Firelight Media brought its Beyond Resilience series to SXSW for a conversation featuring BIPOC filmmakers whose documentaries go beyond one-note celebrity profiles to interrogate the power of music and musicians to shape and advance culture.
Legendary filmmaker Stanley Nelson (Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool) was joined by Firelight Media Documentary Lab alumni Sabaah Folayan (Look at Me: XXXTentacion) and Isabel Castro (Mija) whose films leverage the music doc genre to explore urgent issues such as mental health, immigration, and intimate partner violence. The panel explored the craft behind making music documentaries and provided a behind-the-scenes look at how filmmakers work with artists, their families, and their estates to create truthful and balanced portraits of their subjects.
Moderated by Fredara Hadley, ethnomusicology professor at Juilliard.
Accessibility notice: The audio recording above includes closed captions.
The Beyond Resilience Series is sponsored by Open Society Foundations. Beyond Resilience is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and Field of Vision.
How does a documentary filmmaker fulfill their role in the midst of a pandemic and an uprising?
Firelight Media joined The Movement for Black Lives' national call to action on June 19 with a panel conversation that explored the history of Juneteenth and the burning of Black Wall Street in Tulsa, and grappled with the path toward economic justice for Black America.
As physical distancing continues to be the new norm, how can we still make an impact when apart? Sonya Childress, senior fellow at the Perspective Fund, takes us through case studies of documentary film campaigns that have launched in this moment and raise key questions around audience access, care, and how to reach social justice impact goals.
A live event featuring a music set by DJ Frotasia to give our community the opportunity to dance, sing, and shout during a time of tremendous difficulty.
Conversations on representation, labor, and equity featuring the work and perspectives of Undocumented storytellers.
A conversation with Black filmmakers on how they are navigating the ubiquitous images of Black trauma in this moment, documenting Black life, and forging new cinematic languages, practices, and formal approaches.
The recent announcement that golfing icon Tiger Woods would be the subject of a two-part HBO documentary series set in motion a heated debate in the documentary industry about equity, power, and BIPOC filmmakers' demands for structural change.
A conversation to lift up the life and legacy of the former Congressman with inside stories and reflections on his leadership.
