Firelight Media

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

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, insp

ired 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 .

Support our Spring Fundraising Campaign and double your impact! Thanks to the generosity of lawyer, advocate, and produc...
05/27/2026

Support our Spring Fundraising Campaign and double your impact!

Thanks to the generosity of lawyer, advocate, and producer Dominique Bravo, donations made to our Spring Fundraising Campaign of up to $10,000 by May 31 will be matched.

Dominique shared: "As a documentary producer, I know how difficult it is to create timely and impactful nonfiction films in ordinary times. In these extraordinary times – with drastic reductions in funding and fewer distributors for documentaries – the work that Firelight Media is doing is more important than ever. I’m supporting Firelight Media because they are creating pathways for documentary filmmakers of color to get their urgent, socially-engaged films in front of the audiences who need them most."

THIS WEDNESDAY, May 20 at The New School in NYC: Join Jaime-Jin Lewis, Founder & CEO of Wiggle Room, alongside childcare...
05/18/2026

THIS WEDNESDAY, May 20 at The New School in NYC: Join Jaime-Jin Lewis, Founder & CEO of Wiggle Room, alongside childcare workers and care advocates, for a conversation about care, work, and the families who hold it all together. Wiggle Room is a tech startup supporting the back office operations of Family Child Care programs.

The conversation will follow a special screening of ‘Through the Night,’ the award-winning documentary by our President & CEO Loira Limbal that shines a light on the families and caregivers who rely on round-the-clock childcare to make life possible.

Doors open at 6:00 pm
Film starts at 7:00 pm
Q&A immediately following the film

Come be part of the conversation about care, work, and the families who hold it all together.

We are thrilled to announce that lawyer, advocate, and producer Dominique Bravo has generously offered a $10,000 matchin...
05/18/2026

We are thrilled to announce that lawyer, advocate, and producer Dominique Bravo has generously offered a $10,000 matching gift as part of our spring fundraising campaign!

Thanks to Dominique’s generosity, donations made to our spring fundraising campaign by May 31, 2026, will be matched up to $10,000.

All donations support our mission to resource and advocate for documentary filmmakers of color, at a time when funding for socially engaged, community-centered films and filmmakers is increasingly hard to find.

05/15/2026

A message from Firelight Media President & CEO Loira Limbal:

Something is being reactivated. In 2020, I released ‘Through the Night’ — a documentary following a 24-hour daycare in New Rochelle and the mothers who worked overnight shifts, held down three jobs, and spent decades caring for other people’s children. Now it’s coming back to New York City.

On May 20, join us for an in-person screening of ‘Through the Night’ at The New School, followed by a conversation with the people whose labor keeps New York City running.

Mayor Mamdani’s universal childcare plan has generated real hope. But hope requires scrutiny. As the plan takes shape, family-based providers and the parents who work non-standard hours - the overnight workers, the weekend shift holders, the ones the city has called essential but often forgets - risk being left out of what is supposed to be universal.

Providers, organizers, and advocates are not letting that slide. Join us to be a part of the conversation. RSVP via the link in bio.

Next Wednesday, 5/20 at The New School in NYC: Join Shanita Bowen, Chief Operating Officer at ECE on the Move, for a con...
05/15/2026

Next Wednesday, 5/20 at The New School in NYC: Join Shanita Bowen, Chief Operating Officer at ECE on the Move, for a conversation about Universal 2-K in NYC, following a screening of the acclaimed documentary ‘Through the Night.’

ECE on the Move is a collective of over 600 early childhood educators in NYC residential settings, emphasizing professional ECE expertise over terms like “home-based childcare.” Founded in 2019 by Gladys Jones and Doris Irizarry, it stems from 11+ years of grassroots organizing to foster mutual support and advocacy.

A tender portrait of titanic strength, love, and selflessness, ‘Through the Night’ showcases the multiplicity of “women’s work” – paid, underpaid, and unpaid; emotional and physical; domestic and career-oriented – all while negotiating the terms of a dignified existence under the three arrows of racism, sexism, and capitalism in America.

After the screening, stay for a panel conversation with the people closest to this work: child care providers, care work experts, and advocates.

Next Wednesday, 5/20 at The New School in NYC: Join filmmaker Loira Limbal and film protagonist Deloris “Nunu” Hogan for...
05/13/2026

Next Wednesday, 5/20 at The New School in NYC: Join filmmaker Loira Limbal and film protagonist Deloris “Nunu” Hogan for a screening and Q&A around Loira’s acclaimed documentary ‘Through the Night.’ The event is free with RSVP — link in bio 🔗

‘Through the Night’ (NYT Critic’s Pick, Tribeca Festival 2020, and duPont-Columbia Award winner) is an intimate cinema verité portrait of three working mothers whose lives all intersect at a 24-hour daycare center: a mother working the overnight shift as an essential worker at a hospital; another holding down three jobs just to support her family; and a woman who for over two decades has cared for the children of parents with nowhere else to turn.

A tender portrait of titanic strength, love, and selflessness, ‘Through the Night’ showcases the multiplicity of “women’s work” – paid, underpaid, and unpaid; emotional and physical; domestic and career-oriented – all while negotiating the terms of a dignified existence under the three arrows of racism, sexism, and capitalism in America.

After the screening, join us for a conversation about Universal 2-K in NYC and the care, work, and families who will hold it all together.

POV: Your Emmy-Award winning husband takes your fit check photos Our Co-Founder Marcia Smith photographed by Stanley Nel...
05/13/2026

POV: Your Emmy-Award winning husband takes your fit check photos

Our Co-Founder Marcia Smith photographed by Stanley Nelson in the Black Love is Uptown tee. Grab yours at the link in our bio 🫶🏾

Firelight Media is thrilled to partner with Mountainfilm this year to present the third season of our HOMEGROWN series, ...
05/12/2026

Firelight Media is thrilled to partner with Mountainfilm this year to present the third season of our HOMEGROWN series, “Horizons,” which focuses on the Mountain West region and examines the histories, lived experiences, and present-day realities of local communities of color. This program will be offered free to the public and passholders during Mountainfilm.

In addition to the screenings, Firelight Media, in collaboration with local organizations Mountain Media Arts Collective & Color Vérité, will host a meetup for BIPOC festival attendees and guests. Join us at Alibi (121 S Fir St) to celebrate the films we’ve championed and the people who make them possible. With sounds by DJ DAGHE, an open bar, and immaculate vibes.

We’re also proud to lift up the Documentary Lab-supported film ‘Aanikoobijigan,’ directed by Adam Khalil and Zack Khalil, which is screening at the festival, along with the short film ‘Mujer Santuario’ (‘Sanctuary Woman’), by Firelight Media-supported filmmaker Alan Domínguez.

This year’s Mountainfilm Festival will take place May 21 – 25, 2026. We hope to see you there!

On Wednesday, May 20, from 7-9 pm at The New School in NYC, join us for a free film screening and conversation around th...
05/11/2026

On Wednesday, May 20, from 7-9 pm at The New School in NYC, join us for a free film screening and conversation around the Future of Universal Childcare in NYC!

Joining us in conversation is Reshma Saujani, a leading movement builder, the founder of Girls Who Code and Moms First, and the host of the My So-Called Midlife podcast with Lemonada Media.

For more than a decade, Reshma has launched and led bold, culture-shifting movements for gender equality by working to close the gender gap in tech, fighting for paid leave and affordable child care, confronting the penalties women face in midlife, and, most recently, examining the widening divide between men and women in America. Her work has ignited national conversations on bravery, connection, motherhood, and aging.

Saujani is a New York Times bestselling author of several books, including PAY UP, Brave, Not Perfect, and the Girls Who Code series. Her 2025 Harvey Mudd commencement speech on gender division and her 2023 Smith College speech on imposter syndrome have been viewed over 20 million times. Her TED talk, “Teach girls bravery, not perfection,” has over 54 million views globally.

In 2024, she launched My So-Called Midlife, a podcast with Lemonada Media that quickly entered Apple’s Top 10 show chart, reached #1 in Health and Fitness, and was named one of the best new podcasts of the year by TIME magazine.

Poet Cindy Tran creates works that bridge personal memories and shared experiences, reflecting on childhood, parental ex...
05/08/2026

Poet Cindy Tran creates works that bridge personal memories and shared experiences, reflecting on childhood, parental expectations, and societal stigmas around an Asian-American identity. ‘Cindy Tran: From Here to Here,’ directed by Xinyan Yu as part of our In The Making documentary short film series with PBS American Masters, is now streaming via PBS’ YouTube Channel and at the link in our bio.

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+12122221068

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