2021 Firelight Year-in-Review: Awards & Honors

2021 was a banner year for Firelight leadership, staff, and our community of filmmakers. In addition to premiering nearly two-dozen films this year at film festivals, in theaters, and on broadcast and streaming platforms, members of the Firelight family have also garnered numerous awards and accolades, including News & Documentary Emmy® Awards, festival awards, and recognition for their leadership in the nonfiction film industry.

Read on for the updating list of selected awards and honors garnered by the Firelight Media and Firelight Films community in 2021! (And check back tomorrow for the third and final installment of our 2021 Year-in-Review, where we review highlights from our artist programs!)

News & Documentary Emmy® Awards

Stanley Nelson’s Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool, Outstanding Arts and Culture Documentary, News & Documentary Emmys

Stanley Nelson’s Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool, Outstanding Sound, News & Documentary Emmys

DOC NYC Awards & Recognition

Stanley Nelson & Traci A. Curry’s Attica, DOC NYC Short List

Christine Turner’s Lynching Postcards: “Token of a Great Day,” DOC NYC Short List

Jessica Kingdon’s Ascension, DOC NYC Short List

Peter Nicks’ Homeroom, DOC NYC Short List

Dawn Porter’s The Bree Wayy: Promise Witness Remembrance, DOC NYC Short List

Left to right: Chloë Walters-Wallace, Sahar Driver, Rahi Hasan, and Tracy Rector

Peter Nicks, Robert and Anne Drew Award
Jessica Kingdon’s Ascension, Editing Award
Chloë Walters-Wallace, Documentary New Leader
Rahi Hasan, Documentary New Leader
Sahar Driver, Documentary New Leader
Tracy Rector, Documentary New Leader

Clockwise from top left: Sian-Pierre Regis, Iliana Sosa, Ashley O’Shay, Rodrigo Reyes, Isabel Castro, Habiba Nosheen, C.J. Hunt, and Chelsea Hernandez

Isabel Castro, 40 Under 40
Chelsea Hernandez, 40 Under 40
CJ Hunt, 40 Under 40
Habiba Nosheen, 40 Under 40
Ashley O’Shay, 40 Under 40
Sian-Pierre Regis, 40 Under 40
Rodrigo Reyes, 40 Under 40
Iliana Sosa, 40 Under 40

Webby Awards & Honors

Sofian Khan & Joseph Patel’s Anik Khan: Street Level, Webby People’s Voice Award

Malika Zouhali-Worrall’s Amyra León: Strange Grace, Webby Honoree

Ben-Alex Dupris’ Bunky Echo-Hawk: The Resistance,
Webby Honoree

Festival Awards

Left: HINDSIGHT Filmmakers; Right: Jessica Kingdon

Stanley Nelson, Filmmaker Fund Award, Boston GlobeDocs Film Festival
Amman Abbasi, Arleen Cruz-Alicea, Dilsey Davis, Anissa Latham, Zac Manuel & Kiyoko McCrae, Hindsight, Cultures & Communities Award, Milwaukee Film
Arleen Cruz-Alicea’s Comida Pa’ Los Pobres, Best Documentary, Puerto Rico International Film Festival
Jessica Kingdon’s Ascension, Best Documentary Feature, Tribeca Festival
Jessica Kingdon’s Ascension, Albert Maysles Award for Best New Documentary Director, Tribeca Festival
Zac Manuel’s This Body, Best Louisiana Short, New Orleans Film Festival

MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship

Cristina Ibarra, MacArthur “Genius” Fellow

Leadership Awards

Stanley Nelson, Realscreen Legacy Award

Stanley Nelson, Truth Seekers Award, Variety & Rolling Stone

Stanley Nelson & Firelight Media, Transformative Artist Award, Harlem Stage

Jason DaSilva, Muse Award, New York Women in Film & Television

The Center for Cultural Power Artist Disruptor Awards

Ben-Alex Dupris
Jon Sesrie-Goff
Ivan and Ivy MacDonald
Nyjia July
Rachelle Salnave
Kevin Shaw
Brittany Shyne
Colleen Thurston

DuPont Columbia Award Nominations (Winners Announced February 2022)

Stanley Nelson’s Crack: Cocaine, Corruption & Conspiracy

Loira Limbal’s Through the Night

Blindspot: Tulsa Burning, the companion podcast to Stanley Nelson and Marco Williams’ Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre, from the HISTORY Channel, WNYC Studios, and KOSU

IDA Award Nominations (Winners Announced February 2022)

Cecilia Aldarondo, Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award (Honoree)

Jessica Kingdon’s Ascension, Best Cinematography

Peter Nicks’ Homeroom, Best Editing

Ann Kaneko (Dir.) & Jin Yoo-Kim (Prod.), Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust, Best Music Score

C.J. Hunt’s The Neutral Ground, Best Music Score

Sian Pierre Regis’ Duty Free, Best Writing

Support Firelight Media & Double Your Impact!

Firelight Media’s ability to support our growing network of over 120 BIPOC filmmakers is thanks in part to our generous community of individual donors. Thanks to a generous offer by a member of our Board of Trustees, donations made to Firelight Media from now through December 31 will be matched dollar-for-dollar up to $5,000.

Donate today and double your impact!

Learn more about Firelight Media and its programs at firelightmedia.tv.

Learn more about Firelight Films at firelightfilms.tv.