Meet MATR

MATR Labs is a consultancy for a new era of storytelling based on the belief that stories shape movements and transform our changing global culture. We partner with creators, funders, and brands to propel narrative change by engineering and amplifying projects that matter.

Who we are

We are a team of veteran producers, content strategists, and audience engagement and impact specialists focused on the end-to-end development, production, and release of culturally significant content.

Named for mater, the Latin word for mother, and matter, the essence of all things, MATR nurtures creation, connection, and significance.

Moving stories that matter

What we do

Development & Production

We develop and produce character-driven, auteur-led stories and collaborate with our partners to help shape their projects for maximum reach and impact.

What’s included

Producing and executive producing
Project strategy and development
Editorial and story consulting

Financing, Sales & Distribution

We advise on financing, packaging, festival positioning and go-to-market strategy to ensure the project connects with audiences.

What’s included

Financing plans and funder outreach
Festival and market strategy
Sales representation to streamers and distributors
Release and audience-amplification planning

Audience Engagement & Impact

We design impact campaigns that connect a film to the people and organizations who can carry its message forward, before and after release.

What’s included

Impact strategy and campaign design
Grassroots and nonprofit partnerships
Philanthropic and brand partnerships
Screenings, community events and measurement

Our work

Films we’ve partnered on since founding MATR, across production, financing, sales, strategy and impact.

Man on the Run

Dir. Morgan Neville · Telluride Film Festival · Amazon MGM Studios

Sales

A Life Illuminated

Dir. Tasha Van Zandt · Sandbox Films · Toronto International Film Festival

FinancingStrategyImpact

Orwell: 2+2=5

Dir. Raoul Peck · Cannes Film Festival · NEON

Impact Marketing

Fletcher Street

Dir. Jannat Gargi & David Darg · Moving Mountains Award Winner, Mountainfilm

ProductionDirection

Sugar Babies

Dir. Rachel Fleit · Sundance Film Festival

Sales

Beyond

Dir. Asia Johnson & Michael Kleiman

Impact

Radioheart

Dir. Peter Hilgendorf · SIFF

Advisory

Holding Liat

Dir. Brandon Kramer · Berlinale Documentary Award Winner

Advisory

Coming
soon

In the works

We are in active development and advisory on several projects that will be announced soon.

Our clients and partners

Veil Holdings
Fourth Act Film

Our track record

Before MATR, we developed, produced, financed, sold and/or campaigned for these films at Participant, Endeavor Content, VICE Studios, Vulcan Productions and Westbrook Studios.

In Waves and WarWorld premiere, Telluride Film Festival · NetflixNavy SEAL veterans turn to psychedelic-assisted therapy to heal from the trauma of war.
ShirleyStarring Regina King · NetflixJohn Ridley’s drama about Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to Congress, and her 1972 run for president.
COPA 71World premiere, Toronto International Film Festival · Greenwich EntertainmentThe 1971 Women’s World Cup in Mexico City packed stadiums with fans, then was left out of soccer history.
RadicalSundance Film Festival Favorite Award Winner · UnivisionEugenio Derbez plays a teacher in a Matamoros school whose unconventional methods unlock his students’ potential. Based on a true story.
All the Beauty and the BloodshedVenice Film Festival Golden Lion Winner · Academy Award® Nominee · NEON · HBO Documentary FilmsLaura Poitras’s portrait of artist Nan Goldin and her fight to hold the Sackler family accountable for the opioid crisis.
LIFTNews & Documentary Emmy® Nominee · Paramount+Filmed over a decade with young ballet dancers training in New York while living in homeless shelters.
Master of LightSXSW Film Festival Grand Jury Prize Winner · 3 Emmy® Nominations · HBO Documentary FilmsPainter George Anthony Morton taught himself the techniques of the Old Masters during ten years in federal prison.
DescendantSundance Film Festival Special Jury Award Winner · NetflixDescendants in Africatown, Alabama, reckon with the discovery of the Clotilda, the last known slave ship to reach the U.S.
FOUND100% on Rotten Tomatoes · NetflixThree teenage girls adopted from China discover through a DNA test that they are cousins, and travel to China in search of their birth families.
The First Wave3-time Emmy® Award Winner, including Best Documentary · NEON · Nat GeoFilmed inside a Queens hospital during the first four months of COVID-19 in New York.
Lead Me HomeAcademy Award® Nominee · Best Documentary Short · NetflixShot over three years in Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles to show the reality of homelessness on the West Coast.
Summer of SoulAcademy Award® Winner · Best Documentary Feature · HuluQuestlove’s directing debut brought back footage of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival that had sat unseen in a basement for 50 years.
FLEE3-time Academy Award® Nominee · NEONThe first film ever nominated for Best Documentary, Best Animated Feature and Best International Feature in the same year.
Hunger WardAcademy Award® Nominee · Best Documentary Short · MTV Documentary FilmsFilmed inside two therapeutic feeding centers in Yemen, where health workers fight to save starving children.
Youth v GovJackson Wild Media Award Winner · NetflixFollows the 21 young Americans who sued the U.S. government over its role in the climate crisis.
The Reason I JumpSundance Film Festival Audience Award Winner · Disney+Adapted from the book Naoki Higashida wrote at 13 about life as a nonspeaking autistic boy.
Dark WatersStarring Mark Ruffalo · Focus FeaturesBased on the true story of lawyer Rob Bilott’s decades-long fight against DuPont over toxic “forever chemicals.”
Ghost FleetWorld premiere, Telluride Film FestivalActivists search remote Indonesian islands for fishermen enslaved on Thai fishing boats and bring them home.
The Price of FreeSundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize Winner · YouTube OriginalsFollows Nobel Peace Prize laureate Kailash Satyarthi and his team as they rescue children from forced labor in India.
BlindspottingWorld premiere, Sundance Film Festival · LionsgateDaveed Diggs and Rafael Casal wrote and star in this Oakland story of a man with three days left on probation who witnesses a police shooting.
Won’t You Be My Neighbor?Independent Spirit Award Winner · PGA Award Winner · Focus FeaturesMorgan Neville’s portrait of Fred Rogers became the highest-grossing biographical documentary of all time.
Knife SkillsAcademy Award® Nominee · Best Documentary Short · NYT Op-DocsGoes inside the chaotic opening of a Cleveland French restaurant staffed almost entirely by people just out of prison.
An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to PowerWorld premiere, Sundance Film Festival · ParamountA decade after An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore continues his fight to train climate leaders and push for a global agreement.
STEPSundance Film Festival Special Jury Award Winner · Fox SearchlightA Baltimore girls’ step team chases a championship, and college acceptances, during their senior year.
Body Team 12Academy Award® Nominee · Best Documentary Short · Emmy® Winner · HBO Documentary FilmsFollows the Liberian Red Cross team that collected the bodies of Ebola victims at the height of the outbreak.

The founding team

Three founders with over 30 years of broad-ranging experience, across producing, sales and distribution, and impact.