Our Programs | Firelight Media

Firelight Fund

As Firelight Media celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2025, we launch the Firelight Fund to meet this urgent moment. The Fund supports Black, Brown, and Indigenous stories from development through distribution, with a focus on those who are telling urgent stories and using their craft to advance social justice.

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A diverse group of filmmaker sitting outdoors in front of a wall filled with decorative script

Documentary Lab

The Documentary Lab is Firelight Media’s longest-running artist program. This 18-month fellowship is designed to nurture underrepresented nonfiction storytellers working on their first or second feature film. The Documentary Lab provides holistic support for fellows’ projects and careers through professional development retreats, customized mentorship, and a $25K project grant. Throughout the Lab, filmmakers build a network within the documentary ecosystem, connecting with the fellows and alumni, as well as forging industry relationships across the field.

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Groundwork Regional Lab

The Groundwork Regional Lab is an initiative to support diverse, early-career documentary filmmakers living and working in under-represented regions of the U.S. and its territories. The Lab provides an introduction to the opportunities that exist for early-career makers in the documentary landscape. The goal of the Lab is to help position filmmakers for national opportunities as well as increase public television stations' capacity to leverage the talent and content of local diverse creators.

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FRONTLINE/Firelight Fellowship

The FRONTLINE/Firelight Fellowship supports diverse, independent producers interested in investigative documentary filmmaking and audio storytelling. The Fellowship is offered in partnership with FRONTLINE, PBS’s award-winning investigative documentary series.

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William Greaves Research and Development Fund

The William Greaves Research and Development Fund resources talented, mid-career nonfiction storytellers from racially and ethnically underrepresented communities in the United States, as well as filmmakers from Mexico, Brazil, Puerto Rico, and Colombia with a particular interest in those who identify as being Indigenous and/or of African descent.

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PBS/Firelight William Greaves Production Fund

The PBS/Firelight William Greaves Production Fund resources documentary productions by mid-career filmmakers from underrepresented communities in the United States that are intended for distribution on PBS through finishing funds or co-production funding.

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Impact Campaign Fund

The Impact Campaign Fund addresses a resource gap in the nonfiction space for impact and audience engagement-related projects by and for communities of color in the U.S. The Impact Campaign Fund supports the creation of audience engagement and impact campaigns by Firelight-supported filmmakers.

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A diverse group of documentary editors at the event Beyond Resilience: Editing While BIPOC

Hulu/Firelight Kindling Fund

The Hulu/Firelight Kindling Fund will resource three Firelight-supported filmmakers to develop an original non-fiction documentary feature film for a first look by Firelight Films and the Hulu streaming service.

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Beyond Resilience

Beyond Resilience is a series of screenings, essays, and curated conversations that explore the challenges, strategies, and experiences of creating and distributing work during periods of social transformation.

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