Firelight Media has selected 10 filmmakers of color for its 2026-2027 Documentary Lab, the organization's longest-running fellowship. Each fellow receives a $25,000 project grant plus a year of mentorship, professional development, artist retreats and networking.
Firelight announced the cohort this week, and Complex reported the news Sunday. The fellows were chosen from more than 140 applicants. For the first time, the lab accepted only projects already in post-production, a change Firelight tied to the tough funding and distribution climate for documentaries.
The 2026-2027 class
Abdul Aziz's Rudiments follows a marching band that offers a way forward in a Black community facing failing schools and mass incarceration. Alex J. Bledsoe's Oaklead examines pediatric lead poisoning in Oakland, California. Felix Rodriguez, an Afro-Latino filmmaker, revisits his 1990s ballroom footage in My Ballroom Story. Erin Semine Kökdil's La Tierra Recuerda follows Maya Poqomam women defending their land in Guatemala.
The rest of the cohort: Yusuf Ahmed's Your Love Brought Me Here, Aurora Brachman's Dear You, Brit Fryer's With Time, Chona Mangalindan's Untying the Knot, Kamran Rosen's The Undefeated and Elena Lecun Xiang's Goodbye, Yiwu (working title).
Lab director Lu Mukerjee said the films share "themes of resistance, belonging, and liberation through self-determination."
Founded to support documentary filmmakers of color, Firelight says the lab has backed 170 filmmakers over 16 years. Its alumni have gone on to major wins: Brittany Shyne's Seeds took the U.S. Documentary Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 2025, Adam and Zack Khalil's Aanikoobijigan won the NEXT Audience Award at Sundance this year, and Contessa Gayles' Songs from the Hole won a 2026 News & Documentary Emmy.
Post-production is often where independent documentaries stall for lack of money. A grant aimed squarely at that stage could be what gets these 10 stories to festivals, and to audiences, in the next year or two.
