Sam Pollard

Samuel D. Pollard is an American film director, editor, producer, and screenwriter. His films have garnered 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 "a master filmmaker." Henry Louis Gates Jr. said of his work: "When I think about his documentaries, they add up to a corpus — a way of telling African-American history in its various dimensions."

Career Born in Harlem, New York, Samuel D. Pollard began his career in 1972 as an editor for Victor Kanefsky, after having taken courses in a workshop organized by WNET. He obtained a BA degree from Baruch College in 1973. Early in his career, he assisted film editor George Bowers. St. Clair Bourne and was also a mentor of his.

Awards and recognition In 1998, Pollard received an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature nomination for 4 Little Girls alongside Spike Lee. In 2010, Pollard (with Geeta Gandbhir and Arielle Amsalem) received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Picture Editing for a Nonfiction Program for the film By the People: The Election of Barack Obama. In 2020, the International Documentary Association gave Pollard its first Career Achievement Award.

MLK/FBI was named best documentary at the 2020 San Diego International Film Festival.

In 2021, Film at Lincoln Center put together "Tribute to Sam Pollard", featuring several of his documentaries and calling him one of "cinema’s most dedicated chroniclers of the Black experience in America."

Filmography

As director

1990 – Eyes on the Prize (2 episodes) 2016 – Two Trains Runnin''' 2017 – The Talk: Race In America 2017 – ACORN and the Firestorm (with Reuben Atlas) 2017 – Maynard 2018 – Mr. Soul! (with Melissa Haizlip) 2020 – MLK/FBI 2021 – Black Art: In the Absence of Light 2021 – Citizen Ashe (with Rex Miller) 2022 – Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power (with Geeta Gandbhir) 2022 – Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes (with Ben Shapiro) 2023 – The League 2024 – Ol’ Dirty Bastard: A Tale of Two Dirtys (with Jason Pollard) 2025 – I Was Born This Way (with Jason Pollard)

As editor

1973 – Ganja & Hess 1981 – Night of the Zombies 1981 – Body and Soul 1984 – Smithsonian World (television series) 1985 – Private Resort 1985 – Tornado! 1985 – Nova (television series) 1987 – Distant Harmony 1988 – Depression 1990 – Mo' Better Blues 1991 – Jungle Fever 1992 – Juice 1993 – Fires in the Mirror 1996 – Girl 6 1997 – 4 Little Girls 2000 – Half Past Autumn: The Life and Works of Gordon Parks 2002 – Hookers at the Point 2004 – Chisholm '72: Unbought & Unbossed 2004 – Isn't This a Time! A Tribute Concert for Harold Leventhal 2005 – Twelve Disciples of Nelson Mandela 2007 – Pete Seeger: The Power of Song 2009 – By the People: The Election of Barack Obama 2010 – Gerrymandering 2010 – Joe Papp in Five Acts 2010 – If God Is Willing and da Creek Don't Rise 2012 – Venus and Serena 2015 – Sinatra: All or Nothing at All ''