and won numerous awards.

## History

Motto Pictures was founded in 2009 by Julie Goldman and Christopher Clements, Emmy and Peabody Award-winning producers of documentary feature films.

## Films

| Year | Film | Director(s) | Awards |
| 2009 | Sergio | Greg Barker | Sundance Film Festival: 2009 Premiere Sundance Film Festival: 2009 Documentary Film Editing Award Primetime Emmy Nominee: 2010 Exceptional Merit in Nonfiction Filmmaking Producers Guild Association: 2010 Nominee for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures International Documentary Association: 2009 Nominee for ABCNews VideoSource Award |
| 2011 | Buck | Cindy Meehl | Sundance Film Festival: 2011 Premiere Sundance Film Festival: 2011 Audience Award Shortlisted for 2012 Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary National Board of Review: 2011 Top Five Documentaries Critics’ Choice Movie Award Nominee: 2012 Best Documentary Feature Full Frame Documentary Film Festival: 2011 Audience Award DocuWest Film Festival: 2011 Best Feature Length Cinema Eye Honors: 2012 Audience Choice Prize Zurich Film Festival: 2011 Golden Eye Best International Documentary Film Broadcast Film Critics Association: 2012 Best Documentary Feature New York Film Critics Circle Awards: 2011 3rd place NYFCC Award for Best Non-Fiction Film Warsaw International Film Festival: 2011 Audience Award for Documentary and Best Documentary nominee Gotham Independent Film Awards: 2011 Gotham Audience Award Nominee |
| 2011 | Koran By Heart | Greg Barker | Tribeca Film Festival: 2011 Premiere Tribeca Film Festival: 2011 Jury Award nominee for Best Documentary Feature Motion Picture Sound Editors: 2012 Golden Reel Nominee for Best Sound Editing – Long Form Documentary Banff Television Festival: 2012 Nominee, Best Youth Program: Non-Fiction |
| 2011 | Our School | Mona Nicoara, Miruna Coca-Cozma | Tribeca Film Festival: 2011 North America Premiere Tribeca Film Festival: 2011 Jury Award nominee for Best Documentary Feature Silverdocs Documentary Festival: 2011 Sterling Award for Best U.S. Feature Créteil International Women's Film Festival: 2012 Graine de Cinéphage Award for Best Picture |
| 2011 | Better This World | Kelly Duane, Katie Galloway | SXSW Film Festival: 2011 Premiere Emmy Awards Nominee: 2012 Best Documentary Emmy Awards Nominee: 2012 Outstanding Investigative Journalism – Long Form Emmy Awards Nominee: 2012 Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Craft: Editing – Documentary and Long Form International Documentary Association: 2011 Creative Recognition Award: Music International Documentary Association: 2011 Best Feature Nominee Writers Guild of America: 2012 Best Documentary Screenplay Gotham Independent Film Awards: 2011 Best Documentary San Francisco International Film Festival: 2011 Best Documentary Feature Sarasota Film Festival: 2011 Best Documentary Feature Dallas Video Festival: 2011 Best Documentary Cinema Eye Honors: 2012 Nominee for Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design or Animation |
| 2012 | Beware of Mr. Baker | Jay Bulger | SXSW Film Festival: 2012 Premiere SXSW Film Festival: 2012 Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary Feature CPH:DOX: 2012 Sound & Vision Award London Film Festival: 2012 Grierson Award Nominee Krakow Film Festival: 2013 Golden Heynal Award |
| 2012 | A Place at the Table | Kristi Jacobson, Lori Silverbush | Sundance Film Festival: 2012 Official Selection Producers Guild of America: 2014 Nominee for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Motion Pictures International Documentary Association: 2013 Pare Lorentz Award |
| 2012 | Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry | Alison Klayman | Sundance Film Festival: 2012 Premiere Sundance Film Festival: 2012 Special Jury Prize Sundance Film Festival: Grand Jury Prize Nominee Emmy Award Nominee: 2014 Outstanding Arts & Culture Programming Emmy Award Nominee: 2014 Outstanding Editing National Board of Review: 2012 Top Five Documentaries Directors Guild of America: 2013 Nominee for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University: 2013 Broadcast News Award Nantucket Film Festival: 2012 Best Storytelling in Documentary Award Telluride Mountainfilm Festival: 2012 Festival Director's Choice Award Cinema Eye Honors: 2013 Nominee for Outstanding Achievement in Production and Outstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature Film Sheffield International Documentary Festival: 2012 Special Jury Award Nominee Vancouver Film Critics Circle (VFCC): 2013 Best Documentary Nominee Taiwan International Documentary Film Festival: 2012 Special Mention Award, International Competition |
| 2013 | Manhunt: The Search for Bin Laden | Greg Barker | Sundance Film Festival: 2013 Premiere Sundance Film Festival: 2013 Grand Jury Prize Nominee Emmy Awards Winner: 2013 Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special Emmy Awards Nominee: 2013 Outstanding Cinematography for Nonfiction Programming Motion Picture Sound Editors: 2014 Best Sound Editing – Long Form Documentary |
| 2013 | The Kill Team | Dan Krauss | Tribeca Film Festival: 2013 Premiere Tribeca Film Festival: 2013 Best Documentary Feature Shortlisted for 2015 Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary Independent Spirit Awards: 2014 Nominee for Truer Than Fiction Award National Board of Review, USA: 2014 Top Five Documentaries San Francisco International Film Festival: 2013 Golden Gate Award Directors Guild of America: 2015 Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary Nominee News & Documentary Emmy Award: 2016 Nominee for Outstanding Investigative Journalism – Long Form Warsaw International Film Festival: 2013 Best Documentary Nominee |
| 2013 | God Loves Uganda | Roger Ross Williams | Sundance Film Festival: 2013 Premiere Sundance Film Festival: 2013 Grand Jury Prize Nominee Shortlisted for 2014 Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary Sheffield Doc/Fest: 2013 Sheffield Youth Jury Award Ashland Independent Film Festival: 2013 Award for Best Documentary: Feature Length Full Frame Documentary Film Festival: 2013 Inspiration Award GLAAD Media Award: 2014 Nominee for Outstanding Documentary |
| 2013 | Gideon's Army | Dawn Porter | Sundance Film Festival: 2013 Premiere Sundance Film Festival: 2013 US Documentary Editing Award Sundance Film Festival: 2013 Nominee for Grand Jury Prize Emmy Awards Nominee: 2014 Outstanding Informational Programming - Long Form Independent Spirit Awards: 2014 Nominee for Best Documentary The Ridenhour Prizes: 2014 Documentary Film Prize Social Impact Media Awards: 2014 Best Editing Cinema Eye Honors: 2014 Nominee for Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Filmmaking Television |
| 2014 | The Great Invisible | Margaret Brown | SXSW Film Festival: 2014 Premiere SXSW Film Festival: 2014 Grand Jury Prize Emmy Award Nominee: Primetime Emmy for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking Zurich Film Festival: 2014 Golden Eye nominee for Best International Documentary Film Cinema Eye Honors: 2015 nominee for Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Score |
| 2014 | 1971 | Johanna Hamilton | Tribeca Film Festival: 2014 Premiere Tribeca Film Festival: Nominee for Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature International Documentary Association: 2014 ABCNews VideoSource Award Cinema Eye Honors: 2015 Spotlight Award Emmy Award Nominee: 2016 Outstanding Historical Programming – Long Form |
| 2014 | Art and Craft | Sam Cullman, Jennifer Grausman | Tribeca Film Festival: 2014 Premiere Shortlisted for 2015 Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary Emmy Award Nominee: 2016 Outstanding Arts & Culture Programming National Board Review: 2014 Top Five Documentaries Cinema Eye Honors: 2015 Award for ‘The Unforgettables’ |
| 2014 | We Are the Giant | Greg Barker | Sundance Film Festival: 2014 Premiere Hawaii International Film Festival: 2014 Halekulani Golden Orchid Documentary Feature Award SXSW Film Festival: 2015 Nominee for Film Design Award for Excellence in Title Design |
| 2014 | The Yes Men Are Revolting | Andy Bichlbaum, Mike Bonanno, Laura Nix | Toronto International Film Festival: 2014 Premiere Berlin International Film Festival: 2015 2nd place Panorama Audience Award for Documentary Film |
| 2015 | Blackface | Roger Ross Williams | Premiered on CNN |
| 2015 | Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble | Morgan Neville | Toronto International Film Festival: 2015 Premiere Emmy Award: 2018 Outstanding Music & Sound Cinema Audio Society Awards: 2017 Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Motion Pictures – Documentary Heartland Film Festival: 2016 Truly Moving Picture Award Provincetown International Film Festival: 2016 Best Documentary Award Motion Picture Sound Editors: 2017 Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing – Documentary Feature Film Sydney Film Festival: 2016 3rd place Audience Award for Best Documentary Critics' Choice Documentary Award: 2016 Nominee for Best Music Documentary |
| 2015 | The 100 Years Show | Alison Klayman | Tribeca Film Festival: 2015 Premiere Heartland Film Festival: 2015 Grand Prize for Best Documentary Short Ashland Independent Film Festival: 2016 Best Documentary Short RiverRun International Film Festival: 2016 Best Documentary Short Ozark Foothills Film Festival: 2016 Best Documentary Short Docutah International Documentary Film Festival: 2016 Best Short Picture, 2016 Best Short Direction, 2016 Best Short Editing |
| 2015 | 3 1/2 Minutes, Ten Bullets | Marc Silver | Sundance Film Festival: 2015 Premiere Sundance Film Festival: 2015 Special Jury Prize Shortlisted for 2016 Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary Emmy Award Nominee: 2016 Outstanding Coverage of a Current News Story - Long Form Sheffield International Documentary Festival: 2015 Sheffield Youth Jury Award RiverRun International Film Festival: 2015 Audience Choice Award for Best Documentary Feature |
| 2015 | Best of Enemies | Robert Gordon, Morgan Neville | Sundance Film Festival: 2015 Premiere Sundance Film Festival: 2015 Documentary Grand Jury Prize nominee Shortlisted for 2016 Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary Emmy Award Winner: 2017 Outstanding Historical Documentary - Long Form National Board of Review: 2015 Top Five Documentaries Camden International Film Festival: Audience Award International Documentary Association: 2015 Creative Recognition Award and Video Source Award Motion Picture Sound Editors: 2016 Golden Reel Award nominee for Best Sound Editing – Documentary Feature Film Cinema Eye Honors: 2016 Audience Choice Prize Honors and Award for Outstanding Achievement in Editing Film Independent Spirit Awards: 2016 Nominee for Best Documentary Feature |
| 2015 | Indian Point | Ivy Meeropol | Tribeca Film Festival: 2015 Premiere Key West Film Festival: 2015 Best Documentary Award |
| 2016 | Homegrown | Greg Barker | Premiered on HBO |
| 2016 | Southwest of Salem: The Story of the San Antonio Four | Deborah S. Esquenazi | Tribeca Film Festival: 2016 Premiere Emmy Award Nominee: 2017 Outstanding Social Issue Documentary Shortlisted for 2017 Academy Award for Best Original Song (“ Kiss Me Goodnight ,” composed by Sam Lipman) Peabody Award: 2016 Documentary Category Critics’ Choice Documentary Award: 2016 Nominee for Best First Documentary (TV / Streaming) GLAAD Media Award: 2016 Outstanding Documentary Award Social Impact Media Awards: 2017 Lens to Action in a Documentary Feature Jury Prize Award |
| 2016 | Solitary | Kristi Jacobson | Tribeca Film Festival: 2016 Premiere Film Independent Spirit Awards: 2017 Nominee for Truer Than Fiction Award |
| 2016 | Enlighten Us: The Rise and Fall of James Arthur Ray | Jenny Carchman | Tribeca Film Festival: 2015 Premiere |
| 2016 | Extremis | Dan Krauss | Tribeca Film Festival: 2016 Premiere Tribeca Film Festival: 2016 Best Documentary Short Award Academy Award Nominee: 2017 Best Documentary Short Subject Emmy Award Nominee: 2017 Outstanding Short Documentary Emmy Award Nominee: 2017 Outstanding Editing: Documentary International Documentary Association: 2016 Best Short Award San Francisco International Film Festival: 2016 Golden Gate Award |
| 2016 | Life, Animated | Roger Ross Williams | Sundance Film Festival: 2016 Premiere Sundance Film Festival: 2016 Sundance Directing Award for U.S. Documentary Academy Award Nominee: 2017 Best Documentary Feature Full Frame Documentary Film Festival: 2016 Audience Award San Francisco International Film Festival: 2016 Audience Award Nantucket Film Festival: 2016 Audience Award Telluride Mountainfilm: 2016 Audience Award National Board of Review: 2017 Top Five Documentaries Annie Award: 2017 Special Achievement Award Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival: 2017 2nd place Award for the IDFA Audience Award Berkshire International Film Festival (BIFF): 2017 Documentary Feature Audience Award Critics' Choice Documentary Award: 2016 Most Compelling Living Subject of a Documentary Directors Guild of America: 2017 Nominee for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary Producers Guild of America: Nominee for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion |
| 2016 | Weiner | Josh Kriegman, Elyse Steinberg | Sundance Film Festival: 2016 Premiere Sundance Film Festival: 2016 Grand Jury Prize for Documentary Shortlisted for 2017 Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards: 2016 Best First Documentary BAFTA Awards: 2017 Nominee for Best Documentary Directors Guild of America: 2017 Nominee for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary American Cinema Editors’ Eddie Awards: 2017 Nominee for Best Edited Documentary Feature Dublin Film Critics Circle Awards: 2016 Best Documentary International Documentary Association: 2016 Nominee for Best Feature Champs-Élysées Film Festival: 2016 Jury Prize Montclair Film Festival: 2016 David Carr Award for Truth in Non-Fiction Filmmaking San Diego Film Critics Society Awards: 2016 Best Documentary New Hampshire Film Festival: 2016 Audience Choice Award – Documentary |
| 2016 | Abacus: Small Enough to Jail | Steve James | Toronto International Film Festival: 2016 Premiere Academy Award Nominee: 2018 Best Documentary Feature Emmy Award: 2018 Outstanding Business and Economic Documentary Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards: 2017 Best Political Documentary National Board of Review: 2017 Top Five Documentaries Chicago Film Critics Association: 2017 Nominee for Best Documentary Sarasota Film Festival: 2017 Best Documentary Portland International Film Festival: 2017 third place Audience Award for Best Documentary |
| 2017 | The Family I Had | Katie Green, Carlye Rubin | Tribeca Film Festival: 2017 Premiere |
| 2017 | Shadowman | Oren Jacoby | Tribeca Film Festival: 2017 Premiere |
| 2017 | When God Sleeps | Till Schauder | Tribeca Film Festival: 2017 Premiere Shortlisted for 2017 German Academy Award for Best Documentary Cinema for Peace Awards: 2017 Most Valuable Documentary of the Year Krakow Film Festival: 2017 Best Music Documentary Sound Unseen Film Festival: 2017 Jury Competition Award |
| 2017 | The Final Year | Greg Barker | Toronto International Film Festival: 2017 Premiere |
| 2018 | The Cleaners | Moritz Riesewieck, Hans Block | Sundance Film Festival: 2018 PremiereInternational Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights: Winner of the Gilda Vieira De Mello Award |
| 2018 | Inventing Tomorrow | Laura Nix | Sundance Film Festival: 2018 PremiereSeattle International Film Festival: 2018 Grand Jury Prize |
| 2018 | Take Your Pills | Alison Klayman | SXSW Film Festival: 2018 Premiere |
| 2018 | The Raft | Marcus Lindeen | CPH:DOX: 2018 Premiere and Dox:Award Winner |
| 2018 | Charm City | Marilyn Ness | Tribeca Film Festival: 2018 Premiere |
| 2018 | Love, Gilda | Lisa D'Apolito | Tribeca Film Festival: 2018 Premiere |
| 2018 | Take Back the Harbor | Kristi Jacobson, Roger Ross Williams | DOC NYC: 2018 Premiere New York Wild Film Festival: 2019 Best Wild New York Film Winner |
| 2019 | One Child Nation | Nanfu Wang, Jialing Zhang | Sundance Film Festival: 2019 Premiere Sundance Film Festival: 2019 U.S. Documentary Grand Jury Prize Winner |
| 2019 | Bully. Coward. Victim. The Story of Roy Cohn | Ivy Meeropol | New York Film Festival: 2019 Premiere |
| 2019 | Oliver Sacks: His Own Life | Ric Burns | Telluride Film Festival: 2019 Premiere |
| 2019 | The Apollo | Roger Ross Williams | Tribeca Film Festival: 2019 Premiere |
| 2019 | Ringside | André Hörmann | Berlin International Film Festival: 2019 Premiere Chicago International Film Festival: 2019 Winner for Best Documentary |
| 2019 | The Raft | Marcus Lindeen | CPH:DOX: 2018 Premiere CPH:DOX: 2018 Grand Jury Prize Winner |
| 2020 | Socks on Fire | Bo McGuire | Tribeca Film Festival: 2020 Premiere Tribeca Film Festival Winner for Best Documentary Feature 2020 L.A. Outfest: 2021 Winner for Artistic Achievement Nashville Film Festival: 2021 Winner for Best Documentary Feature Virginia Film Festival: 2021 Winner for Best Documentary Feature |
| 2020 | The Mole Agent | Maite Alberdi | Sundance Film Festival: 2020 Premiere San Sebastián Film Festival: 2020 Audience Award Academy Award Nomination: Best Documentary 63rd Ariel Awards: 2021 Best Ibero American Film Premios Platino: 2021 Best Documentary Film DOC NYC: 2020 New Directors New Films: 2020 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam: 2020 |
| 2020 | A Thousand Cuts | Ramona S. Diaz | Sundance Film Festival: 2020 Official Selection DOC NYC Short List: 2020 Official Selection SXSW: 2020 Official Selection AFI DOCS: 2020 Official Selection IDFA: 2020 Official Selection IDA Documentary Awards: Winner for Truth to Power IFP Gotham Awards: Winner for Best Documentary Cinema Eye Honors: Winner for The Unforgettables Cinema Eye Honors: Nominee for Best Production 2022 Peabody Award Winner |
| 2021 | In the Same Breath | Nanfu Wang | Sundance Film Festival: 2021 World Premiere SXSW 2021 Audience Award Winner One World Film Festival 2021 Right to Know Winner DOC NYC: 2021 Short List Alfred I. duPont-Columbia: 2022 Award Winner 2022 Peabody Award Winner |
| 2021 | The Velvet Underground | Todd Haynes | Cannes Film Festival: 2021 World Premiere New York Film Festival: 2021 US Premiere London Film Festival: 2021 UK Premiere Boston Society of Film Critics Awards: 2021 Winner for Best Film Editing San Sebastián International Film Festival: 2021 |
| 2022 | The Return of Tanya Tucker: Featuring Brandi Carlile | Kathlyn Horan | South by Southwest: 2022 Premiere South by Southwest: 2022 Audience Beats Per Second Award |
| 2022 | American Pain | Darren Foster | Tribeca Film Festival: 2022 Premiere |
| 2022 | Unfinished Business | Alison Klayman | Tribeca Film Festival: 2022 Premiere |
| 2023 | Victim/Suspect | Nancy Schwartzman | 2023 Sundance Film Festival: 2023 Premiere |
| 2024 | Eternal You | Hans Block & Moritz Riesewieck | 2024 Sundance Film Festival: 2024 premiere |
| 2025 | Selena y Los Dinos | Isabel Castro | 2025 Sundance Film Festival: 2025 premiere |