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