\n<\/p>\n
\n\tIt\u2019s been a stressful year for Firelight Media, the nonprofit that supports documentary filmmakers of color. In September, the company lost 41% of its annual funding when monies provided by PBS shrank and federal funding agencies such as the NEA and Corporation for Public Broadcasting shut down.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThe total 41% covered a lot of our programming and a lot of our institutional infrastructure,\u201d says Loira Limbal, President and CEO of Firelight. \u201cSome of that money was used to provide mentorship and to create programs and retreats. Some of it was for our overhead, and some of it was for re-granting.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tFounded in 2000 by producer Marcia Smith and her husband, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Stanley Nelson, Firelight Media has been an instrumental part of the doc community, providing resources including funding, mentorship, and creative development. \u201cMiles Davis: Birth of the Cool,\u201d \u201cFreedom Riders,\u201d and \u201cJonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple\u201d are among the numerous documentaries that the org has produced and supported. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tFirelight\u2019s most recent project, \u201cShort: In the Making\u201d, about artists becoming masters of their disciplines, \u00a0was produced in partnership with PBS\u2019 American Masters and debuts at DOC NYC on Saturday. In all, 12 Firelight supported feature docs will screen at DOC NYC, including Oscar contenders \u201cThe Perfect Neighbor,\u201d \u201cCutting Through Rocks,\u201d and \u201cSeeds.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tTo keep Firelight Media afloat, Limbal plans to embark on a new initiative to reach out to independently wealthy individuals to make up for the CPB and PBS funding deficit.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cIt is something that we are very interested in being intentional about pursuing, because I read a statistic recently about arts giving in the United States, and basically, corporate giving is negligible for the arts,\u201d Limbal says. \u201cPrivate philanthropy is decreasing, and the only area of giving that is increasing is individual giving. So, if the trends are correct, then we somehow need to crack that major gifts, individual donor world and space.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tLimbal joined Firelight Media in 2009 and led the expansion of Firelight\u2019s flagship Documentary Lab as well as the launch of its Groundwork Regional Lab, William Greaves Research & Development Fund, Impact Campaign Fund, and the In the Making documentary short film series. She ended her tenure at the company in 2021, when she served as Firelight Media\u2019s senior VP of programs.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI stepped away partly because I wanted to have a bit more time for my children,\u201d Limbal says. \u201cThen the 2024 election happened, and all the things that we are now living began to come to life. The organizer in me felt a real need and urge to be of service in this community in this really challenging, to put it mildly, and horrific, to put it perhaps more accurately, moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tIn April, Limbal was appointed CEO of Firelight Media.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI didn\u2019t come into the role thinking that things were going to be easy or rosy,\u201d says Limbal. \u201cI wanted to be part of the fight for documentary film. The approach has been to double down. We hear corporations saying \u2018Let\u2019s tone this down. Let\u2019s tone that down.\u2019 That is not at all how I am looking at it. Documentary film is not a luxury. It is an essential part of a healthy arts and story narrative ecosystem. And our voices as filmmakers of color are essential right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tDoubling down meant shutting down two programs \u2013 Firelight\u2019s William Greaves Research & Development Fund and Firelight\u2019s Impact Campaign Fund \u2013 in order to establish the Firelight Fund, which 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. In all 16 projects will receive money from the $580,000 Firelight Fund. Grant sizes will range up to $50,000 per project.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe 16 projects selected for the Firelight Fund will be announced on Nov. 15 at the company\u2019s 25th anniversary fundraiser gala at Lincoln Center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s been a stressful year for Firelight Media, the nonprofit that supports documentary filmmakers of color. In September, the company lost 41% of its annual funding when monies provided by PBS shrank and federal funding agencies such as the NEA and Corporation for Public Broadcasting shut down.\u00a0 \u201cThe total 41% covered a lot of our<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33012,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[1929,4214,18956,18955,205],"class_list":{"0":"post-33011","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-documentary","9":"tag-doubles","10":"tag-filmmaking","11":"tag-firelight","12":"tag-media"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33011\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}