TBFF 2026 - STANLEY NELSON TRIBUTE

This tribute precedes the Opening Film.

The Toronto Black Film Festival is proud to honour Stanley Nelson with the 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award. Widely regarded as the foremost chronicler of the African American experience in nonfiction film, Nelson’s work has reshaped the documentary landscape. His films stand as essential records of Black history, culture, and resistance.

Stanley Nelson is a documentary filmmaker, writer, and producer based in Harlem and renowned for his deeply researched films on African American history and culture. A MacArthur Fellow and recipient of the National Humanities Medal from president Obama, he has produced a large body of award-winning work that includes Freedom Riders (2010), The Murder of Emmett Till (2003), Freedom Summer (2014), The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution (2015), Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) (2018).

Also in 2018, Nelson directed a short film, The Story of Access, which examined the history and impact of racial profiling in public spaces. This film was screened as part of a mandatory training exercise for 175,000 Starbucks employees across 8,000 stores. Nelson's film, Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool, the definitive look at the life and career of the iconic Miles Davis, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2019. The screening marked Nelson's tenth premiere at the prestigious festival in twenty years, the most premieres of any documentary filmmaker. His 2021 film Attica earned a Directors Guild of America Award and an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Feature.

His latest film WE WANT THE FUNK! is a syncopated voyage through the history of funk music, spanning from African, soul, and early jazz roots to its rise into the public consciousness. Featuring James Brown's dynamism, the extraterrestrial funk of George Clinton's Parliament Funkadelic, transformed girl group Labelle, and Fela Kuti's Afrobeat, the story also traces funk's influences on both new wave and hip-hop. Since 1998, Nelson has helped lead Firelight Media, a New York–based nonprofit he co-founded with Marcia A. Smith, dedicated to supporting emerging documentarians of color through programs such as the Documentary Lab.

This ticket includes the Opening Night Film and the tribute to Stanley Nelson / Stephan James / Shamier Anderson