Stanley Nelson is considered the foremost documentarian of the African American experience working in nonfiction film today. In conversation with Sushana Dubreil, Nelson will share his 40+ years of experiences and insights making documentary films rich in historical and cultural exploration, from Marcus Garvey and Miles Davis, to most recently, the Attica uprising, Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman.
Panelist Bios
Stanley Nelson is today’s leading documentarian of the African American experience. His films combine compelling narratives with rich historical detail to shine new light on the under-explored American past. Awards received over the course of his career include a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship, five Primetime Emmy Awards, and lifetime achievement awards from the Emmys and IDA. In 2013, Nelson received the National Medal in the Humanities from President Obama. In 2019, Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool was nominated by the Grammys for Best Music Film and went on to win two Emmy® Awards at the 42nd Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards. Nelson’s latest documentary, Attica, for Showtime Documentary Films, was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 94th Academy Awards® and earned him the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary. In 2021, Nelson also directed the feature film Crack: Cocaine, Corruption & Conspiracy for Netflix, which was a 2022 duPont-Columbia Awards Finalist, and Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre, with co-director Marco Williams, for the History Channel, which was nominated for three Primetime Emmy® Awards. In 2000, Mr. Nelson, and his wife, Marcia Smith, co-founded Firelight Media, a non-profit production company dedicated to advancing contemporary social justice issues, amplifying underrepresented narratives, and fostering a new generation of diverse filmmakers.
As a writer, filmmaker, and teaching artist, Sushana Dubreil serves as a conduit for Black and brown people, shining an iridescent light onto the stories; challenging the mainstream narratives imposed on communities of color. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York to Haitian immigrant parents, she began her filmmaking in her teens, with her documentary shorts screening at film festivals across the nation, including the Tribeca Film Festival, et al. She has since produced a number of short and feature length documentary films with some of the leading documentary and digital production houses in the field including Firelight Films, Divided Films, Mass Appeal and more. Some of her film credits include Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics and Men (2019, Showtime), ESPN 30 for 30: Michael Vick (2020), and Firelight Films' Attica (2021).