Marcia Smith

Marcia Smith is President of Firelight Media. Firelight’s most recent film is Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities, that premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. Firelight’s previous film, The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, was released to rave reviews in 2015, and after a successful theatrical run, broke PBS records for broadcast viewership, streaming, and social media.

Films emerging from Firelight’s Documentary Lab have premiered at Sundance, MoMA, Tribeca, Hot Docs, and other prestigious festivals. Many have aired nationally on PBS and commercial cable platforms. Marcia co-founded Firelight in 2000, and led the organization for the next eight years.

Prior to returning to Firelight in 2012, Marcia served as Senior Vice President at The Atlantic Philanthropies, a multi-billion dollar charitable foundation active in seven countries. Among other awards, Marcia has received a Primetime Emmy nomination for writing, won the Writers’ Guild Award for best nonfiction writing, and was honored with a 2016 Muse Award from New York Women in Film & Television.