James Moll

James Moll is an American director and producer of film documentaries and television documentaries. His documentary work has earned him an Academy Award, two Emmys, and a Grammy. Moll's production company, Allentown Productions Inc., was based at Universal Studios from 1994 to 2018, primarily producing non-fiction film and television projects. Moll also served for ten years on the executive committee of the documentary branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and is the founding chair of the documentary committee for the Directors Guild of America.

Early life and education Moll was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania and attended and graduated from the USC School of Cinematic Arts in 1987.

Career

Film and television Moll began his professional career as an intern reading scripts for film producer Lauren Shuler Donner, who later hired him as an assistant to French writer-director Francis Veber for Veber's American remake of "Les Fugitifs", Three Fugitives.

In 1996, Moll's first documentary as producer, Survivors of the Holocaust, received two Prime Time Emmy Awards and a third nomination.

In March 1999, James Moll received the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for directing The Last Days. Steven Spielberg is executive producer of the film, which chronicles the lives of five Hungarian Jews during the Holocaust.

He directed and produced the feature-length documentary Price for Peace, which premiered prime time on NBC in 2002 and was hosted by Tom Brokaw; the late author Stephen Ambrose and Steven Spielberg are its executive producers. The film focuses on America's involvement in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II. It was produced in collaboration with DreamWorks and The National WWII Museum in New Orleans.

Moll directed and produced the 2007 feature-length documentary Running the Sahara about three men who ran 4,300 miles across the Sahara desert from Senegal to Egypt. Matt Damon is executive producer of the film, which promotes Water.org, formerly the H2O Africa Foundation, co-founded by Damon to raise awareness of clean water initiatives in Africa.

In 2009, Moll was nominated for two Emmy Awards winning one of them, from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for Inheritance. The film profiles Monika Göth Hertwig and her struggle dealing with her father's involvement in The Holocaust. Monika's father, S.S. Captain Amon Göth, who attained international notoriety after being portrayed by Ralph Fiennes in Schindler's List was executed for war crimes in 1946.

Moll directed the 2011 feature documentary Foo Fighters: Back and Forth, profiling rock band Foo Fighters' career. In 2012, Moll won a Grammy Award for "Best Music Video, Long Form" for the documentary.

Moll directed the 2017 documentary Obey Giant, which chronicles artist Shepard Fairey's personal story from his Charleston, South Carolina origins through his emergence as an iconoclastic brand.

In 2018, Moll completed his work#tag:ref|Moll served as an executive producer of the entire docu-series and directed three of the eight episodes. The documentary miniseries profiles the acts of heroism and selflessness exhibited by eight American soldiers who were awarded the Medal of Honor, the U.S. military's highest and most prestigious military honor for acts of valor.