Firelight Media has announed the 2013 recipients of the Next Step Media Fund, which will provide $70,000 to documentary film projects from independent producers of color. Each project has revieved direct mentorship award-winning documentary filmmaker Stanley Nelson, who co-founded Firelight Media. 

"The Next Step Media Fund helps to demonstrate that Firelight’s Producers’ Lab is more than just a mentorship program. In addition to helping these filmmakers prepare their work for national broadcast, we are providing holistic support to a whole new generation of independent filmmakers of color," says Marcia Smith, Co-Founder and President of Firelight Media, "and being able to provide direct financial support at a critical stage demonstrates our commitment to making a long-term commitment to these participants."  

This year’s recipients include Byron Hurt, whose documentaries "Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes" and "Soul Food Junkies," have each debuted to critical acclaim. More on this year’s recipients:

Wednesdays in Mississippi by Marlene McCurtis

$15,000

"Wednesdays in Mississippi" tells the little known story of the unlikely alliance and friendship between the "Godmother of the Civil Rights Movement", Dr. Dorothy Height and Polly Cowan, a wealthy, New York Jewish activist. In defiance of a world in which women took their lead from their husbands, in defiance of the unacknowledged sexism inherent within the Civil Rights Movement itself, and in defiance of a world in which black women worked for white women, not with them, these two remarkable women fought together to effect lasting change.

 Hazing: How Badly Do You Want In by Byron Hurt

$10,000

 "Hazing" will be a 60-minute documentary film that will explore why the controversial practice of hazing continues to be widely seen as a meaningful and legitimate rite of passage, despite mounting lawsuits, fraternity/sorority chapter suspensions, increased media coverage, serious injuries, arrests, and tragic deaths.

  Trapped by Dawn Porter

$15,000

 "Trapped" will follow the progress of two Southern abortion clinics – Reproductive Health Services of Montgomery in Montgomery, AL and the Jackson’s Women Health Organization in Jackson, MS as they struggle to stay open in the face of an increasingly hostile legal and political climate.

 Mr. SOUL! by Melissa Haizlip

$15,000

 From 1968-73, America got SOUL! – television?s first "black Tonight Show." The film celebrates the groundbreaking PBS series from its genesis to its eventual loss of funding against the backdrop of a swiftly changing political and social landscape, while profiling Ellis Haizlip, the charismatic man behind one of the most culturally significant and successful television shows in U.S. history.