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February 16, 2007
Stanley Nelson, Emmy Award–Winning Filmmaker, MacArthur Fellow, and Executive Producer, Firelight Media, 2-16-07
Stanley Nelson, an Emmy-winning MacArthur “genius” Fellow, is Executive Producer of Firelight Media, a nonprofit documentary production company dedicated to giving voice to people and issues that are marginalized in popular culture. Nelson is perhaps best known for his groundbreaking historical documentaries, films that illuminate critical but overlooked history. His 2003 film, The Murder of Emmett Till, was broadcast nationally on PBS’s American Experience to rave reviews, and Nelson went on to win the Primetime Emmy for Best Directing, nonfiction; the Special Jury Prize at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival; a coveted award from the International Documentary Association; and the highest honor in broadcast journalism, the George Foster Peabody award, among many others.
Nelson’s oeuvre spans the range of documentary forms. His newest film—Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple—previewed in April 2006 at the Tribeca and San Francisco Film Festivals to sold-out audiences and critical acclaim from both broadcast and print media. In a departure from his frequent historical perspective, the 2005 film Sweet Honey in the Rock: Raise Your Voice documented one of the country’s most vibrant and progressive musical ensembles. Nelson’s 2004 A Place of Our Own, a semi-autobiographical look at the African American middle class, moved audiences to tears at the Sundance Film Festival documentary competition and in national broadcast on PBS’s acclaimed series Independent Lens. His 2001 film, Running: the Campaign for City Council, highlighted the impact of campaign finance reform on local elections in New York City and was honored with the Henry Hampton award from the Council on Foundations and a CINE Golden Eagle.
With four films in competition at Sundance in six years and multiple industry awards to his credit, Nelson is acknowledged as one of the premier documentary filmmakers working today. In 2004, he received the CINE Leadership Award for his body of work, and his films have individually won nearly every award in film and broadcasting. His 2002 Marcus Garvey: Look for Me in the Whirlwind was named best production of the year by the Black Filmmakers’ Hall of Fame and the Black International Cinema Festival in Berlin; his 1999 film, The Black Press: Soldiers without Swords, won a duPont-Columbia Silver Baton and the Sundance Film Festival’s Freedom of Expression award, was named Best Documentary at the San Francisco Film Festival, and won an Emmy nomination. Two Dollars and a Dream: The Story of Madame C. J. Walker and A’lelia Walker was named Best Film of the Decade by the Black Filmmaker Foundation.
Nelson’s work has also received broad recognition outside the film and television community. In 2004, he received the Educational Video Center’s Excellence in Community Service award and was honored by New York Lawyers in the Public Interest. Beyond Brown: Pursuing the Promise has served as a centerpiece for reflection on the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education by such organizations as the NAACP, the National Baptist Convention, and the Children’s Defense Fund since airing nationally on PBS in May 2004.
Nelson holds a B.F.A. in film from the City College of New York. He was a fellow at the American Film Institute and a Revson Fellow at Columbia University, served on the Fulbright media fellowship committee, and was a Regents’ Lecturer at the University of California. He has taught film at Howard University and trained broadcast journalists in Rwanda. Nelson is a frequent speaker on new media and the “digital future” for filmmakers of color. He is a regular lecturer at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s National Producers Academy.
Firelight Media is a New York City and San Francisco Bay Area-based independent production and outreach company dedicated to using media to spur understanding, discussion, and action that will contribute to the struggle for social justice. Led by Sundance award-winner Stanley Nelson and Emmy-nominated writer Marcia Smith, Firelight Media has become the preeminent source of filmmaking on the African American experience for public television, covering topics ranging from civil rights icons and hip-hop’s critics to a capella ensembles and Black entrepreneurs.
Firelight Media has a long history of mentoring emerging producers of color and has institutionalized this practice by executive producing a number of films that have gone on to receive national and international acclaim. These projects include Byron Hurt’s, Beyond Beats and Rhymes, Carol Bash’s Soul on Soul: The Story of Mary Lou Williams, and Michele Stephenson’s Faces of Change.
Posted by David Lemberg at February 16, 2007 11:21 AM Return to ARTSCAPE home page