Firelight Media, a New York-based nonprofit that produces documentary films and supports emerging filmmakers of color, is the recipient of the Pioneer Award from the International Documentary Association.
Firelight Media co-founders Stanley Nelson and Marcia Smith. Photo: Firelight Media
“The Pioneer Award acknowledges those individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to advancing the nonfiction form and providing exceptional vision and leadership to the documentary community,” says the IDA in a press statement, describing Firelight Media as “the premier destination for nonfiction cinema by and about communities of color.” Firelight Media shared the award announcement on social media. “Beyond honor,” says a Facebook post and adds, “Thanks for the recognition and we will continue to do the good, important work on behalf of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) voices.
ACCLAIMED PRODUCTIONS Since its foundation 20 years ago, the nonprofit has produced almost a film per year, with some winning Peabody and Sundance Film Festival awards. Its 2010 documentary The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution and Freedom Riders earned three Primetime Emmys. Most of its films center on the Black community and deal with social injustice, racism, history and inequality.
A Firelight Media documentary, Shattering The Silences: The Case For Minority Faculty, takes a look at the success and distress of minority scholars in the humanities and social sciences at American universities, featuring professors who are African-American, Latino, Asian-American, and American Indian.
Firelight Media also offers a documentary lab, an 18-month fellowship for emerging filmmakers of color; and regional labs which support early-stage filmmakers in the American south, midwest, and U.S. Territories, according to its website.
Firelight Media executives Ximena Amescua, Karla Rodriguez and Monika Navarro. Photo: Firelight Media
Founded by two African American filmmakers, director Stanley Nelson (American Experience) and screenwriter Marcia Smith (Through the Fire: The Legacy of Barack Obama; Freedom Riders), Firelight Media’s executive team is approximately 25 percent Latino, including production manager Karla Rodriguez, artist programs coordinator Ximena Amescua and senior director of artist program Monika Navarro.
OTHER IDA HONORS Firelight Media is one of six awardees of this year’s IDA Documentary Awards, which is celebrating its 36th annual edition. The other honorees are: — Primetime Emmy®-winning and Academy Award®-nominated filmmaker Sam Pollard (MLK/FBI, Four Little Girls, When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts) with the Career Achievement Award; — Filmmaker Garrett Bradley (Time) with the Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award; — Emmy® and Peabody Award-winning, Academy Award®-nominated Producer Regina K. Scully with the Amicus Award; — Courage Under Fire Award goes to David France and the film team behind Welcome to Chechnya and activists David Isteev (The Russian LGBT Network) and Olga Baranova (Moscow Community Center for LGBT+ Initiatives) ; and — Journalist Maria Ressa and the Filipino news network Rappler with the Truth to Power Award featured in A Thousand Cuts by Ramona S. Diaz.
The awards will be presented in a virtual ceremony in January of 2021.
The International Documentary Association is a Los Angeles-based nonprofit with a 40-year history of providing resources, creating community, and defending rights and freedoms for documentary artists, activists and journalists.
–CESAR ARREDONDO Top featured photo: Firelight Media’s In The Making series screenshot, featuring Texas-born artist Vincent Valdez. Credit: PBS/Firelight Media.
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