Firelight Media x DOC NYC 2024
Firelight Media is thrilled to present the series premiere of season 3 of In The Making, our documentary short film series with PBS’ American Masters, at DOC NYC this year, and to celebrate several screenings by the Firelight Media-supported filmmaker community.
Firelight Media is proud to return as a sponsor and supporter of DOC NYC this year, the largest documentary film festival in the United States. In 2024, DOC NYC will celebrate its 15th edition, which will take place in a hybrid format (online and in-person in theaters and venues throughout NYC). Through our Beyond Resilience series, we will co-present a panel discussion at DOC NYC PRO, an empowering annual event designed to support filmmakers in advancing their careers.
Firelight Media’s presence at DOC NYC this year includes a Lifetime Achievement Award presentation, staff recognition among DOC NYC’s New Leaders, a sponsored screening and Beyond Resilience panel around our In The Making series with PBS’ American Masters, and numerous documentary feature and shorts screenings by Firelight Media-supported filmmakers. Read on for a comprehensive list of these events.
Tickets and passes for DOC NYC are on sale now! Get yours here:
Series Premiere: ‘In The Making’ Season 3
We’re excited to present the series premiere of season 3 of In The Making, our documentary short film series with PBS’ American Masters, which will screen as a special shorts program at DOC NYC.
Season 3 follows a new group of artists — photographers, authors, choreographers, designers, conceptual artists, and more — on their way to becoming masters of their disciplines. Following the screening, the filmmakers and select artists featured in the films will join a Q&A.
The filmmakers and films comprising season 3 include:
- Sonia Kennebeck and Tetiana Anderson, Danielle Scott: Ancestral Call
- Andrew Nadkarni, Sarah Thankam Mathews: After All This
- Assia Boundaoui, Maryam Taghavi: Estranged Letters
- Michelle Parkerson and Shellée M. Haynesworth, Camille A. Brown: Giant Steps
- Mecky Creus and Adrienne Hall, Edel Rodriguez: Freedom is a Verb
- Zeshawn Ali, Gioncarlo Valentine: Exposures
- Adewole A. Abioye, Norman Teague: Love Reigns Supreme
- Jamal Ademola, House of Aama: Threads of Legacy
DOC NYC PRO x Beyond Resilience Panel: Creative Collaborations | Artist on Artist
Building trust with a film protagonist is crucial for creating a compelling documentary, but it can be complicated by dynamics of power and artistic vision.
To celebrate the upcoming season three of In The Making, PBS’ American Masters and Firelight Media will bring together teams to discuss these collaborative relationships. Moderated by Sian-Pierre Regis (Beyond Resilience Series Producer and Director, Duty Free), In the Making co-directors Michelle Parkerson and Shellée Haynesworth (Camille A. Brown: Giant Steps) and director Zeshawn Ali and film participant Gioncarlo Valentine (Gioncarlo Valentine: Exposures) will explore how working closely with a protagonist can produce more layered, challenging, and satisfying films. Clips from the new season will be shown, offering insight into the artist-on-artist dynamic and its role in shaping impactful storytelling.
Marcia Smith to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award
We are proud to celebrate our own Co-Founder and President Marcia Smith, who will be presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award from DOC NYC at their eleventh annual Visionaries Tribute! Lifetime Achievement Awards are given for a distinguished output of documentaries.
Emmy Award-nominated filmmaker Marcia Smith is president and co-founder of Firelight Media, a nonprofit organization that supports, resources, and advocates on behalf of documentary filmmakers of color. Over the past 25 years, Firelight Media’s artist programs have supported more than 250 filmmakers, who have premiered their films at esteemed festivals and gone on to earn numerous awards. Smith has written several films alongside filmmaker Stanley Nelson including Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom; Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities; Through the Fire: The Legacy of Barack Obama; Freedom Riders; Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple; Marcus Garvey: Look for Me in the Whirlwind; and The Murder of Emmett Till.
DOC NYC New Leaders: Lucy Mukerjee
We’re proud to share that our own Documentary Lab Director Lucy Mukerjee has been named one of DOC NYC’s Documentary New Leaders! Now in its fifth year, Documentary New Leaders honors figures in the American documentary industry whose work to date and potential for leadership brings greater inclusion and equity to the field.
Lucy is a queer non-binary British-Indian community builder and cultural worker whose mission is to empower underestimated filmmakers with the clarity and confidence to complete their films, connect with audiences, and find their unique path. In 2023, Lucy became the Director of the Documentary Lab fellowship at Firelight Media.
Firelight Supported Filmmaker Screenings: Features
Firelight Media is proud to share that several of our fellows and alumni will screen documentary features and docuseries at this year’s DOC NYC festival.
World Premiere: ‘Slumlord Millionaire’
Co-directed by Steph Ching and Ellen Martinez, and co-produced by Firelight Media as part of our PBS/Firelight William Greaves Production Fund, Slumlord Millionaire will compete in DOC NYC’s Metropolis Competition. The documentary exposes housing injustice in NYC, following the David-and-Goliath battles between ordinary renters and powerful developers. Through stories from neighborhoods across the boroughs, the film reveals the harsh realities of unsafe housing, unethical landlords, and an overwhelmed housing court system. It also uncovers a troubling pattern of desirably located properties being seized for luxury developments in low-income neighborhoods, often with the system’s complicity. Slumlord Millionaire is both empowering and sobering, highlighting grassroots activism in the fight against relentless gentrification. — DOC NYC Programmer Karen McMullen
World Premiere: ‘The People’s Way’
Co-directed by Ashley Tyner and William Tyner and supported by Firelight Media’s Documentary Lab, The People’s Way picks up after the Black Lives Matter movement sees an international tipping point in the summer of 2020. Three young Minneapolis community leaders intersect in their local activism to preserve the legacy of George Floyd, fight systemic injustice, and strive for meaningful change. Jeanelle and her team of caretakers work to transform offerings from the recent uprising into artifacts for the Black historical archive; Robin works to replace the police with a new approach to community safety; and Toshira focuses on demanding justice and accountability for lives stolen by policing. These committed women find they must dig deep to disrupt complacency and reconcile nuanced contradictions within their own communities. — DOC NYC Programmer Jaie Laplante
World Premiere: ‘The Sing Sing Chronicles’
The Sing Sing Chronicles, a four-part docuseries directed by Documentary Lab alum Dawn Porter, explores the wrongful conviction of actor Jon-Adrian “JJ” Velazquez, who was recently exonerated after spending 24 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. The series follows Velazquez’s journey to exoneration while shedding light on systemic flaws in the criminal justice system. The docuseries also delves into the stories of five other wrongfully convicted men from Sing Sing Correctional Facility, blending investigative journalism and personal narratives to reveal the emotional and legal complexities of wrongful convictions.
The series will hold its World Premiere at DOC NYC 2024 ahead of its debut on MSNBC on Nov. 23 and Nov. 24 at 9 p.m. ET.
NYC Premiere: ‘Between Goodbyes’
Directed by Jota Mun and supported by Firelight Media’s Documentary Lab, Between Goodbyes follows an adoptee named Mieke, raised in the Netherlands, whose life is very different from the one she might have led if her Korean family had not been pressured to give her up as a baby. When her birth parents track down the adult Mieke, their reunion unleashes a whirlwind of guilt, joy, regret, and ambivalence. Through non-linear storytelling we witness the family’s journey towards reconnection in this unique story of home, acceptance, and the power of forgiveness. — DOC NYC Programmer Karen McMullen
World Premiere | Eyes on the Prize III: We Who Believe in Freedom
Directed by Documentary Lab alum Asako Gladsjo and Executive Produced by Documentary Lab alum Dawn Porter, Eyes on the Prize III: We Who Believe in Freedom (Episode 6: What Comes After Hope? 2008–2015) offers a valuable history lesson and a propulsive narrative as a follow-up to Henry Hampton’s legendary series, examining America’s recent history since the election of Barack Obama. DOC NYC will premiere the final episode in the six-part series, which focuses on the creation of the Black Lives Matter movement and the disparate people and organizations in Florida, Illinois, and across the country who came together to fight for racial justice. — DOC NYC Programmer Murtada Elfadl
Firelight Supported Filmmaker Screenings: Short Films
Firelight Media is proud to share that three of our fellows and alumni will screen documentary short films at this year’s DOC NYC festival.
New York Premiere: ‘CHamoru: A Lost Language’
Directed by Firelight Media-supported filmmaker Brian Muna, this documentary short film follows the people of CHamoru (Guam) as they struggle to preserve their identity as global forces in the Pacific have erased their language, impacting their culture and place in history. — DOC NYC Programmer Anita Raswant
CHamoru: A Lost Language was produced as part of Firelight Media’s HOMEGROWN: A Part Of/Apart From series with Pacific Islanders in Communications, Black Public Media, Latino Public Broadcasting, and PBS Digital Studios, with support from PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
World Premiere: ‘The Past is Waiting Up Ahead’
Directed by Firelight Media Documentary Lab alum Gerardo del Valle, The Past is Waiting Up Ahead follows New Yorker Javier Zamora as he recounts his migration story from El Salvador to the U.S. and its impact on his life. — DOC NYC Programmer Samah Ali
New York Premiere: ‘Wouldn’t Make It Any Other Way’
Directed by Firelight Media-supported filmmaker Hao Zhou (director of Here, Hopefully, from the HOMEGROWN: Future Visions documentary short film collection), Wouldn’t Make It Any Other Way follows a queer costume designer who, after building a life in America, reconnects with their roots on a visit to their homeland of Guam. — DOC NYC Programmer Anita Raswant
For full details about DOC NYC 2024, including the full festival program, schedules, locations, and tickets and passes, visit docnyc.net/program.
About Firelight Media
Firelight Media, which will celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2025, is a nonprofit organization that supports, resources, and advocates on behalf of documentary filmmakers of color. Firelight Media’s artist programs include the Documentary Lab, an 18-month fellowship for underrepresented filmmakers; Groundwork Regional Lab, which supports underrepresented filmmakers in the American South, midwest, and U.S. Territories; and the William Greaves Funds for mid-career filmmakers. Firelight Media also produces digital short films, including the forthcoming collection HOMEGROWN: A Part Of/Apart From, for PBS Digital Studios, and season 3 of In the Making, with PBS’ American Masters.
