Firelight Media, the production company that documentarian Stanley Nelson ("Tell Them We Are Rising") co-founded 18 years ago, created the Impact Producer Fellowship last year to train social justice-minded artists and activists of color. The organization advances that goal today (June 6) with the selection of a new class of fellows. 

“We believe that in order to change the narratives about marginalized communities we need those from within those communities shaping and leveraging new narratives," Sonya Childress, director of partnerships and engagement at Firelight Media writes about the fellowship in an emailed statement. "With this fellowship, we aim to nurture an ecosystem of producers, cultural strategists, digital communications professionals and movement organizers that can influence the stories being told of diverse communities, and ensure the strategies to disseminate those films are sophisticated and strategic."

To that end, the new cohort features eight people of color. Together, their professional backgrounds encompass the intersection of filmmaking, social justice advocacy, education and community organizing. See the full list of 2018 fellows at FirelightMedia.tv.