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As the days are getting longer and the temperature is starting to rise, Netflix has decided to stream the perfect movie for heading into the warmer months.NYU legend Spike Lee's famous 1989 film — set on the hottest day in Brooklyn — Do The Right Thing, has found a streaming home on Netflix as of March 1, 2025. Written by the She's Gotta Have It director in less than two weeks, the film is a beautiful love letter to Brooklyn that simultaneously exposes the deep racial tensions of New York City. Lee also stars in the film as the story's middle man, Mookie, a person torn between his Italian-American employer and the Black residents of his community.

While the stylized '80s film might seem like a snapshot of a time gone by, the film's themes of racial relations in the American melting pot are more pertinent now than ever. The film has...

NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.

Japan Society

A six-film Nobuhiko Obayashi retrospective, featuring imported 35mm and 16mm prints, begins (watch our exclusive trailer debut).

Anthology Film Archives

Willem Dafoe: Wild at Heart features films by Ferrara, Lynch, Scorsese, and Kathryn Bigelow.

Film at Lincoln Center

A highlight of Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu inspirations includes David Lean, Jean Cocteau, and more.

Museum of the Moving Image

Snubbed Forever brings The Magnificent Ambersons and 3:10 to Yuma, as well as 35mm prints of The Quiet Man and Rosemary’s Baby.

Roxy Cinema

Paris, Texas and a 35mm print of Girl, Interrupted play on Saturday.

IFC Center

A new 4K restoration of Picnic at Hanging Rock continues; Eraserhead, Inland Empire, Fire Walk with Me, Lost Highway, and Mulholland Dr. screen; Fargo, Misery, and House show late.

Museum of Modern Art

A Jerry Schatzberg retrospective continues.

Film Forum

Godard’s A...

Spike Lee reflects on the documentary that helped the FBI reopen a cold case. While the director excels at helming fictional features, such as Do The Right Thing and Inside Man, his most influential works always come down to non-fiction. His 1992 biopic Malcolm X, which features Denzel Washington as the titular civil rights activist and leader, is considered a cultural touchstone, particularly in Black cinema.

His film adaptation of Ron Stallworth's autobiographical book, Black Klansman: A Memoir, resulted in the Oscar-winning BlacKkKlansman. Lee's next film will be Highest to Lowest, which is a reinterpretation of Akira Kurosawa's High and Low and will mark the fifth collaboration between him and Washington. However, recently, he revealed that he is most proud of the 1997 documentary that helped the FBI solve a case.

Spike Lee Considers 4 Little Girls His Best Work 4 Little Girls Brought Justice To The Victims

4 Little Girls is a...

Spike Lee spoke about his upcoming film “Highest 2 Lowest” – which will see the director reunite with lead actor Denzel Washington – during an on-stage talk Tuesday at the Red Sea Film Festival, where he is the president of the competition jury.

The film is inspired by Japanese director Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 crime thriller “High and Low,” he said, adding that Kurosawa has been a key inspiration for his career – from “She’s Gotta Have It” onward. In “High and Low,” an executive of a Yokohama shoe company becomes a victim of extortion when his chauffeur’s son is kidnapped by mistake and held for ransom.

Lee said that attending NYU film school opened his eyes to filmmakers like Kurosawa, who introduced him to new approaches to story structure.

“One of the best things about film school is that you get introduced to world cinema, not just Hollywood. Seeing Kurosawa’s film...

In the wake of a slow return to production post WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, industry contraction, and an extended M&a deal for a major studio that has kept the whole town on pins and needles, Hollywood really needs a break. Creatives and executives alike were hoping for a boost in the form of a strong summer box office, but after almost every blockbuster released in the last month failed to meet expectations, a panic that’s been in place for a while now refuses to relent. As the traditional process of producing and distributing film and television hurdles towards oblivion, the best thing one can do is take a step back and gain some perspective. Ironically enough, I believe the best place to do this is actually… at a movie theater. Just not the kind you’re probably thinking of.

While first-run mega-chains like AMC and Regal struggle through the...

Exclusive: Wellington Love has started the w/Love production company, and already has an inaugural slate of projects lined up.

After more than three decades working in various film business capacities — including distribution, festival direction, and publicity — Love made the leap into producing as co-producer of Lee Daniels’ The United States vs. Billie Holiday (2021), for which Andra Day was an Academy Award nominee and a Golden Globe Award winner.

His latest producing project is Daniel Peddle’s feature documentary Beyond the Aggressives: 25 Years Later. Peddle’s follow-up to his groundbreaking documentary The Aggressives will debut on Paramount+ with the Paramount+ with Showtime Plan on Saturday, March 30th. Beyond the Aggressives revisits principals from the previous feature, uniting two generations of queer Bipoc in conversation and in action. Beyond the Aggressives is nominated for Outstanding Documentary Feature at this year’s GLAAD Media Awards. View exclusive clip below.

Love reflects,...

Sheila Nevins has produced documentaries for most of her professional life. But at 84, she’s still notching career firsts.

Last month, Nevins added “Oscar-nominated director” to her résumé, having landed her first nod for co-directing the short “The ABCs of Book Banning” with Trish Adlesic and Nazenet Habtezghi.

Nevins’ first Oscars as a nominee take place at the same time she is wrapping up her run as the head of MTV Documentary Films. Nevins joined the company in 2019 after 38 years at HBO.

“I went there to raise the bar for the intellectual quotient of what MTV could produce in the documentary arena,” Nevins says. “I did highbrow and lowbrow at HBO, but when I got to MTV, I just did highbrow.”

On Nevins’ watch, MTV produced 40 docs and landed five Oscar nominations, including a feature doc bid this year for “The Eternal Memory.”

“Sheila Nevins is an extraordinary storyteller,...

The American Society of Cinematographers has done the right thing.

The group said today that Oscar-winning filmmaker Spike Lee will receive its Board of Governors Award next month.

“Spike Lee is one of the most brilliant filmmakers of our time, and the social impact of his work is immeasurable,” ASC President Shelly Johnson said. “This award celebrates his respect for the partnership between director and cinematographer and how two people unite to tell a visual story in a way that can only be recognized as that of collaboration.”

The Brooklyn-raised Lee began his storied career in the 1980s as a writer-director of such films as She’s Gotta Have It, School Daze and Do the Right Thing, for which he earned a Best Original Screenplay Oscar nomination. Many more celebrated films would follow, including Malcolm X, Mo’ Better Blues, Jungle Fever, Crooklyn, Clockers, He Got Game, Summer of Sam, Girl 6,...

Filmmaker Sam Pollard, one of the most prolific and important forces in contemporary documentary, will be honored by Black Public Media at its upcoming PitchBlack Awards in New York.

Pollard — who directed or co-directed four films and docuseries this year alone, including The League and Bill Russell: Legend — will receive the Bpm Trailblazer Award in a ceremony on April 25. The event is set to take place at the Stanley H. Kantor Penthouse of Manhattan’s Lincoln Center, capping the latest edition of Bpm’s PitchBLACK Forum, described as “the largest pitch competition of its kind in the United States for independent filmmakers and creative technologists who create Black content.”

“A multiple Emmy- and Peabody Award-winning producer-director-editor, Pollard is known for his work on a plethora of important works including: Eyes On The Prize, Maynard, MLK/FBI, Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power, and Mr. Soul!,” a release noted.

Chicago – Sam Pollard has established himself as a top director of documentaries, to add to his stellar career as a film editor … including for Spike Lee. His latest doc is a deep dive into the 20th Century curiosity of the Negro League. With interviews, archival photos/footage and comprehensive storytelling, the doc is entitled “The League.”

The Negro Leagues were born because of Major League Baseball’s segregation in the first half of the 20th Century, as the owners colluded to keep blacks off their teams. It took black entrepreneur Rube Foster to organize the rag-tag “negro” teams of the era into a collective in 1920. At the League’s peak they forged their own top players, introduced a more modern speed-oriented game and produced many future stars … including Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron and Willie Mays. Barely surviving the Depression, the barnstorming league changed teams and areas of the country with impunity,...

There’s no shortage of great movies about baseball, but there is a severe lack of films about the Negro leagues. The fifth inning of Ken Burns’ expansive “Baseball” covers them with admirable reverence, but feature-length projects — whether narrative or documentary — are vanishingly rare. “The League” is therefore something close to required viewing for devotees of our national pastime just by virtue of its existence, so it comes as a relief that Sam Pollard’s documentary (exec produced by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson) is also quite good on the merits.

Given his résumé, that shouldn’t come as a surprise. Pollard’s prior work as director includes “MLK/FBI” and “Citizen Ashe,” and he’s also edited several Spike Lee joints; in addition to a Peabody Award and career achievement prize from the International Documentary Association, he shared an Oscar nomination with Lee for 1997’s “4 Little Girls” about the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing.

Acclaimed filmmaker Sam Pollard (MLK/FBI) is a delightful storyteller. The man nabbed an Emmy Award (Outstanding Picture Editing for Nonfiction Programming) for the film By the People: The Election of Barack Obama. He was also nominated for an Oscar, along with Spike Lee, for 4 Little Girls. Now, he’s at the helm of The League, a powerful documentary that illuminates the fascinating journey of Negro League baseball — from its triumphs to its challenges — through the first half of the 20th century.

It’s a towering achievement with a wonderfully told story featuring previously unearthed archival footage and never-before-seen interviews with legendary players like Buck O’Neil and Satchel Paige; their early careers created a path for Jackie Robinson and Hall-of-Famers Willie Mays and Hank Aaron, all of whom began in the Negro Leagues.

Of the new project, Pollard immediately noted that he believes people will be immediately surprised by...

There’s no joint like a Spike Lee Joint, but what other movies does the director love?

Over four decades and 30 films, Brooklyn-raised Lee has established himself as the type of director whose work can’t be replicated. The traits that make a Spike Lee Joint a Spike Lee Joint are easy to spot: the fiery and often political subject matter, the mix of humor with drama, those iconic floaty dolly shots, and an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach to stylistic experimentation.

Lee’s fearlessness as a director makes for a fascinating mixed-bag of a filmography. The auteur has at least three undeniable masterpieces under his belt: 1989’s “Do the Right Thing,” a searing drama about police violence and racism; 1992’s “Malcolm X,” an epic starring Denzel Washington as the titular Civil Rights leader; and 2002’s “25th Hour,” the greatest portrait of life in New York after 9/11 put to film. Depending on who you ask,...

Spike Lee is to receive a BFI Fellowship, the highest honor bestowed by the UK’s lead organization for film.

The award will be presented to filmmaker Lee at an event at BFI Southbank, hosted by BFI Chair Tim Richards and BFI Chief Exec Ben Roberts, with an on stage Q&a with Spike Lee accompanied by a screening of Summer of Sam, on 13 February 2023.

While in the UK, Lee will visit teams at the BFI National Archive, who have liaised with the director on a new 35mm print of Malcolm X (1992), to premiere at the BFI’s inaugural Film on Film Festival taking place at BFI Southbank in June. He will also take a masterclass with young filmmakers.

Born in Atlanta in 1957 but raised in Brooklyn, New York City, Lee received his Mfa in Film Production at NYU/Tisch. After graduation, he founded 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, based in Brooklyn.

Exclusive: Production is underway on a feature documentary from HBO Documentary Films and This Machine inspired by New York Times columnist Charles Blow’s book The Devil You Know: A Black Power Manifesto.

Oscar-nominated filmmaker Sam Pollard and Llewellyn Smith are directing the as-yet-untitled documentary. Blow’s book, published last year, “calls for a reverse ‘great migration’ of African Americans from the North back to the South to reclaim the land, political representation, and culture that they left behind,” according to a release from HBO, “and in so doing, forever transform the power structure in America.”

Between 1916 and 1970 roughly six million African Americans migrated from the rural South to other parts of the country, to seek better economic opportunities and to escape Jim Crow segregation. Blow writes in his book, “Black people fled the horrors of the racist South for so-called liberal cities of the North and West, trading the...

PBS documentary anthology series “Independent Lens” has acquired the documentary feature “Outta The Muck” from directors Ira Mckinley and Bhawin Suchak, who previously co-directed award-winning documentary “The Throwaways.”

Based on Mckinley’s family roots, the film, a narrative of Black achievement, tells the story of a fiercely self-determined family in the deep south as it resists despair with love. It blends family, football

and history in an intimate portrait of the Dean family, longtime residents of the historic town of Pahokee, Florida and journeys back home with McKinley as he reconnects with his niece Bridget and nephew Alvin and explores their shared family history that spans seven generations.

“Outta The Muck” had its world premiere at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in Missoula, Montana. It will have its East Coast Premiere at the Miami Film Festival on March 5 with McKinley and Suchak in attendance to participate in a Q&a after the in-theater screening.

Within approximately six minutes of welcoming a stranger into her sleekly appointed Chelsea penthouse, while graciously hanging a coat and ambling into the kitchen for two bottles of water, Sheila Nevins, documentary producer extraordinaire, has rifled through several current topics of interest, her mind serving them up like a lotto machine. First ball up: men who leave their wives late in life for other men. (“Can you imagine? He leaves for another woman, Ok. You’re old, they’re young, their tits are up, yours are down. But this is a different body part.

Netflix has scored a slam dunk with a feature-length documentary about NBA great and Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell that will be directed by Sam Pollard.

The untitled documentary is described as the definitive bio-doc on Russell, one of American sports’ greatest champions who won 11 titles with his 13-years with the Celtics, including his last two as the first Black head coach in NBA history while still playing for the team.

Russell himself will sit for an exclusive series of interviews and provide access to his archives as part of the documentary. No release date has been set.

Larry Gordon, Ross Greenburg and Mike Richardson are producing the film for High Five Productions, LLC.

The Bill Russell documentary follows the string of successful films and series about other sports icons such as Michael Jordan in “The Last Dance” and an upcoming series about Magic Johnson, among many others.

Known for...

Spike Lee is set to direct a multi-part documentary on athlete and activist Colin Kaepernick for ESPN Films, Variety has confirmed.

Production has started on the documentary, which was first announced in July 2020 as part of Kaepernick’s first-look deal with Walt Disney through his production company, Ra Vision Media.

“Kaepernick, who has never given a full, first-person account of his journey, is collaborating closely with Lee who plans to use extensive new interviews and a vast never-before-seen archive to help Kaepernick tell his story from his perspective,” the press release states.

Kaepernick recently executive produced and starred in the Netflix series “Colin in Black & White,” which premiered on the streamer in October. Starring Jaden Michael as a young Kaepernick, the show chronicles the athlete’s formative years, focusing on how he navigated obstacles of race, culture and class as a Black child adopted into a white family.

Kaepernick...

The prodigious Spike Lee doesn’t sleep. Following the one-two punch of back-to-back hit films in 2020—”Da 5 Bloods” and the live-concert doc, “David Byrne’s American Utopia“—Lee is back yet again and with a pretty monstrous project. The four-episode, 8-hour doc series for HBO and HBO Max, “NYC Epicenters 9/11➔2021½,” is epic and vast in the same manner as some of Lee’s previous docs series like the Oscar-nominated “4 Little Girls,” and the Emmy and Peabody-award winning “When The Levees Broke,” and “If God Is Willing and da Creek Don’t Rise.” A sprawling cultural doc about the various horrors New York and New Yorkers have had to endure, 9/11, the Covid-19 epicenter pandemic outbreak of 2020, the Black Lives Matter protest of last summer and more, ‘NYC Epicenters’ is a major look at the way, New York often receives the brunt of calamities in America and how New Yorkers...

Spike Lee is one of the most acclaimed filmmakers in the world. Still, some of his best work, his profound and solemn humanist documentaries, are relatively unsung next to his more flashy narrative works, comparatively at least. Docs like “4 Little Girls,” and HBO’s Katrina docs “When the Levees Broke,” and “If God Is Willing and da Creek Don’t Rise,” have been lauded the world over (“4 Little Girls” was nominated for an Oscar and the HBO docs are Emmy and Peabody award winners) but never quite get their due in the same manner and they really should.

Continue reading Spike Lee’s New 4-Part Doc ‘NYC Epicenters 9/11➔2021½’ Debuts August 22 On HBO at The Playlist.

Exclusive: Fresh off presiding over the Cannes Film Festival jury, Spike Lee will receive the 46th annual Chaplin Award from Film at Lincoln Center during an in-person gala next month.

The event on September 9 will be held at Alice Tully Hall, the main venue for Flc’s New York Film Festival, which will be back there next month for its 59th edition. It will adhere to “a comprehensive series of health and safety policies in coordination with state and city medical experts,” according to a press release. New York City this week became the first U.S. city to implement a Covid-19 vaccine mandate, though it won’t take full effect until September 13.

Much like Lee’s appointment as head of the Cannes jury in 2020, which was postponed until 2021 due to the pandemic, his Chaplin honor was also previously announced. The evening is the most important fundraiser of the year for Film at Lincoln Center,...

A new documentary on the life and career of tennis great Arthur Ashe called “Citizen Ashe” is in the works for CNN Films and HBO Max.

“Citizen Ashe” will be co-directed by Rex Miller and Sam Pollard (“4 Little Girls”) that will explore Ashe’s legacy on the court breaking barriers for Black athletes as well as off the court as an activist for HIV awareness.

The film is being produced by which is produced by Beth Hubbard and Dogwoof CEO Anna Godas and will be presented by CNN Films and HBO Max, and it will debut in 2022.

Arthur Ashe, who would have turned 78 this month, is the only Black man to win the singles title at Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the Australian Open and was once ranked No. 1 in the world. He retired from tennis in 1980 and died of AIDS-related complications in 1993. But his legacy on the...

CNN Films and HBO Max have partnered with Dogwoof on a new documentary feature that will explore the impact Arthur Ashe had on tennis and HIV activism.

During his momentous tennis career, Ashe won three Grand Slam singles titles and became the first-ever Black player to join the United States Davis Cup team. He retired in 1980 and died of AIDS-related complications in 1993. His impact on the sport is only surpassed in esteem by his off-court activism on behalf of civil rights, global human rights and compassion for those afflicted by HIV.

Rex Miller and Sam Pollard are co-directors on the film about the tennis player and humanitarian, which will be released in 2022. Miller described their film as a first-person exploration that describes Ashe’s origin story as a social activist in his own words.

“He created a unique blueprint for advancing civil rights for disenfranchised and oppressed people throughout the world,...

Earlier this year, the Oscars failed to embrace Spike Lee and “Da 5 Bloods,” robbing the acclaimed filmmaker of a history-making second Best Director nomination. No Black filmmaker has ever won Best Director at the Academy Awards or been selected as a repeat nominee; Lee was nominated for “BlacKkKlansman” at the 2019 ceremony.

“Whatever happens, whatever shakes out, this film is going to be looked at for many years to come,” Lee told Gold Derby about his own awards prospects before the nominations were announced. Of his star Delroy Lindo, who was also snubbed, Lee added, “Sometimes, these organizations, these voting bodies, for whatever reason, they overlook monumental work. But the work, awards or no awards, will stand the test of time.”

But while the Oscars overlooked one of Lee’s acclaimed 2020 features, the Emmy Awards apparently knew better. On Tuesday, “David Byrne’s American Utopia,” the rousing filmed adaptation of...

Exclusive: Peabody on Thursday said that documentary producer-director and film and TV editor Sam Pollard has been awarded the Peabody Career Achievement Award, while longtime PBS and CNN anchor Judy Woodruff has won the Peabody Award for Journalistic Integrity.

The honors come after the organization earlier this week gave Ava DuVernay’s Array its Institutional Award. The 30 winners of the 81st annual Peabody Awards will be unveiled later this month during a multi-day virtual presentation.

Pollard’s honor, given to individuals “whose work and commitment to broadcasting and digital media have left an indelible mark on the field and in American culture,” rewards a career of chronicling the Black experience via credits that include the landmark docus Eyes on the Prize II, Slavery By Another Name, August Wilson: The Ground On Which I Stand and Two Trains Runnin’. His director credits include Sammy Davis Jr., I’ve Gotta Be Me,...

Dreams do come true when talented youngsters cross paths with mentors. For track and field U.S. prodigies, Sheppard sisters Tai, Rainn and Brooke, their encounter with coach Jean Bell, their fairy godmother, was pivotal in their sports and personal achievements.

The Netflix Original documentary “Sisters on Track” is unspooling this week in the Special Premiere strand of Scandinavian’s leading documentary festival Cph:dox (April 21-May 12), before heading off to Tribeca’s Viewpoint slot in June.

Brooklyn-based award-winning Corinne van der Borch (“Girls With Black Balloons”) is directing with Norway’s Tone Grøttjord-Glenne (“Brothers”).

The pic charts the inspiring coming-of-age story of the three young Brooklyn-born Sheppard sisters’ race to a brighter future, away from their homelessness past with their mother Tonia Hardy. We follow the three young athletes, Tai (12), Rainn (11) and Brooke (10), from the 2016 media frenzy that followed their plebiscite as “Sports Illustrated Kids of the Year,” to their...

Spike Lee is taking a long look at New York City for an upcoming HBO documentary that will chronicle life in the city over the two decades since the September 11 terrorist attacks.

HBO announced on Monday that Lee will direct and produce the “NYC Epicenters 9/11→2021½” documentary series. Per HBO, the series is an “epic chronicle of life, loss, and survival in the city of New York over the 20 years since the September 11 attacks. The multi-part documentary event will offer an unprecedented, sweeping portrait of New Yorkers as they rebuild and rebound, from a devastating terrorist attack through the ongoing global pandemic. Capturing the history through a staggering amount of visual imagery, and featuring first-hand accounts from a panoply of citizens from all walks of life, the documentary will debut later in the year.”

“As a New Yawker who bleeds orange and blue (the colors of New York City), I’m...

Spike Lee is currently in production on a documentary film about New York City and the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. Titled “NYC Epicenters 9/11 – 2021½,” it will premiere on HBO this year.

The multi-part documentary will be a sweeping portrait of how New Yorkers have rebuilt and rebounded not just from a terrorist attack but now an ongoing global pandemic. The film features over 200 interviews of citizens with firsthand accounts of 9/11.

“NYC Epicenters” will debut later this year on HBO and HBO Max and will be available in commemoration of 9/11.

“As a New Yawker who bleeds orange and blue (the colors of New York City), I’m proud to have a ‘Spike Lee Joint’ about how our/my city dealt with being the epicenters of 9/11 and Covid-19,” Lee said in a statement. “With over 200 interviews, we dig deep into what makes NYC the greatest city on this God’s earth...

HBO Documentary Films and Academy Award and Emmy-winning director and screenwriter Spike Lee are currently in production on “NYC Epicenters 9/11→ 2021½,” a film that will chronicle the life, loss and survival of New York City residents over the twenty years since the terrorist attacks on the original World Trade Center complex.

“As a New Yawker who bleeds orange and blue (the colors of New York City), I’m proud to have a ‘Spike Lee Joint’ about how our/my city dealt with being the epicenters of 9/11 and Covid-19. With over 200 interviews, we dig deep into what makes NYC the greatest city on this God’s earth and also the diverse citizens who make it so. Over centuries pundits and straight haters have proclaimed NYC was dead and stinkin’, only to be proved wrong. You will lose ya money betting against New York, New York. And dat’s da truth, Ruth. Be Safe.

At 70-years-old, filmmaker Sam Pollard has had a massive career spanning five decades as a dedicated chronicler of the Black experienced in America. But it’s arguably just getting its due in a major way and unlike never before. Pollard— a director, editor, and producer— is an Oscar nominee, has been nominated for seven Emmys and has won three different times and has also been honored with a Peabody Award.

Continue reading Director Sam Pollard on HBO’s ‘Black Art,’ ‘MLK/FBI’ His Work With Spike Lee & More [Deep Focus] at The Playlist.

In a compelling new HBO documentary, film-maker Sam Pollard speaks to prominent creatives to tell the struggle and success of African American art

“I get up at 7.30 in the morning and then I’m at my computer working, thinking about new ideas, pushing along the projects that I’m involved in,” 70-year-old Sam Pollard explains. The documentary film-maker, as an editor, frequently collaborated with Spike Lee on films such as Mo’ Better Blues, 4 Little Girls and Bamboozled. His storied directing career features the seminal civil rights docuseries Eyes on the Prize, the electrifying blues documentary Two Trains Runnin’, and the Academy Award-shortlisted MLK/FBI.

Related: Black on both sides: the African diaspora around the world – in pictures...

HBO is celebrating Black History Month by making many of its most popular black-driven TV shows and movies available to stream for free online. It’s part of the network’s “Black History Is Our History” spotlight page, which aims to highlight HBO’s “diverse and expansive slate of content” and “rich history of amplifying Black stories and talent.”

Among the HBO shows and films available to stream online free: select episodes of Michaela Coel’s I May Destroy You, the critically-acclaimed Lovecraft Country, the Serena Williams documentary Being Serena,...

On February 9, the documentary branch of the academy will announce the 15 films that made the shortlist for their Best Documentary Feature award. This is the branch’s first step in narrowing down the 238 documentary features that qualified for Oscar consideration before the final five nominees are unveiled along with all the other Academy Award categories on March 15.

In order to determine the 15-title short list, members of the academy’s documentary branch have been working their way through eligible films via a virtual screening room. While the more than 500 members of the branch are encouraged to watch as many titles as possible, one fifth of them are assigned to each title. By now they’ve all compiled and submitted a preferential ballot of their top 15 choices.

Once these ballots are collated to determine the 15 and the short list has been announced, branch members will then be encouraged to watch the...

In 2016, Spike Lee was given an Honorary Academy Award for being “a champion of independent film and an inspiration to young filmmakers.” After Sidney Poitier, he was the second Black director to be so honored and said in his acceptance speech that it had “been a long time coming.” As he reflected on his long career, he said that it had “not been easy” and shed light on the struggles of Black creatives in the film industry. Indeed, there are still seven competitive Oscar categories in which a Black person has never won, including the most prestigious: Best Director. However, Lee may be the one to make Oscar history this year.

Lee’s 25th narrative feature film has been hailed as one of his greatest achievements since its Netflix release last June. Jocelyn Noveck of The Associated Press calls it “the right movie for right now,” citing the “current national reckoning over racial justice.

Most documentaries will usually interview 20-25 people and then whittle it down to about 10-15 that are used in the final cut, but Sam Pollard went in a different direction with his latest, “MLK/FBI.” “. This we had the reverse philosophy. We said we don’t want a lot of people to talk about this story. We’re going to find a core group of people,” he said in our recent webchat (watch the exclusive video above). In addition to David Garrow, the author of the book the film is based on, Pollard wanted two of King’s closest confidants, two people specializing in the history of the FBI and two people who understood the inner workings of the bureau. It was the film’s screenwriter, Ben Hedin, who made the suggestion of James Comey, the former FBI director. “My first reaction was that Comey would probably say no. But,...

Packed to the brim with historical documents and recently declassified materials, Sam Pollard, documentarian and editor of Spike Lee's films, among many others, brings us MLK/FBI, a searing indictment of government surveillance and a smear campaign on one of the most revered figures in American history. The film is drawn from David Garrow's book, The FBI and Martin Luther King Jr.: From Solo to Memphis, in which the author and King biographer accuses King of participating in a rape in a hotel room in 1964, based on a declassified, handwritten memo from FBI documents that are now on the National Archive website. With Trump's 'Law and Order' rhetoric rising amid nationwide protests against police violence...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Storied filmmaker Spike Lee is the latest in a long line of auteurs to be awarded honors by the American Cinematheque.

The ceremony celebrating Lee’s more than three decade-career was presented virtually due to the ongoing pandemic. A collage of images from some of his most iconic “joints”, as well as a few personal photos of Lee with his wife Tonya, and children Satchel and Jackson and at a basketball game (presumably the filmmaker’s beloved Knicks) with Denzel Washington, served as the backdrop for the 34th annual event.

Past American Cinematheque honors recipient Jodie Foster hosted the broadcast, asking her “Inside Man” director, “It’s gotta be crazy to be honored for lifetime achievement. Does it seem like it’s been that long? Do you feel like you’re 100 years old?”

“If you love what you’re doing, you can delay Father Time,” Lee replied, “So I’ve...

Spike Lee was honored by his peers and associates Thursday as he became the 34th recipient of the American Cinematheque Award, given to a filmmaker or star who has achieved, and continues to achieve, great success in their career.

The honor, usually presented during a glitzy tribute dinner, had to go virtual this year due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, but that didn’t stop Lee’s wide swath of admirers and colleagues from participating via Zoom and other means in the slickly produced and nicely assembled show that went off without a hitch this evening. Hosted by Jodie Foster, who previously co-starred with Denzel Washington in 2006’s Inside Man — Lee tonight recalled it as one of his personal favorites — the tribute included an innovative feature showing virtual conversations between pairs of various past artists from all fields who have worked with Lee, focusing on a specific film on which they participated.

Chicago – Sam Pollard has been a behind-the-scenes film editor/producer for most of his career, best known for his work with Spike Lee. But recently, after sporadic director assignments over the years, he has broken out with two major profile documentaries, one on Sammy Davis Jr. in 2017, and his most recent “MLK/FBI.”

MLK is of course, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the FBI is the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The story is of government overreach in the surveillance of Dr. King, revealing some very human foibles that FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover hoped to use against the civil rights icon and the movement that he led. As in his previous work that included King, “Eyes on the Prize,” Sam Pollard has structured a meticulous history lesson, one of truth and morality.

Director Sam Pollard of ‘MLK/FBI’

Photo credit: IFC Films

Pollard has had a long and varied career in the film industry,...

Spike Lee is being honored with the American Cinematheque Award, and it undoubtedly encapsulates the director’s nearly five decades of artistic achievement. The award will be presented Jan. 14 in a virtual ceremony. “It’s a recognition of the body of work, and I’ve been putting in the work since the fall of 1979,” says Lee.

Previous American Cinematheque Award honorees include Amy Adams (2017), Bradley Cooper (2018) and Charlize Theron (2019).

After graduating from Morehouse College, Lee attended New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts in the graduate film program. He has been a tenured professor and the artistic director since 2002. Lee also eyes the next generation of filmmakers and considers himself a “proud parent” when looking at all of his students, including directors Shaka King (“Judas and the Black Messiah”) and Chloé Zhao (“Nomadland”).

“I’ve always felt that teachers that teach well are also learning from their students,...

Sam Pollard’s “MLK/FBI” follows the dirty war that America’s FBI declared on civil rights figurehead Martin Luther King, a vendetta that began in the 50s and ended with his assassination in 1968, inspired by recent revelations (as well as credible long-held suspicions), and backed up by declassified secret government documents. Documentary festival IDFA, which runs until Dec. 6, selected the title in their Masters section.

Welcoming Pollard, an Oscar nominee and three-time Emmy winner, to the festival, IDFA artistic director Orwa Nyrabia wondered why the African-American director had taken so long to get round to this subject, given his well-known passion for documenting the injustices of the civil rights era. The director welcomed the question, noting that sometimes a story can “be right in front of you, but you’re not quite sure when it should be put into production, when it should be told.”

“I had spent a lot of time,...

Other winners with the documentary group include Time director Garrett Bradley.

The International Documentary Association (Ida) has named the winners of its annual honourary awards, with veteran documentarian Sam Pollard getting the career achievement nod.

Documentary producer/director and feature and TV editor Pollard most recently made MLK/FBI, which premiered at the this year’s Toronto festival. Over his career, Pollard has edited a number of Spike Lee’s films including Mo’ Better Blues, Jungle Fever and Bamboozled. His other documentaries include the Oscar-nominated Four Little Girls and Emmy-winner When The Levees Broke.

The Ida’s Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award goes to Garrett Bradley,...

Three-time Emmy winner Sam Pollard has been selected for the career achievement award by the International Documentary Association.

He will be honored at the 36th annual Ida Documentary Awards’ digital ceremony in January. The nominees for all categories will be revealed on Nov. 24.

Pollard won two Emmys for “When The Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts” and another for “By the People: The Election of Barack Obama.” He received an Oscar nomination in the documentary category for “4 Little Girls.” His most recent film “MLK/FBI” premiered at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival. Pollard has also edited Spike Lee’s “Mo’ Better Blues,” “Jungle Fever” and “Bamboozled.”

His credits include “Slavery by Another Name,” “August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand,” “Two Trains Runnin,’” and “Sammy Davis Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me.” Pollard co-directed the six-part series “Why We Hate” and 2020 HBO series “Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children.

The International Documentary Association (Ida) has today announced the recipients of its 36th Annual Ida Documentary Awards honorary awards. The shortlists for Best Feature and Best Short categories were released in late October, and the nominees for all categories will be revealed on Tuesday, November 24. The 2020 Awards will be presented in a digital ceremony in January 2021.

There is some crossover in today’s listing of honorees, including “Time” filmmaker Garrett Bradley (features shortlist) and “Welcome to Chechnya” filmmaker David France (features shortlist), though the newly minted honorees also include films and filmmakers that didn’t make the initial cut, including lauded documentarian and newly minted Career Achievement Award winner Sam Pollard (who made 2020’s “MLK/FBI”) and films like Ramona S. Diaz’s “A Thousand Cuts,” which didn’t land on the shortlist but did notch a win for its subject Maria Ressa.

This year’s Ida Documentary Awards honorees are:...

David France’s “Welcome to Chechnya,” a documentary about LGBTQ+ activists who risk their lives to smuggle gay men and women out of a country that is known to torture and kill homosexuals, will receive the Courage Under Fire Award at the International Documentary Associations’s 2020 Ida Documentary Awards, the Ida announced on Tuesday.

The award will go to France, the film team responsible for his movie, and activists David Isteev from the Russian LGBT Network and Olga Baranova from the Moscow Community Center for LGBT+ Initiatives, along with all those who work in those organizations.

Other honorees will include “MLK/FBI” director Sam Pollard, who will receive the Career Achievement Award for directing such films as “Slavery by Another Name,” “Sammy Davis Jr., I’ve Gotta Be Me,” “Two Trains Runnin'” and “August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand,” and for editing several of Spike Lee’s films...

The International Documentary Association on Tuesday unveiled the recipients of its 2020 honorary awards.

Sam Pollard, the Oscar-nominated director-producer whose credits include Four Little Girls and When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, has been tapped for the career achievement award. His most recent film, MLK/FBI, premiered at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival.

Pollard also is a film and TV editor who worked with Spike Lee on several movies, including Mo’ Better Blues, Jungle Fever and Bamboozled. The duo also co-produced a number of documentary productions, including the Oscar-nominated Four Little Girls and the Emmy-winning When the Levees Broke.

His ...

The International Documentary Association on Tuesday unveiled the recipients of its 2020 honorary awards.

Sam Pollard, the Oscar-nominated director-producer whose credits include Four Little Girls and When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, has been tapped for the career achievement award. His most recent film, MLK/FBI, premiered at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival.

Pollard also is a film and TV editor who worked with Spike Lee on several movies, including Mo’ Better Blues, Jungle Fever and Bamboozled. The duo also co-produced a number of documentary productions, including the Oscar-nominated Four Little Girls and the Emmy-winning When the Levees Broke.

His ...

In order to make sense of newly declassified documents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s surveillance of Martin Luther King, Jr. in the 1960s, filmmaker Sam Pollard brought together some of the country’s most knowledgeable minds in American literature and politics to tell the story. Pulitzer Prize winning author David Garrow, civil rights activist Andrew Young and former director of the FBI James Comey are among the names that help unpack the files and narrate Pollard’s enlightening new documentary “MLK/FBI.”

And yet somehow what the documents reveal isn’t the most meaningful takeaway from the film. More importantly, Pollard uses the FBI’s secretive, intrusive and harassing surveillance of King to examine how humanity is something complex and that people and America’s institutions do not operate as either all good or all bad, but can be understood as being both at once. Pollard helps illuminate this...

Spike Lee will receive the American Cinematheque Award and will be honored during a virtual tribute on Jan. 14, 2021.

American Cinematheque chair Rick Nicita said the legendary director always keeps his finger on the pulse of society.

“As a cultural arts organization that celebrates the importance of film in our society, Spike Lee is the perfect choice for the Cinematheque’s annual award,” Nicita said. “Spike’s ability to perceive and depict the tone of contemporary society is shown in his movies, ranging from ‘Do the Right Thing,’ ‘She’s Gotta Have It,’ ‘Malcolm X’ and ‘BlacKkKlansman’ to name only a few. He continues his outstanding output with this year’s ‘Da 5 Bloods’ and ‘American Utopia.’ We look forward with great anticipation to where he will next shine his light.”

“BlacKkKlansman,” which Lee co-wrote and directed, won the Academy Award for adapted screenplay. He was also nominated for an Oscar for directing and producing “BlacKkKlansman.