Person
Sam Pollard
Directing · Born 1945-04-20 · Harlem, New York, USA
Biography
Samuel D. Pollard (born 20 April, 1945; Harlem) is an American documentary director, producer and editor. His films have garnered numerous awards such as Peabodys, Emmys, and an Academy Award nomination. In 2020, the International Documentary Association gave him a career achievement award. Spike Lee, whose films Pollard has edited and produced, described him as being "a master filmmaker." Henry Louis Gates Jr. characterizes his work in this way: "When I think about his documentaries, they add up to a corpus — a way of telling African-American history in its various dimensions."
Known for
American Experience
Director
American Masters
Director
Independent Lens
Director
Inside Man
Additional Editing
Private Resort
Editor
The Blues
Producer
Katrina: Come Hell and High Water
Executive Producer
Girl 6
Editor
The Perfect Neighbor
Executive Producer
Bamboozled
Editor
Filmography
- 2026Full Circle: The First All Black Everest AscentExecutive Producer
- 2026The LorraineDirector
- 2026TutuDirector
- 2026NatchezExecutive Producer
- 2025Teaching AmericaExecutive Producer
- 2025The Perfect NeighborExecutive Producer
- 2025This Is Not a DrillConsulting Producer
- 2025Katrina: Come Hell and High WaterExecutive Producer
- 2025I Was Born This WayDirector
- 2024KeeperExecutive Producer
- 2024Ol' Dirty Bastard: A Tale of Two DirtysDirector
- 2024Black TableExecutive Producer
- 2024PhotographerDirector
- 2023South to Black PowerDirector
- 2023CarlosProducer
- 2023LIFTExecutive Producer
- 2023The Harvest: Integrating Mississippi's SchoolsDirector
- 2023The LeagueDirector
- 2023Max Roach: The Drum Also WaltzesProducer
- 2023SubjectSelf
- 2023Bill Russell: LegendDirector
- 2022Lowndes County and the Road to Black PowerDirector
- 2022The Picture TakerEditorial Consultant
- 2022Rise and Rebuild: A Tale of Three CitiesDirector
- 2022HostagesDirector
- 2022Outta the MuckExecutive Producer
- 2021Citizen AsheDirector
- 2021Hold Your FireConsulting Producer
- 2021A Crime on the BayouConsulting Producer
- 2021Civil War (Or, Who Do We Think We Are)Executive Producer
- 2021Black Art: In the Absence of LightDirector
- 2021TigerExecutive Producer
- 2020MLK/FBIDirector
- 2020Atlanta's Missing and Murdered: The Lost ChildrenDirector
- 2020D. Wade: Life UnexpectedProducer
- 2020Shared Legacies: The African-American Jewish Civil Rights AllianceConsulting Producer
- 2019Why We HateDirector
- 2018Mr. SOUL!Director
- 2018WrestleConsulting Producer
- 2017MaynardDirector
- 2017Sammy Davis, Jr.: I've Gotta Be MeDirector
- 2017Acorn and the FirestormProducer
- 2017The Talk: Race in AmericaDirector
- 2016Two Trains Runnin'Director
- 2015August Wilson: The Ground on Which I StandDirector
- 2014Style Wars In The Cutting RoomHimself / Editor of Style Wars
- 2014Reel Herstory: The Real Story of Reel WomenExecutive Producer
- 2013Remote Area MedicalEditor
- 2012Venus and SerenaEditor
- 2012Joe Papp in Five ActsEditor
- 2012Slavery by Another NameDirector
- 2010GerrymanderingEditor
- 2010If God Is Willing and da Creek Don't RiseEditor
- 2010Mr. Soul: Ellis Haizlip and the Birth of Black Power TVDirector
- 2009By the People: The Election of Barack ObamaEditor
- 2009Chinatown Film ProjectDirector
- 2009Love That MovieDirector
- 2008Zora Neale Hurston: Jump at the SunDirector
- 2008Marvin Gaye: What's Going OnDirector
- 2007Pete Seeger: The Power of SongEditor
- 2007Lillie & Leander: A Legacy of ViolenceEditorial Consultant
- 2006John Ford/John Wayne: The Filmmaker and the LegendDirector
- 2006Inside ManAdditional Editing
- 2004Isn't This a Time! A Tribute Concert for Harold LeventhalEditor
- 2003The BluesProducer
- 2002The Rise and Fall of Jim CrowDirector
- 2002Jim Brown: All-AmericanCo-Producer
- 2001The Chinatown FilesConsulting Editor
- 2001The Making of 'Bamboozled'Director
- 2000Half Past Autumn: The Life and Works of Gordon ParksEditor
- 2000BamboozledEditor
- 1999Independent LensDirector
- 1999I'll Make Me a WorldDirector
- 19974 Little GirlsEditor
- 1996Girl 6Editor
- 1995ClockersEditor
- 1994Surviving the GameEditor
- 1993Goin' Back to T-TownDirector
- 1992JuiceEditor
- 1991Jungle FeverEditor
- 1990Mo' Better BluesEditor
- 1988American ExperienceDirector
- 1988A Vision Shared: A Tribute to Woody Guthrie and LeadbellyEditor
- 1987Langston Hughes: The Dream KeeperEditor
- 1987Eyes on the PrizeDirector
- 1986American MastersDirector
- 1985Private ResortEditor
- 1984Style WarsEditor
- 1983Metropolitan CatsEditor
- 1981Body and SoulEditor
- 1981Night of the ZombiesEditor
- 1981Forever YoungEditor
- 1981The Little PlayersEditor
- 1973Ganja & HessAssistant Editor
- —Murder in America: The Lynching of Emmett TillDirector
- —Counting The BallotsDirector
- —The Sound of PhiladelphiaDirector
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