Beyond Resilience: Masterclasses - Expanding Humanities Themes and Cultural Representation in Historical Documentary Film

FAIN: ZPP-284136-22

Firelight Media, Inc. (New York, NY 10031-6300)
Marcia Smith (Project Director: May 2021 to present)

An important foundation for documentary filmmakers of color that will retain five positions and create honoraria for humanities scholars.

To support the next generation and deepen the academic rigor of historic nonfiction cinema, Firelight Media, the premiere destination for cinema by and about communities of color, will engage BIPOC filmmakers with experiences led and advised by archivists, historians, recognized historical documentary filmmakers, and other humanities scholars. We would develop and offer a series of virtual Master Classes, offered to filmmakers and others nationally, that address key topics including the integration of humanities themes into documentary films, interview techniques with humanities scholars, the strategic use of archival images and text, and methods of popularizing crucial historical narratives in film

Associated Products

Beyond Resilience Masterclass: Producing Documentaries with Impact (Film/TV/Video Broadcast or Recording)
Title: Beyond Resilience Masterclass: Producing Documentaries with Impact
Writer: Justin Sherwood
Director: Marcia Smith
Producer: Justin Sherwood
Producer: Sian-Pierre Regis
Abstract: Moderated by Asad Muhammad, American Documentary/POV’s VP of Impact and Engagement Strategy, these intimate conversations will highlight the motivations and strategies of Firelight-supported filmmakers whose films – and resulting impact campaigns – have challenged historical assumptions about communities of color, reframed social discourse, and spurred audiences to action. In conversation with Muhammad, filmmakers and #FirelightFamily Stanley Nelson and Loira Limbal will highlight the importance of impact and engagement in the life of a film, detail how Firelight Media supports the impact campaigns of our artists, and provide a lesson or two from their own impact strategies for films like The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution and Through the Night, respectively. Then, filmmaker Nausheen Dadabhoy – who is a Firelight Documentary Lab alum and Impact Campaign Fund grantee – and impact producer Aber Kawas will discuss Dadabhoy's acclaimed documentary An Act of Worship, which had its broadcast premiere on POV in October. The two will discuss how the film and its impact campaign were designed to address and support the Muslim communities in the U.S. reflected in the film. And finally, following the December 12 broadcast premiere of Let The Little Light Shine on POV, Documentary Lab alum and Impact Fund grantee Kevin Shaw will join esteemed impact producer Locsi Ferrá for a deep-dive on the motivations behind their impact strategy as well as both successes and challenges in its activation.
Year: 2023
Primary URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P05tS9H8sU4
Primary URL Description: Beyond Resilience Masterclass, supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, that will amplify and interrogate the work of documentary filmmakers whose films and impact campaigns have challenged and reshaped cultural narratives.
Access Model: Open Access
Format: Video

Beyond Resilience Masterclass: The Personal is Historical (Part One) (Film/TV/Video Broadcast or Recording)
Title: Beyond Resilience Masterclass: The Personal is Historical (Part One)
Writer: Justin Sherwood
Director: Marcia Smith
Producer: Sian-Pierre Regis
Producer: Justin Sherwood
Abstract: For this Beyond Resilience Masterclass, supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, Firelight Media collected personal documentary filmmakers and historians to discuss the transformative power of the personal. How can one photo or personal letter challenge the prevailing narrative of a historical moment? How can we, as filmmakers, think of archival materials more dynamically – not as a visual crutch, but as a main character in the story? And, finally, given the generations-long struggle of marginalized groups to tell our stories in spite of subjugation, what’s the power that lies in simply having access to an archive? Accessibility Notice: This event will included live closed captions. Panelists:‍ - Bing Liu, Academy Award-nominated Filmmaker, Minding The Gap - Elleza Kelley, Assistant Professor English and African American Studies at Yale - Stanley Nelson, Academy Award-nominated Filmmaker, A Place of Our Own - Lori Pourier, President, First Peoples Fund Moderator: - Sian-Pierre Regis, Filmmaker, Duty Free; Firelight Media Documentary Lab Alum
Year: 2023
Primary URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLYEgRUzT1w
Primary URL Description: We all have access to archives. Letters from our youth, photos, home videos, memorabilia. How can these personal mementos be stitched together to tell stories of our past, and more broadly, of our collective histories?
Access Model: Open Access
Format: Video

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