Sam Pollard (b. 1945)

Alias:
Samuel D. Pollard
Samuel Pollard

Birthplace:
Harlem, New York, USA

Born:
April 20, 1945

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."

Additional information:

The Search Form


Additional Editing:
2006  Inside Man

Co-Producer:
2002  Jim Brown: All-American
2006  Inside Man

Consulting Editor:
2001  The Chinatown Files
2002  Jim Brown: All-American
2006  Inside Man

Consulting Producer:
2001  The Chinatown Files
2002  Jim Brown: All-American
2006  Inside Man
2018  Wrestle
2020  Shared Legacies: The African-American Jewish Civil Rights Alliance
2021  A Crime on the Bayou
2021  Hold Your Fire

Director:
1993  Goin' Back to T-Town
2001  The Chinatown Files
2001  The Making of 'Bamboozled'
2002  Jim Brown: All-American
2006  Inside Man
2006  John Ford/John Wayne: The Filmmaker and the Legend
2008  Marvin Gaye: What's Going On
2008  Zora Neale Hurston: Jump at the Sun
2009  Chinatown Film Project
2009  Love That Movie
2010  Mr. Soul: Ellis Haizlip and the Birth of Black Power TV
2012  Slavery by Another Name
2015  August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand
2016  Two Trains Runnin'
2017  Acorn and the Firestorm
2017  Maynard
2017  Sammy Davis, Jr.: I've Gotta Be Me
2017  The Talk: Race in America
2018  Mr. SOUL!
2018  Wrestle
2020  MLK/FBI
2020  Shared Legacies: The African-American Jewish Civil Rights Alliance
2021  A Crime on the Bayou
2021  Black Art: In the Absence of Light
2021  Citizen Ashe
2021  Hold Your Fire
2022  Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power
2023  Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes
2023  South to Black Power
2023  The Harvest: Integrating Mississippi's Schools
2023  The League
2024  Ol' Dirty Bastard: A Tale of Two Dirtys
????  Counting The Ballots
????  I Was Born This Way
????  Murder in America: The Lynching of Emmett Till
????  The Sound of Philadelphia

Editor:
1981  Body and Soul
1981  Forever Young
1981  Night of the Zombies
1981  The Little Players
1983  Metropolitan Cats
1984  Style Wars
1985  Private Resort
1987  Langston Hughes: The Dream Keeper
1990  Mo' Better Blues
1991  Jungle Fever
1992  Juice
1993  Goin' Back to T-Town
1994  Surviving the Game
1995  Clockers
1996  Girl 6
1997  4 Little Girls
2000  Bamboozled
2000  Half Past Autumn: The Life and Works of Gordon Parks
2001  The Chinatown Files
2001  The Making of 'Bamboozled'
2002  Jim Brown: All-American
2004  Isn't This a Time! A Tribute Concert for Harold Leventhal
2006  Inside Man
2006  John Ford/John Wayne: The Filmmaker and the Legend
2007  Pete Seeger: The Power of Song
2008  Marvin Gaye: What's Going On
2008  Zora Neale Hurston: Jump at the Sun
2009  By the People: The Election of Barack Obama
2009  Chinatown Film Project
2009  Love That Movie
2010  Gerrymandering
2010  Mr. Soul: Ellis Haizlip and the Birth of Black Power TV
2012  Joe Papp in Five Acts
2012  Slavery by Another Name
2012  Venus and Serena
2013  Remote Area Medical
2015  August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand
2016  Two Trains Runnin'
2017  Acorn and the Firestorm
2017  Maynard
2017  Sammy Davis, Jr.: I've Gotta Be Me
2017  The Talk: Race in America
2018  Mr. SOUL!
2018  Wrestle
2020  MLK/FBI
2020  Shared Legacies: The African-American Jewish Civil Rights Alliance
2021  A Crime on the Bayou
2021  Black Art: In the Absence of Light
2021  Citizen Ashe
2021  Hold Your Fire
2022  Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power
2023  Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes
2023  South to Black Power
2023  The Harvest: Integrating Mississippi's Schools
2023  The League
2024  Ol' Dirty Bastard: A Tale of Two Dirtys
????  Counting The Ballots
????  I Was Born This Way
????  Murder in America: The Lynching of Emmett Till
????  The Sound of Philadelphia

Editorial Consultant:
1981  Body and Soul
1981  Forever Young
1981  Night of the Zombies
1981  The Little Players
1983  Metropolitan Cats
1984  Style Wars
1985  Private Resort
1987  Langston Hughes: The Dream Keeper
1990  Mo' Better Blues
1991  Jungle Fever
1992  Juice
1993  Goin' Back to T-Town
1994  Surviving the Game
1995  Clockers
1996  Girl 6
1997  4 Little Girls
2000  Bamboozled
2000  Half Past Autumn: The Life and Works of Gordon Parks
2001  The Chinatown Files
2001  The Making of 'Bamboozled'
2002  Jim Brown: All-American
2004  Isn't This a Time! A Tribute Concert for Harold Leventhal
2006  Inside Man
2006  John Ford/John Wayne: The Filmmaker and the Legend
2007  Pete Seeger: The Power of Song
2008  Marvin Gaye: What's Going On
2008  Zora Neale Hurston: Jump at the Sun
2009  By the People: The Election of Barack Obama
2009  Chinatown Film Project
2009  Love That Movie
2010  Gerrymandering
2010  Mr. Soul: Ellis Haizlip and the Birth of Black Power TV
2012  Joe Papp in Five Acts
2012  Slavery by Another Name
2012  Venus and Serena
2013  Remote Area Medical
2015  August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand
2016  Two Trains Runnin'
2017  Acorn and the Firestorm
2017  Maynard
2017  Sammy Davis, Jr.: I've Gotta Be Me
2017  The Talk: Race in America
2018  Mr. SOUL!
2018  Wrestle
2020  MLK/FBI
2020  Shared Legacies: The African-American Jewish Civil Rights Alliance
2021  A Crime on the Bayou
2021  Black Art: In the Absence of Light
2021  Citizen Ashe
2021  Hold Your Fire
2022  Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power
2022  The Picture Taker
2023  Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes
2023  South to Black Power
2023  The Harvest: Integrating Mississippi's Schools
2023  The League
2024  Ol' Dirty Bastard: A Tale of Two Dirtys
????  Counting The Ballots
????  I Was Born This Way
????  Murder in America: The Lynching of Emmett Till
????  The Sound of Philadelphia

Executive Producer:
1981  Body and Soul
1981  Forever Young
1981  Night of the Zombies
1981  The Little Players
1983  Metropolitan Cats
1984  Style Wars
1985  Private Resort
1987  Langston Hughes: The Dream Keeper
1990  Mo' Better Blues
1991  Jungle Fever
1992  Juice
1993  Goin' Back to T-Town
1994  Surviving the Game
1995  Clockers
1996  Girl 6
1997  4 Little Girls
2000  Bamboozled
2000  Half Past Autumn: The Life and Works of Gordon Parks
2001  The Chinatown Files
2001  The Making of 'Bamboozled'
2002  Jim Brown: All-American
2004  Isn't This a Time! A Tribute Concert for Harold Leventhal
2006  Inside Man
2006  John Ford/John Wayne: The Filmmaker and the Legend
2007  Pete Seeger: The Power of Song
2008  Marvin Gaye: What's Going On
2008  Zora Neale Hurston: Jump at the Sun
2009  By the People: The Election of Barack Obama
2009  Chinatown Film Project
2009  Love That Movie
2010  Gerrymandering
2010  Mr. Soul: Ellis Haizlip and the Birth of Black Power TV
2012  Joe Papp in Five Acts
2012  Slavery by Another Name
2012  Venus and Serena
2013  Remote Area Medical
2014  Reel Herstory: The Real Story of Reel Women
2015  August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand
2016  Two Trains Runnin'
2017  Acorn and the Firestorm
2017  Maynard
2017  Sammy Davis, Jr.: I've Gotta Be Me
2017  The Talk: Race in America
2018  Mr. SOUL!
2018  Wrestle
2020  MLK/FBI
2020  Shared Legacies: The African-American Jewish Civil Rights Alliance
2021  A Crime on the Bayou
2021  Black Art: In the Absence of Light
2021  Citizen Ashe
2021  Civil War (Or, Who Do We Think We Are)
2021  Hold Your Fire
2022  Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power
2022  Outta the Muck
2022  The Picture Taker
2023  Lift
2023  Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes
2023  South to Black Power
2023  The Harvest: Integrating Mississippi's Schools
2023  The League
2024  Black Table
2024  Keeper
2024  Ol' Dirty Bastard: A Tale of Two Dirtys
2025  The Perfect Neighbor
????  Counting The Ballots
????  I Was Born This Way
????  Murder in America: The Lynching of Emmett Till
????  The Sound of Philadelphia

Producer:
1981  Body and Soul
1981  Forever Young
1981  Night of the Zombies
1981  The Little Players
1983  Metropolitan Cats
1984  Style Wars
1985  Private Resort
1987  Langston Hughes: The Dream Keeper
1990  Mo' Better Blues
1991  Jungle Fever
1992  Juice
1993  Goin' Back to T-Town
1994  Surviving the Game
1995  Clockers
1996  Girl 6
1997  4 Little Girls
2000  Bamboozled
2000  Half Past Autumn: The Life and Works of Gordon Parks
2001  The Chinatown Files
2001  The Making of 'Bamboozled'
2002  Jim Brown: All-American
2004  Isn't This a Time! A Tribute Concert for Harold Leventhal
2006  Inside Man
2006  John Ford/John Wayne: The Filmmaker and the Legend
2007  Pete Seeger: The Power of Song
2008  Marvin Gaye: What's Going On
2008  Zora Neale Hurston: Jump at the Sun
2009  By the People: The Election of Barack Obama
2009  Chinatown Film Project
2009  Love That Movie
2010  Gerrymandering
2010  Mr. Soul: Ellis Haizlip and the Birth of Black Power TV
2012  Joe Papp in Five Acts
2012  Slavery by Another Name
2012  Venus and Serena
2013  Remote Area Medical
2014  Reel Herstory: The Real Story of Reel Women
2015  August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand
2016  Two Trains Runnin'
2017  Acorn and the Firestorm
2017  Maynard
2017  Sammy Davis, Jr.: I've Gotta Be Me
2017  The Talk: Race in America
2018  Mr. SOUL!
2018  Wrestle
2020  D. Wade: Life Unexpected
2020  MLK/FBI
2020  Shared Legacies: The African-American Jewish Civil Rights Alliance
2021  A Crime on the Bayou
2021  Black Art: In the Absence of Light
2021  Citizen Ashe
2021  Civil War (Or, Who Do We Think We Are)
2021  Hold Your Fire
2022  Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power
2022  Outta the Muck
2022  The Picture Taker
2023  Carlos
2023  Lift
2023  Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes
2023  South to Black Power
2023  The Harvest: Integrating Mississippi's Schools
2023  The League
2024  Black Table
2024  Keeper
2024  Ol' Dirty Bastard: A Tale of Two Dirtys
2025  The Perfect Neighbor
????  Counting The Ballots
????  I Was Born This Way
????  Murder in America: The Lynching of Emmett Till
????  The Sound of Philadelphia

Supervising Editor:
1981  Body and Soul
1981  Forever Young
1981  Night of the Zombies
1981  The Little Players
1983  Metropolitan Cats
1984  Style Wars
1985  Private Resort
1987  Langston Hughes: The Dream Keeper
1990  Mo' Better Blues
1991  Jungle Fever
1992  Juice
1993  Goin' Back to T-Town
1994  Surviving the Game
1995  Clockers
1996  Girl 6
1997  4 Little Girls
2000  Bamboozled
2000  Half Past Autumn: The Life and Works of Gordon Parks
2001  The Chinatown Files
2001  The Making of 'Bamboozled'
2002  Jim Brown: All-American
2004  Isn't This a Time! A Tribute Concert for Harold Leventhal
2006  Inside Man
2006  John Ford/John Wayne: The Filmmaker and the Legend
2007  Pete Seeger: The Power of Song
2008  Marvin Gaye: What's Going On
2008  Zora Neale Hurston: Jump at the Sun
2009  By the People: The Election of Barack Obama
2009  Chinatown Film Project
2009  Love That Movie
2010  Gerrymandering
2010  Mr. Soul: Ellis Haizlip and the Birth of Black Power TV
2012  Joe Papp in Five Acts
2012  Slavery by Another Name
2012  Venus and Serena
2013  Remote Area Medical
2014  Reel Herstory: The Real Story of Reel Women
2015  August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand
2016  Two Trains Runnin'
2017  Acorn and the Firestorm
2017  Maynard
2017  Sammy Davis, Jr.: I've Gotta Be Me
2017  The Talk: Race in America
2018  Mr. SOUL!
2018  Wrestle
2020  D. Wade: Life Unexpected
2020  MLK/FBI
2020  Shared Legacies: The African-American Jewish Civil Rights Alliance
2021  A Crime on the Bayou
2021  Black Art: In the Absence of Light
2021  Citizen Ashe
2021  Civil War (Or, Who Do We Think We Are)
2021  Hold Your Fire
2022  Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power
2022  Outta the Muck
2022  The Picture Taker
2023  Carlos
2023  Lift
2023  Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes
2023  South to Black Power
2023  The Harvest: Integrating Mississippi's Schools
2023  The League
2024  Black Table
2024  Keeper
2024  Ol' Dirty Bastard: A Tale of Two Dirtys
2025  The Perfect Neighbor
????  Counting The Ballots
????  I Was Born This Way
????  Murder in America: The Lynching of Emmett Till
????  The Sound of Philadelphia

Writer:
1981  Body and Soul
1981  Forever Young
1981  Night of the Zombies
1981  The Little Players
1983  Metropolitan Cats
1984  Style Wars
1985  Private Resort
1987  Langston Hughes: The Dream Keeper
1990  Mo' Better Blues
1991  Jungle Fever
1992  Juice
1993  Goin' Back to T-Town
1994  Surviving the Game
1995  Clockers
1996  Girl 6
1997  4 Little Girls
2000  Bamboozled
2000  Half Past Autumn: The Life and Works of Gordon Parks
2001  The Chinatown Files
2001  The Making of 'Bamboozled'
2002  Jim Brown: All-American
2004  Isn't This a Time! A Tribute Concert for Harold Leventhal
2006  Inside Man
2006  John Ford/John Wayne: The Filmmaker and the Legend
2007  Pete Seeger: The Power of Song
2008  Marvin Gaye: What's Going On
2008  Zora Neale Hurston: Jump at the Sun
2009  By the People: The Election of Barack Obama
2009  Chinatown Film Project
2009  Love That Movie
2010  Gerrymandering
2010  Mr. Soul: Ellis Haizlip and the Birth of Black Power TV
2012  Joe Papp in Five Acts
2012  Slavery by Another Name
2012  Venus and Serena
2013  Remote Area Medical
2014  Reel Herstory: The Real Story of Reel Women
2015  August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand
2016  Two Trains Runnin'
2017  Acorn and the Firestorm
2017  Maynard
2017  Sammy Davis, Jr.: I've Gotta Be Me
2017  The Talk: Race in America
2018  Mr. SOUL!
2018  Wrestle
2020  D. Wade: Life Unexpected
2020  MLK/FBI
2020  Shared Legacies: The African-American Jewish Civil Rights Alliance
2021  A Crime on the Bayou
2021  Black Art: In the Absence of Light
2021  Citizen Ashe
2021  Civil War (Or, Who Do We Think We Are)
2021  Hold Your Fire
2022  Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power
2022  Outta the Muck
2022  The Picture Taker
2023  Carlos
2023  Lift
2023  Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes
2023  South to Black Power
2023  The Harvest: Integrating Mississippi's Schools
2023  The League
2024  Black Table
2024  Keeper
2024  Ol' Dirty Bastard: A Tale of Two Dirtys
2025  The Perfect Neighbor
????  Counting The Ballots
????  I Was Born This Way
????  Murder in America: The Lynching of Emmett Till
????  The Sound of Philadelphia

Director:
1986  American Masters
1987  Eyes on the Prize
1988  American Experience
1999  I'll Make Me a World
1999  Independent Lens
2002  The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow
2019  Why We Hate
2020  Atlanta's Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children
2022  Hostages
2023  Bill Russell: Legend
2024  Photographer

Editor:
1986  American Masters
1987  Eyes on the Prize
1988  American Experience
1999  I'll Make Me a World
1999  Independent Lens
2002  The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow
2010  If God Is Willing and da Creek Don't Rise
2019  Why We Hate
2020  Atlanta's Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children
2022  Hostages
2023  Bill Russell: Legend
2024  Photographer

Executive Producer:
1986  American Masters
1987  Eyes on the Prize
1988  American Experience
1999  I'll Make Me a World
1999  Independent Lens
2002  The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow
2010  If God Is Willing and da Creek Don't Rise
2019  Why We Hate
2020  Atlanta's Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children
2021  Tiger
2022  Hostages
2023  Bill Russell: Legend
2024  Photographer
????  Katrina: Come Hell and High Water

Producer:
1986  American Masters
1987  Eyes on the Prize
1988  American Experience
1999  I'll Make Me a World
1999  Independent Lens
2002  The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow
2003  The Blues
2010  If God Is Willing and da Creek Don't Rise
2019  Why We Hate
2020  Atlanta's Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children
2021  Tiger
2022  Hostages
2023  Bill Russell: Legend
2024  Photographer
????  Katrina: Come Hell and High Water

Writer:
1986  American Masters
1987  Eyes on the Prize
1988  American Experience
1999  I'll Make Me a World
1999  Independent Lens
2002  The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow
2003  The Blues
2010  If God Is Willing and da Creek Don't Rise
2019  Why We Hate
2020  Atlanta's Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children
2021  Tiger
2022  Hostages
2023  Bill Russell: Legend
2024  Photographer
????  Katrina: Come Hell and High Water

About the Movie Section

Most data and links to images for the Movies section come from TheMovieDB (TMDB).

Additional data for Film Titles come from The Open Movie Database (OMDb).

At least one plug-in comes from IMDb.

Data are -- hey, it's a plural -- subject to the limitations of their sources. (For example, TMDB search results currently max out at 20.) I am limiting myself to free data sources for now. (No, a "free trial" is not free.)

While much of the above data are retrieved directly from outside APIs and other such sources, data from American Film Institute (AFI) and British Film Institute (BFI) were manually entered the old fashioned way into a MySQL database. Re BFI I took the following liberties:

  • I added "runners up" to Top 10 lists, treating them as ties where applicable and numbering them accordingly at the bottom of each list.
  • Regarding those polls wherein "franchise" movies were submitted as one project until BFI's policy changed to regard them separately, I treated them as ties and renumbered the affected lists accordingly (e.g. the Godfather films).

Regarding profile removals and data corrections:

  • If you would like your profile removed from this site, please contact the source of this data directly, TheMovieDB. My assumption is: once it's gone from their site, it should soon be gone from this site.
  • If you would like to correct movie data on this site, please contact the source of this data directly, TheMovieDB. My assumption is: once it's corrected on their site, it should soon be corrected on this site.
  • For additional corrections and profile removals, please e-mail The Open Movie Database (OMDb).

Filtering is applied here to film projects flagged as "adult" by TheMovieDB. Pending "popular demand" I am contemplating a login and profile system with preferences (such as whether to allow adult images to appear) and permissions (such as data entry).

Whereas the overall purpose of this website is to serve as a personal demo/portfolio/workshop of web and data skills, this Movies section is not meant to compete with or substitute for far more definitive movie websites.

Whether or not he still clings to an award which he won in 1986 as a film critic for his college's newspaper, Jeffrey Hartmann is not responsible for the texts of overviews and biographies supplied by external data sources.