After interning for a year at Firelight Films and coordinating the 2021 Spark Fund, Antonia Thornton joins Firelight Media as Artist Programs Coordinator. Along with her work at Firelight Media, Antonia is a documentary filmmaker who recently earned a MFA in documentary producing and directing from UCLA’s School of Theater, Film & Television. During her time at UCLA, Antonia often focused her lens on women of color to explore the human costs of larger systemic issues. For these stories, she garnered awards like the Nikon Storytellers Scholarship and The MPAA Award. Antonia also earned a B.A. in English Literature from Columbia University and hopes to one day return to New York City, which she now considers home.

Antonia looks forward to learning from and being inspired by the first and second time feature filmmakers in Firelight Media’s renowned Documentary Lab and assisting the many documentary filmmakers from underrepresented backgrounds who will create change within our industry and the world at large.