Sam Pollard
Directing
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."
Behind the camera
2026Tutu
Director
2025I Was Born This Way
Director
2024Ol' Dirty Bastard: A Tale of Two Dirtys
Director
2023Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes
Director
2023The League
Director
2023South to Black Power
Director
2022Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power
Director
2021Citizen Ashe
Director
2021Black Art: In the Absence of Light
Director
2020MLK/FBI
Director
2018Mr. SOUL!
Director
2017The Talk: Race in America
Director
2017Acorn and the Firestorm
Director & Writer
2017Sammy Davis, Jr.: I've Gotta Be Me
Director
2017Maynard
Director & Writer
2016Two Trains Runnin'
Director
2015August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand
Director
2012Slavery by Another Name
Director
2008Zora Neale Hurston: Jump at the Sun
Director
2008Marvin Gaye: What's Going On
Director & Writer
2006John Ford/John Wayne: The Filmmaker and the Legend
Director
2001The Making of 'Bamboozled'
Director
1993Goin' Back to T-Town
Director