Sam Pollard
Known for: Directing
Born: April 20, 1945
Place of birth: Harlem, New York, USA
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."
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Filmography
82 movies · 15 TV shows, newest first
NR
Full Circle: The First All Black Everest Ascent
2026NR
The Lorraine
2026
NR
Tutu
2026
9.0
Natchez
2026
NR
Teaching America
2025
6.8
The Perfect Neighbor
2025
NR
This Is Not a Drill
2025
6.3
Katrina: Come Hell and High Water
2025
1.0
I Was Born This Way
2025
NR
Keeper
2024
3.7
Ol' Dirty Bastard: A Tale of Two Dirtys
2024
6.0
Black Table
2024
9.0
Photographer
2024
3.5
South to Black Power
2023
7.1
Carlos
2023
6.0
LIFT
20238.0
The Harvest: Integrating Mississippi's Schools
2023
6.2
The League
2023
NR
Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes
2023
6.7
Subject
2023
7.2
Bill Russell: Legend
2023
1.5
Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power
2022
NR
The Picture Taker
2022NR
Rise and Rebuild: A Tale of Three Cities
2022
6.3
Hostages
2022
NR
Outta the Muck
2022
4.2
Citizen Ashe
2021
6.5
Hold Your Fire
2021
6.0
A Crime on the Bayou
2021
4.0
Civil War (Or, Who Do We Think We Are)
2021
6.4
Black Art: In the Absence of Light
2021
6.5
Tiger
2021
6.9
MLK/FBI
2020
6.8
Atlanta's Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children
2020
7.0
D. Wade: Life Unexpected
2020
NR
Shared Legacies: The African-American Jewish Civil Rights Alliance
2020
6.7
Why We Hate
2019
7.0
Mr. SOUL!
2018
8.3
Wrestle
2018
5.2
Maynard
2017
6.9
Sammy Davis, Jr.: I've Gotta Be Me
2017
5.0
Acorn and the Firestorm
2017
8.0
The Talk: Race in America
2017
7.2
Two Trains Runnin'
2016
NR
August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand
2015NR
Style Wars In The Cutting Room
2014
6.5
Reel Herstory: The Real Story of Reel Women
2014
6.8
Remote Area Medical
2013
6.1
Venus and Serena
2012
4.5
Joe Papp in Five Acts
2012
7.2
Slavery by Another Name
2012
4.3
Gerrymandering
2010
6.6
If God Is Willing and da Creek Don't Rise
2010NR
Mr. Soul: Ellis Haizlip and the Birth of Black Power TV
2010
6.8
By the People: The Election of Barack Obama
2009NR
Chinatown Film Project
2009NR
Love That Movie
2009
8.0
Zora Neale Hurston: Jump at the Sun
2008NR
Marvin Gaye: What's Going On
2008
7.0
Pete Seeger: The Power of Song
2007
NR
Lillie & Leander: A Legacy of Violence
2007
NR
John Ford/John Wayne: The Filmmaker and the Legend
2006
7.4
Inside Man
2006
7.0
Isn't This a Time! A Tribute Concert for Harold Leventhal
2004
7.4
The Blues
2003
7.0
The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow
2002
5.0
Jim Brown: All-American
2002
NR
The Chinatown Files
2001
5.5
The Making of 'Bamboozled'
2001
7.5
Half Past Autumn: The Life and Works of Gordon Parks
2000
6.3
Bamboozled
2000
6.6
Independent Lens
19999.0
I'll Make Me a World
1999
7.1
4 Little Girls
1997
5.0
Girl 6
1996
6.7
Clockers
1995
6.2
Surviving the Game
1994
NR
Goin' Back to T-Town
1993
7.2
Juice
1992
6.4
Jungle Fever
1991
6.5
Mo' Better Blues
1990
6.5
American Experience
1988
7.0
A Vision Shared: A Tribute to Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly
1988
NR
Langston Hughes: The Dream Keeper
1987
7.0
Eyes on the Prize
1987
7.0
American Masters
1986
5.7
Private Resort
1985
7.5
Style Wars
1984
NR
Metropolitan Cats
1983
3.9
Body and Soul
1981
4.8
Night of the Zombies
1981
NR
Forever Young
1981
NR
The Little Players
1981
5.8
Ganja & Hess
1973NR
Murder in America: The Lynching of Emmett Till
—NR
Counting The Ballots
—NR
The Sound of Philadelphia
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