Ten documentary filmmakers are getting $25,000 each—and a year of serious backup—to help finish their films. Firelight Media selected the 2026–2027 Documentary Lab cohort from more than 140 applicants, bringing projects about Native athletes, Black marching-band culture, environmental justice, migration, queer life, and family memory together as they move through post-production.

According to an official company announcement , the lineup stretches across communities and continents. Kamran Rosen’s The Undefeated follows three Native youth athletes who use sports to reclaim Indigenous identity, while Abdul Aziz’s Rudiments centers a marching band that creates opportunity amid disinvestment in Black communities.

Alex J. Bledsoe’s Oaklead investigates Oakland’s pediatric lead-poisoning crisis, and Erin Semine Kökdil’s La Tierra Recuerda tracks Maya Poqomam women defending their land and culture in Guatemala .…