Firelight Media

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Firelight Media

Firelight Media is a nonprofit organization that supports, resources, and advocates on behalf of documentary filmmakers of color.

Join us in celebrating 25 years of changing the story in 2025! ABOUT FIRELIGHT MEDIA
Documentary storytelling is among the most powerful tools for artistic expression and advancing social justice. For more than a century, people of color have harnessed the power of image-making to showcase and celebrate our full humanity and to cultivate communities of action. This collective work has created new

visual languages, moved the arc of history toward justice, inspired audiences, and, ultimately, created a new canon of BIPOC cinema. We see our work as a continuation of this legacy. Filmmakers of color continue to build creative communities that advance the art of documentary. Yet, in the larger documentary field, BIPOC filmmakers still struggle to find artistic and financial resources to tell their stories. Firelight Media meets this challenge by supporting, resourcing, and advocating on behalf of filmmakers of color. OUR MISSION
Firelight Media’s mission is to support the creation, distribution, and impact of documentary media by and about communities of color in all our vibrance and complexity. By providing filmmakers mentorship, funding, and creative development, we seek to advance the art of nonfiction storytelling to realize a more just and beautiful world. For films by Stanley Nelson visit .

01/16/2026

Filmmakers: CIFF50 is almost here! Want the dates, programs, and opportunities without having to search for them? Subscribe to CIFF for e-updates: https://buff.ly/hT1876s

01/15/2026

Seeds is coming to Film Forum for a week of screenings, starting this Friday, January 16, and running through January 22.

Using black-and-white imagery, Seeds is a portrait of Black generational farmers in the American South, revealing the significance of owning land and the fragility of a legacy that deserves to endure.

Join director Brittany Shyne and producers Sabrina Schmidt Gordon and Danielle Varga for post-screening Q&As:

Fri 1/16, 7:00PM - moderated by Jacqueline Glover
Sat 1/17, 5:20PM - moderated by Lakisha May

Film Forum Ticket Link
https://buff.ly/V31dD5t

For more info, visit
https://buff.ly/TqcvS3d

01/06/2026

Firelight Media invites underrepresented filmmakers living in or originating from the Appalachian Mountain region to submit works-in-progress for a new season of its documentary short film series Homegrown. Selected filmmakers will receive up to $40k to produce an 8-to-15-minute nonfiction short film with support from Firelight Media from development through distribution. Learn more and apply by February 2, 2026: https://buff.ly/0HLM2Wn

12/26/2025

Firelight Media’s President & CEO Loira Limbal reflects on her history with the organization. Support Loira’s visionary leadership by making a tax-deductible donation to our end-of-year fundraising campaign.

Our 25th anniversary year marked the transition of our president. The great Marcia Smith, Firelight Media’s co-founder who led the organization for more than two decades, stepped down earlier this year and was succeeded by Loira Limbal, who has served the organization in various roles for the past 16 years. We are so excited for this new chapter for the organization and grateful to Marcia and Loira for their vision.

12/23/2025

Happy holidays from the team at Firelight Media!

As we near the end of our 25th anniversary year, we invite you to support our work and our incredible community of filmmakers by making a tax-deductible donation. Your contribution will ensure the next generation of filmmakers has the support and resources they need to tell their stories, and the stories of their communities, on their own terms. Donate now via the link in our bio 💫

12/19/2025

Farewell 2025 👋🏾 But before we close the office for the holidays, here’s a quick look at what’s on our radar as we head into the new year.

1] Inside the Lagos villa of artist Kehinde Wiley — filled with art, culture, and the rhythms of his creative life – from the fine folks at compoundafrica

2] A documentary on the life and legacy of the great Zora Neale Hurston from our friends at , streaming for free on YouTube

3] A remarkable behind-the-scenes study of ’s Academy Award-shortilisted documentary feature, now streaming on Netflix.

4] on a “wildly whimsical, sometimes funny and sometimes pointed documentary about family, storytelling and the often circular nature of time.”

5] Your favorite stylist’s favorite stylist shows us what’s in his bag.

12/17/2025

We are thrilled to see TWO documentary feature films supported by our Documentary Lab on the Oscars™️ Shortlist! Congratulations to filmmakers , , and Brittany Shyne and the & teams!

12/16/2025

Last chance to shop the Firelight Media holiday drop — available now through the end of the year!

Shop our limited edition Always Lit candle, Marcia Smith ICON candle, and Kindling ornament at shop.firelightmedia.tv and at the link in our bio 🎁

12/15/2025

Congratulations to the Firelight-supported filmmakers premiering films at 2026! The festival will feature films supported by our Documentary Lab and PBS/Firelight William Greaves Production Fund, along with films by the latter program’s namesake and a Documentary Lab alum.

12/12/2025

Here’s what’s on the Firelight Media team’s radar this week 🎯

1] The long-awaited and highly-anticipated last film by William Greaves will premiere at Sundance Film Festival! The film is directed by David Greaves, produced by , and Executive Produced by our own Stanley Nelson and Marcia Smith.

2] The in Harlem is officially back open! Our Communications Manager Patty visited this week and reports that it is gorgeous and a must-visit this winter.

3] and AP share the story of the Otavalo people in Ecuador’s efforts to keep their language and culture alive.

4] reports on an unlikely source of solidarity actions in the suburbs of Chicago.

5] .magazine is mounting a collective FYC effort that many independent filmmakers may benefit from exploring.

12/11/2025

**UPDATED** We’re happy to share our list of 2025 Broadcast & Streaming premieres by members of the Firelight Media-supported filmmaker community! See the full list at the link in our bio.

Despite the enormous funding, distribution, and impact challenges our community is facing right now, we’re thrilled to see such a large and varied list of films reaching their intended audiences this year, mostly through public media. Support our funding, production, and distribution efforts in the year to come by donating to our end-of-year fundraising campaign — link in bio to donate!

12/08/2025

TONIGHT on POV on PBS (7pm PT / 10pm ET) and on YouTube, the Documentary Lab-supported 'Between Goodbyes,' directed by Jota Mun.

When a q***r Korean adoptee reunites with her birth mother in Seoul, long-buried cultural misunderstandings and unspoken regrets surface. With tenderness, humor, and determination, both mother and daughter navigate the heart-wrenching legacy of international adoption.

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Telephone

+12122221068

Website

http://www.firelightmedia.tv/

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Our Story

In 1998, Firelight Media was co-founded by director/producer Stanley Nelson, an Emmy-winning MacArthur “genius” Fellow, and Marcia Smith, an award-winning writer and visionary, who has worked extensively in philanthropy, government, arts and politics. During its first ten years, Firelight Media operated as a non-profit production company dedicated to developing social-issue films that aired nationally on PBS. Firelight won numerous awards and enjoyed great critical acclaim, with five films in the documentary competition at the Sundance Film Festival in ten years, two of which won awards (The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords won the Freedom of Expression Award in 1999; The Murder of Emmett Till won the Special Jury Prize in 2003). Firelight’s films won every major industry award, including a du-Pont Columbia Silver Baton, a Peabody, the International Documentary Association, and numerous festival awards. In addition to a focus on excellence in filmmaking, Firelight has a long history and ongoing commitment to the development and implementation of targeted outreach efforts related to its films. Firelight developed outreach campaigns around a number of past titles, including The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords (1999), Running: The Campaign for City Council (2001), The Murder of Emmett Till (2003) and Beyond Brown: Pursuing the Promise (2004). Beyond Brown served as a centerpiece for reflection on the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education by such organizations as the NAACP, the National Baptist Convention, and the Children’s Defense Fund since airing nationally on PBS in May 2004. Firelight’s crowning achievement is the massive card and letter-writing campaign for The Murder of Emmett Till that contributed to the recent reopening of the murder investigation. In its announcement of this historic move, the U.S. Justice Department cited the presence of witnesses unearthed in the film as a major factor in their decision. In 2008, based on tremendous success, Firelight expanded. Firelight Media shifted its focus to provide technical education and professional support to emerging documentarians, and Firelight Films, a new for-profit entity dedicated solely to producing Stanley Nelson’s films, was launched.