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Stanley Nelson<\/p><\/div>\n
The married duo, documentary filmmakers and co-founders of Firelight Media, will receive BPM\u2019s most prestigious honor at the PitchBLACK Awards on Thursday, April 30, at 6:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
The PitchBLACK Awards ceremony celebrates the winners of the PitchBLACK Forum, the nation\u2019s largest pitch competition for independent filmmakers and creative technologists creating Black content. The Forum takes place Wednesday, April 29, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and creatives will take the stage to vie for up to $150,000 in production funding.<\/p>\n
Registration is required for the PitchBLACK Forum, which can be attended in person or virtually; tickets for the awards program go on sale via Ticketmaster in March. Sponsored by Netflix and PBS, PitchBLACK returns to The Apollo Stages at the Victoria in Harlem for the second year in a row.<\/p>\n
Director Stanley Nelson and Writer-Producer Marcia Smith have shaped modern documentary storytelling and the field around it, pairing revelatory films with lasting infrastructure that helps other artists thrive.<\/p>\n
Nelson is widely regarded as a leading chronicler of the African American experience in nonfiction film, work that has earned him a MacArthur \u201cGenius\u201d Fellowship, a Peabody recognizing his body of work and the National Medal in the Humanities.<\/p>\n
Smith has has helped advance documentary filmmaking as a writer, producer and nonprofit leader, earning recognition for her work and leadership including a Writers Guild Award, a Muse Award and BlackStar\u2019s Luminary Award. Through Firelight\u2019s Documentary Lab, they have helped launch the careers of more than 100 nonfiction filmmakers of color and built Firelight into a nationally respected home for nonfiction work by and about communities of color.<\/p>\n
BPM\u2019s Trailblazer Award is presented to documentary filmmakers whose body of work and commitment to mentoring emerging filmmakers producing Black stories are exemplary. Past recipients include Mich\u00e8le Stephenson & Joe Brewster (2019), Marco Williams (2021) Orlando Bagwell (2022), Yoruba Richen (2023), Sam Pollard (2024), and Lillian E. Benson (2025).<\/p>\n
\u201cNot only has Marcia and Stanley\u2019s prolific body of work set superior standards for the field and blessed the world with a plethora of important African American stories, their dedication to creating new opportunities for other underrepresented and underserved media makers has made it possible for the industry to grow in ways that better reflect its increasingly diverse audiences,\u201d said Leslie Fields-Cruz, executive director of Black Public Media. \u201cBlack Public Media is thrilled to bestow our highest award on these two independent media titans.\u201d<\/p>\n
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In honor of Nelson and Smith\u2019s remarkable accomplishments, BPM will present a two-week, online retrospective of their films, Monday, April 27, through Sunday, May 10. The 2026 BPM Trailblazer Retrospective may include We Want the Funk! (2025), The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution (2015), Freedom Riders (2010), Jonestown: The Life and Death of People\u2019s Temple (2007), A Place of Our Own (2004), The Murder of Emmett Till (2003), Marcus Garvey: Look for Me in the Whirlwind (2000), The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords (1999) and Two Dollars and a Dream (1989). All PitchBLACK registrants will receive free, on-demand access to the slate of films on the BPM website throughout the streaming window.<\/p>\n
Through its PitchBLACK initiative, Black Public Media has awarded more than $2 million to 26 film and immersive projects since 2015. Many have gone on to national primetime premieres on public media broadcast and streaming platforms.<\/p>\n
Each year, the PitchBLACK Forum & Awards draw leaders from public television, commercial television, documentary film, emerging media and funding worlds. At the Forum, five documentary film teams will pitch their projects in the morning, followed by five immersive media teams in the afternoon, with projects judged by panels of industry professionals.<\/p>\n
Winners will be announced at the PitchBLACK Awards on Thursday, April 30. The event will feature an Artists\u2019 Chat with Nelson and Smith about their careers and the future of public media, moderated by NPR journalist and podcast host Brittany Luse.<\/p>\n
The recipient of BPM\u2019s 2026 Nonso Christian Ugbode Fellowship, a memorial award named for BPM\u2019s first director of digital initiatives recognizing under-30 artists in immersive media, will also be announced. Held in-person, the PitchBLACK Awards will be broadcast at a later date by NYC Media.<\/p>\n
Sponsors also include Andscape, PBS and Manhattan Neighborhood Network (MNN). Additional sponsorship opportunities are available by contacting Tonya Thomas at: tonyat@blackpublicmedia.org.<\/p>\n
Since 1979, BPM has funded and helped distribute quality film and immersive work while developing creatives. The national nonprofit also produces and distributes original content, including its signature series, AfroPoP: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange and its digital offshoot, AfroPoP Digital Shorts.<\/p>\n
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Stanley Nelson<\/p><\/div>\n
To learn more about PitchBLACK, visit blackpublicmedia.org or follow BPM (@blackpublicmedia) on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.<\/p>\n
Nelson is the foremost chronicler of the African American experience working in nonfiction film today. His documentary films, many of which have aired on PBS, combine compelling narratives with rich and deeply researched historical detail, shining new light on both familiar and under-explored aspects of the American past.<\/p>\n
A MacArthur \u201cGenius\u201d Fellow, Nelson was awarded a Peabody for his body of work in 2016. He has received numerous honors over the course of his career, including the 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Television Arts Sciences. In 2013, President Barack Obama presented Nelson with the National Medal in the Humanities.<\/p>\n
Nelson\u2019s latest documentaries include Sound of the Police for ABC News Studios\/Hulu, and Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom and Becoming Frederick Douglass for PBS.<\/p>\n
His previous documentary Attica for SHOWTIME Documentary Films was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 94th Academy Awards\u00ae and earned him the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary. In 2021, Nelson also directed Crack: Cocaine, Corruption & Conspiracy for Netflix and Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre, with co-director Marco Williams for History, which was nominated for three Primetime Emmy\u00ae Awards.<\/p>\n
Nelson\u2019s feature for American Masters, Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2019, marking his tenth premiere at the prestigious festival \u2014 the most of any documentary filmmaker.<\/p>\n
The film won two Emmy\u00ae Awards at the 42nd Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards and was nominated for Best Music Film at the 62nd Grammy Awards. His film The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution (2016) won the 2016 NAACP Image Award. Other notable Nelson films include Freedom Riders (2010, three Primetime Emmy\u00ae Awards and included in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress), Freedom Summer (2014, Peabody Award),The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords (1999, Emmy-nominated), Jonestown: The Life and Death of People\u2019s Temple (2006, Tribeca Film Festival Special Jury Prize) and Marcus Garvey: Look for Me in the Whirlwind (2000, Sundance Premiere). The Murder of Emmett Till 2003) uncovered new eyewitnesses and helped prompt the U.S. Department of Justice to reopen the case.<\/p>\n
Smith is co-founder and former president of Firelight Media, which produces documentary films, provides artistic and financial support to emerging filmmakers of color and builds impact campaigns to connect documentaries to audiences and social justice advocates. Under her leadership, Firelight Media was honored with a MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions. Firelight Media\u2019s flagship Documentary Lab program has supported more than 100 emerging filmmakers over the past decade, who have premiered at festivals such as Sundance, and gone on to earn numerous festival, Peabody and Emmy awards.<\/p>\n
She has written several films alongside documentarian Stanley Nelson including: Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities; Through the Fire: The Legacy of Barack Obama; Freedom Riders; Jonestown: The Life and Death of the Peoples Temple; Marcus Garvey: Look for Me in the Whirlwind; and The Murder of Emmett Till. Smith received a Primetime Emmy nomination and won the Writers\u2019 Guild Award for best nonfiction writing for her work on The Murder of Emmett Till, and was honored with a 2016 Muse Award from New York Women in Film & Television, as well as the 2019 Luminary Award from BlackStar Film Festival. She will also serve as the writer for Firelight\u2019s upcoming four-hour documentary series, Creating The New World, on the transatlantic slave trade.<\/p>\n
Smith is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, sits on the Peabody Board of Directors (East Coast) and is a member of the Board for Martha\u2019s Vineyard Film Society.<\/p>\n
About Black Public Media (BPM)<\/p>\n
BPM supports the development of visionary content creators and distributes stories about the global Black experience to inspire a more equitable and inclusive future. For 45+ years, BPM has addressed the needs of unserved and underserved audiences. BPM-supported programs have won five Emmys\u00ae,10 Peabodys, five Anthem Awards, 14 Emmy\u00ae nominations and an Oscar\u00ae nomination. BPM continues to address historical, contemporary and systemic challenges that traditionally impede the development and distribution of Black stories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
To learn more about PitchBLACK you should visit blackpublicmedia.org or follow BPM (@blackpublicmedia) on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.<\/p>\n