DOCUMENTARY LAB
In 2008 Firelight expanded its mission and created the Documentary Lab, a flagship mentorship program that seeks out and develops emerging diverse filmmakers. The Lab provides filmmakers with one-on-one support, funding, professional development workshops and networking opportunities. More than just a workshop, the Documentary Lab is unrivaled in its representation of diverse producers, creating an exclusive network of talented unique storytellers that receive ongoing support from a project’s conception to its completion.
FELLOWS
In the Arab-American neighborhood outside of Chicago, where co-director Assia Boundaoui grew up, most people think the whole place is under surveillance, and has been for a decade. While filming one community’s story…
The Interpreter is a feature length documentary that follows stories of Iraqi and Afghan interpreters who were essential to American war efforts, but whose lives are now threatened for working with coalition forces.…
Argus Panoptes is a performance intervention, video installation and wearable sculpture which directly intersect the current debate over police accountability and state surveillance, creating a space to bring together the many points of…
Southwest of Salem: The Story of the San Antonio Four excavates the nightmarish persecution of Elizabeth Ramirez, Cassandra Rivera, Kristie Mayhugh, and Anna Vasquez — four Latina lesbians wrongfully convicted of gang raping…
In China, an unprecedented surge in African migration has led to a rise in marriages between Chinese women and African men. A Guangzhou Love Story captures the love, heartache, and real life challenges…
Football and feminism collide in this feature documentary that follows three former NFL cheerleaders and their class-action lawsuits brought against their teams.
They say everything is bigger in Texas, and construction is no exception: a $72 billion industry that accounts for every $20 generated by the Texas economy, employing nearly one million workers. Although deemed…
Through its lyrical, non-linear structure, Amor Puro y Duro will take viewers on an evocative, thought provoking journey through the iconoclastic life of game-changing artist Chavela Vargas. Centered around never-before-seen interview footage of…
For more than a century, tens of thousands of men, women, and children attended lynchings of more than five thousand African Americans that often included hours of torture, mutilation, and photography. Lynching was…
Words from a Bear examines the enigmatic life and mind of Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Navarro Scott Momaday. This profile delves into the psyche behind one of Native America’s most celebrated authors of poetry…
#NailedIt: Vietnamese & The Nail Industry is a feature-length documentary about the genesis of the Vietnamese nail salon and its influence on the $8 billion dollar nail economy. Our story begins at a…
The feature-length documentary You Only Live Once takes a fresh and probing look at gun violence in urban America. Told through the stories of families impacted by loss and young men who are…
Grassroots activists in the Philippines are spurred into action when a local transgender woman is found dead in a motel room with a 19-year-old U.S. marine as the leading suspect. As they demand…
Time of the Phoenix: The First Rainbow Coalition (working title), a feature-length documentary now in post-production, charts the history and enduring legacy of a largely forgotten but groundbreaking multi-ethnic coalition that rocked Chicago…
Ask the Sexpert is a feature documentary centered on a highly popular sex columnist for a daily newspaper in India. Despite sex being a taboo topic in India, the column’s brand of non-moralistic…
APPLY
NEXT STEP FUND
Funding continues to be one of the greatest challenges for emerging diverse filmmakers. Even when producers have great ideas and experienced mentors attached to their projects, a lack of funds can stall or completely halt their progress. Often, producers just need a small grant to keep them moving towards the next stage and keep their projects alive.
The Next Step Fund was created to respond to this crucial need. The NSF will provide up to $25,000 in production and post-production funding to five to seven filmmakers who are already in the Producers’ Lab to complete innovative documentary films that tell stories about people, places, and issues that are underrepresented in the mainstream. Funded activities may include travel, shooting, editing, and other mid to completion phase activities.
The goal of the NSF is to help filmmakers advance their projects even in the absence of major funding. Grantees will be selected on the quality of their project and their ability to demonstrate how a small grant from the fund will allow them to move their project to a significant next phase. The NSF is made possible by the generous support of the John D. Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Surdna Foundation.