Firelight Films

06/30/2025

Becoming Thurgood: America's Social Architect premieres September 9 on . Executive produced by Stanley Nelson and Travis Mitchell and directed by Alexis Aggrey, the new documentary explores the life and legacy of Thurgood Marshall, the nation’s first African American Supreme Court Justice https://buff.ly/oJVHD6D

06/12/2025

Watch Sun Ra: Do The Impossible, directed by Christine Turner, at the Film Festival on Saturday, June 14 at 2:00 PM. Get your tickets now! https://buff.ly/wpZ0FrW

06/09/2025

POSTER REVEAL! We’re thrilled to share the poster design for ‘Sun Ra: Do The Impossible,’ which has its sold-out World Premiere tomorrow night at Tribeca Festival! Additional Tribeca screenings are scheduled for the 11th, 12th, and 14th – find tickets via the link in our bio.

Poet, Egyptolotist, cosmologist, historian, activist, bandleader, musician… jazz pioneer Sun Ra was all of these. In this illuminating biography, Christine Turner takes us on a complex journey through the life of a complex man who either was born in Birmingham, Alabama, sent from Saturn, or both.

06/09/2025

Join NOVA at Harvard Medical School for a screening of selected clips from Critical Condition: Health In Black America with a panel discussion featuring filmmakers and experts from the film. Wednesday, June 11, 2025, 6:00pm.

Join NOVA at Harvard Medical School for a screening of selected clips from Critical Condition and When Machines Prescribe paired with a panel discussion featuring filmmakers and experts from the film. The program will begin at 6PM and the screening and panel discussion will be followed by a catered....

06/05/2025

Read about archival researcher Rosemary Rotondi, who has been a “super sleuth” for documentary filmmakers. Carefully combing through archival records, photos, and videos, she has provided crucial historical documentation for films such as Stanley Nelson’s 2022 Academy Award Nominee (for “Best Documentary Picture”) Attica via Culture Sonar.
https://bit.ly/4jR4ZPH

06/04/2025

Attend a Free Rooftop Films Screening: We Want the Funk! Directed by Stanley Nelson and Co-Directed by Nicole London on Wednesday, June 11, at 7:00 PM at the Louis Armstrong House Museum in Queens.

The syncopated story of funk music, from its roots to the explosion of '70s urban funk and beyond.

05/28/2025

Join us at the Tribeca Film Festival for Sun Ra: Do The Impossible, an illuminating biography, directed by Christine Turner and executive produced by Stanley Nelson. Get your tickets now! https://buff.ly/xSXpTKK ✨

05/23/2025

From Oscar-nominated filmmaker Stanley Nelson, 'Critical Condition: Health in Black America' explores the maternal health crisis affecting Black women in the U.S. Black maternal health disparities are a critical public health and human rights issue. Addressing these disparities is essential to ensuring that all mothers can experience safe pregnancies, dignified births, and thriving postpartum lives. It’s not just about healthcare, it’s about justice. Stream 'Critical Condition: Health in Black America' now via PBS' NOVA.

05/23/2025

Join NOVA at Harvard Medical School for a screening of selected clips from Critical Condition: Health In Black America with a panel discussion featuring filmmakers and experts from the film. Wednesday, June 11, 2025, 6:00pm.

Black Americans are nearly twice as likely to have high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease than White Americans, and their life expectancy is about five years shorter.In Critical Condition: Health in Black America, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Stanley Nelson investigates the dramatic...

05/22/2025

Happy Earth Arrival Day to the great Sun Ra!

The jazz pioneer was born on this day in 1914. In the new Firelight Films documentary ‘Sun Ra: Do the Impossible,’ directed by Christine Turner, learn about his experience as a Black man growing up in Jim Crow America, the musical and philosophical currents that shaped him, and how, more than 30 years after his death, his ideas, music, and performances continue to inspire.

‘Sun Ra: Do the Impossible’ premieres at Tribeca Festival on June 10, with subsequent screenings on the 11th, 12th, and 14th. Get tickets now: https://tribecafilm.com/films/sun-ra-do-the-impossible-2025

1. Photo credit: Lindy Pollard Photography
2. Photo credit: Hans Kumpf
3. Photo credit: Lindy Pollard Photography
4. Photo credit: Hans Kumpf

05/19/2025

Attend a Free Rooftop Films Screening: We Want the Funk! Directed by Stanley Nelson and Co-Directed by Nicole London on Wednesday, June 11, at 7:00 PM at the Louis Armstrong House Museum in Queens. RSVP now!

The syncopated story of funk music, from its roots to the explosion of '70s urban funk and beyond.

05/16/2025

🎉 Over 1 MILLION VIEWS and counting! 🎉 WE WANT THE FUNK!, directed by the legendary Stanley Nelson and co-directed by the brilliant Nicole London, officially reached a major milestone on YouTube! 💥 Thank you for watching and sharing!

Official website: https://to.pbs.org/IL_2024 | “WE WANT THE FUNK!,” a syncopated voyage through the history of funk music, spans from gospel, so...