Stanley Nelson

Stanley Nelson

Birth : 1955-07-07, New York City, New York, USA

Profile

Stanley Nelson

Movies

Sound of the Police
Producer
This documentary examines the fraught relationship between African Americans and the police, often rife with tension, fear, suspicion and hostility on all sides. Framed by some of the most recent conflicts between Black Americans and police officers, which garnered national media attention, the film traces the country’s complex racial history that set the path for policing in Black communities and fuels the ongoing conflict between African American communities and law enforcement.
Sound of the Police
Director
This documentary examines the fraught relationship between African Americans and the police, often rife with tension, fear, suspicion and hostility on all sides. Framed by some of the most recent conflicts between Black Americans and police officers, which garnered national media attention, the film traces the country’s complex racial history that set the path for policing in Black communities and fuels the ongoing conflict between African American communities and law enforcement.
Becoming Frederick Douglass
Executive Producer
In Becoming Frederick Douglass, acclaimed director Stanley Nelson and co-director Nicole London bring to life the story of an American icon. Using Douglass's own powerful, profound speeches and writing, the story retraces his journey from a man born and raised in slavery to one of the most prominent elder statesmen and inspiring voices for freedom in American history. With additional context and insight provided by historians, scholars and Douglass's descendants, the filmmakers recount the brutality and trauma of his childhood while illuminating his strength of character, defiance against the bonds of slavery and the influences that guided his lifelong quest for freedom. The most celebrated Black man of his era, Douglass's legacy and achievements continue to resonate today. His life and work still inspires activists, educators and citizens in the fight for freedom, equality and a more just American society.
Becoming Frederick Douglass
Producer
In Becoming Frederick Douglass, acclaimed director Stanley Nelson and co-director Nicole London bring to life the story of an American icon. Using Douglass's own powerful, profound speeches and writing, the story retraces his journey from a man born and raised in slavery to one of the most prominent elder statesmen and inspiring voices for freedom in American history. With additional context and insight provided by historians, scholars and Douglass's descendants, the filmmakers recount the brutality and trauma of his childhood while illuminating his strength of character, defiance against the bonds of slavery and the influences that guided his lifelong quest for freedom. The most celebrated Black man of his era, Douglass's legacy and achievements continue to resonate today. His life and work still inspires activists, educators and citizens in the fight for freedom, equality and a more just American society.
Becoming Frederick Douglass
Director
In Becoming Frederick Douglass, acclaimed director Stanley Nelson and co-director Nicole London bring to life the story of an American icon. Using Douglass's own powerful, profound speeches and writing, the story retraces his journey from a man born and raised in slavery to one of the most prominent elder statesmen and inspiring voices for freedom in American history. With additional context and insight provided by historians, scholars and Douglass's descendants, the filmmakers recount the brutality and trauma of his childhood while illuminating his strength of character, defiance against the bonds of slavery and the influences that guided his lifelong quest for freedom. The most celebrated Black man of his era, Douglass's legacy and achievements continue to resonate today. His life and work still inspires activists, educators and citizens in the fight for freedom, equality and a more just American society.
After Jackie
Producer
After Jackie celebrates the 75th anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s integration into Major League Baseball. Robinson opened the door for other African Americans to join the league and this documentary taps into key people and events in the aftermath.
Hazing
Executive Producer
Explores a variety of underground hazing rituals that are abusive and sometimes deadly. The journey to understand hazing culture reveals a world of toxic masculinity, violence, humiliation, binge drinking, denial, and institutional coverups.
Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom
Director
This powerful, nuanced portrait arrives just in time celebrate the bicentennial of American abolitionist and political activist Harriet Tubman. Parts of her story are well known; born into slavery, Tubman escaped and subsequently made some 13 missions to rescue approximately 70 enslaved people, including family and friends, using the network of anti-slavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad. But the film delves deeper, illuminating her spirit and strength through exploits as a union scout and spy during the Civil War, an activist for women's suffrage and a singular figure who defied categorization at every turn. The foremost chronicler of the Black experience working in nonfiction film today, Stanley Nelson, alongside co-director Nicole London, brings rich, deeply researched historical detail to the story of this remarkable woman.
Lynching Postcards: Token of a Great Day
Executive Producer
This chilling reflection examines the horrific history of lynchings as cultural events and celebrations that included souvenirs and postcards.
Attica
Producer
Follows the largest prison uprising in US history, conducting dozens of new interviews with inmates, journalists, and other witnesses.
Attica
Writer
Follows the largest prison uprising in US history, conducting dozens of new interviews with inmates, journalists, and other witnesses.
Attica
Director
Follows the largest prison uprising in US history, conducting dozens of new interviews with inmates, journalists, and other witnesses.
Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre
Director
Executive produced by NBA superstar and philanthropist Russell Westbrook, and directed by Peabody and Emmy-Award® winning director Stanley Nelson (“Freedom Riders”) and Peabody and duPont-Award winner Marco Williams (“Two Towns of Jasper”), the documentary commemorates the 100th anniversary of the horrific Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921, one of the worst acts of racial violence in American history, and calls attention to the previously ignored but necessary repair of a town once devastated.
Crack: Cocaine, Corruption & Conspiracy
Director
A cheap, powerful drug emerges during a recession, igniting a moral panic fueled by racism. Explore the complex history of crack in the 1980s.
Vick
Director
A comprehensive reminisce at each chapter of former NFL quarterback Michael Vick’s saga–the incredible rise, shocking fall and polarizing return.
Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool
Producer
A visionary, innovator, and originator who defied categorization and embodied the word cool—a foray into the life and career of musical and cultural icon Miles Davis.
Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool
Director
A visionary, innovator, and originator who defied categorization and embodied the word cool—a foray into the life and career of musical and cultural icon Miles Davis.
BOSS: The Black Experience in Business
Director
The history of business and entrepreneurship lies at the heart of the American story, but often absent are the names and experiences of African Americans who, from the country’s earliest days, have embodied the qualities of innovation, risk-taking and determination to forge a path toward a better life – which is at the heart of the American entrepreneurial spirit.
BOSS: The Black Experience in Business
Producer
The history of business and entrepreneurship lies at the heart of the American story, but often absent are the names and experiences of African Americans who, from the country’s earliest days, have embodied the qualities of innovation, risk-taking and determination to forge a path toward a better life – which is at the heart of the American entrepreneurial spirit.
The Story of Access
Director
This independently created film by Stanley Nelson was underwritten by Starbucks with the intent of educating its employees about the history of access to public spaces for African-Americans. The film explores the impact of bias within public accommodations as well as the possibilities for a better future.
Black Memorabilia
Script Supervisor
Filmmaker Chico Colvard investigates the propagation of demeaning representations of African-Americans. From industrial China to the rural American south to contemporary Brooklyn, we observe the people and places that reproduce, consume and reclaim BLACK MEMORABILIA. This feature documentary takes us on a journey into the material culture of racialized artifacts and confronts us with the incendiary features of these objects. BLACK MEMORABILIA also moves beyond perverse attractions and absolute objections to collectibles and antiques that serve as reminders of America's troubled racial history. In the midst of roiling ethnic unrest in the US today, the film's confrontation of our feelings about these objects strikes at the heart of a pressing contemporary issue and opens a unique dialogue about the continuing legacy of racism in America.
American Carnage
Executive Producer
See how alt-right icon Steve Bannon’s years as a documentary filmmaker catapulted him to Breitbart News and the Trump White House.
Gavin Grimm vs.
Executive Producer
In 2016, transgender teen Gavin Grimm sued his local school board after its members refused to let him use the bathroom of his choice. He was ready to take his case all the way to the Supreme Court—and then the election happened.
Picket Line
Executive Producer
One week before Donald Trump was elected, 700 workers—many of whom were Trump supporters—walked out of the Momentive chemical plant in Waterford, NY, sparking a 105-day strike. In the wake of his win, the striking workers reflect on the election and Trump's advocacy for union-busting legislation.
Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities
Producer
A haven for Black intellectuals, artists and revolutionaries—and path of promise toward the American dream—Black colleges and universities have educated the architects of freedom movements and cultivated leaders in every field. They have been unapologetically Black for 150 years. For the first time ever, their story is told.
Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities
Screenplay
A haven for Black intellectuals, artists and revolutionaries—and path of promise toward the American dream—Black colleges and universities have educated the architects of freedom movements and cultivated leaders in every field. They have been unapologetically Black for 150 years. For the first time ever, their story is told.
Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities
Director
A haven for Black intellectuals, artists and revolutionaries—and path of promise toward the American dream—Black colleges and universities have educated the architects of freedom movements and cultivated leaders in every field. They have been unapologetically Black for 150 years. For the first time ever, their story is told.
Mary Lou Williams: The Lady Who Swings the Band
Executive Producer
Jazz pianist Mary Lou Williams was a genius ahead of her time. From child prodigy to "Boogie-Woogie Queen" to groundbreaking composer to mentoring some of the greatest musicians of all time, she never ceased to astound those who heard her play. But for a Black woman in the early 1900s, life as a star did not come easy.
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
Producer
The story of the Black Panthers is often told in a scatter of repackaged parts, often depicting tragic, mythic accounts of violence and criminal activity; but this is an essential story, vibrant, human; a living and breathing chronicle of a pivotal movement that birthed a new revolutionary culture in America.
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
Writer
The story of the Black Panthers is often told in a scatter of repackaged parts, often depicting tragic, mythic accounts of violence and criminal activity; but this is an essential story, vibrant, human; a living and breathing chronicle of a pivotal movement that birthed a new revolutionary culture in America.
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
Director
The story of the Black Panthers is often told in a scatter of repackaged parts, often depicting tragic, mythic accounts of violence and criminal activity; but this is an essential story, vibrant, human; a living and breathing chronicle of a pivotal movement that birthed a new revolutionary culture in America.
Freedom Summer
Writer
In the summer of 1964, more than 700 students descended on violent, segregated Mississippi. Defying authorities, they registered voters, created freedom schools, and established the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. Fifty years later, eyewitness accounts and never-before-seen archival material tell their story. Not all of them would make it through.
Freedom Summer
Director
In the summer of 1964, more than 700 students descended on violent, segregated Mississippi. Defying authorities, they registered voters, created freedom schools, and established the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. Fifty years later, eyewitness accounts and never-before-seen archival material tell their story. Not all of them would make it through.
Jesse Owens
Producer
Jesse Owens details Jesse's early career; describes Adolf Hitler s outsized ambitions for the 1936 Olympics; explores the movement in Western democracies to boycott the event; and explains the pressures on Owens to attend. The film also explores why, despite his success in Germany, Owens struggled to find a place for himself in a United States that was still wrestling with its own deeply entrenched racism.
Jesse Owens
Writer
Jesse Owens details Jesse's early career; describes Adolf Hitler s outsized ambitions for the 1936 Olympics; explores the movement in Western democracies to boycott the event; and explains the pressures on Owens to attend. The film also explores why, despite his success in Germany, Owens struggled to find a place for himself in a United States that was still wrestling with its own deeply entrenched racism.
Freedom Riders
Producer
This is the story of more than four hundred Americans who participated in a bold and dangerous experiment designed to awaken the conscience of a complacent nation. These self-proclaimed, 'Freedom Riders' challenged the mores of a racially segregated society by performing a disarmingly simple act.
Freedom Riders
Writer
This is the story of more than four hundred Americans who participated in a bold and dangerous experiment designed to awaken the conscience of a complacent nation. These self-proclaimed, 'Freedom Riders' challenged the mores of a racially segregated society by performing a disarmingly simple act.
Freedom Riders
Director
This is the story of more than four hundred Americans who participated in a bold and dangerous experiment designed to awaken the conscience of a complacent nation. These self-proclaimed, 'Freedom Riders' challenged the mores of a racially segregated society by performing a disarmingly simple act.
Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple
Director
Featuring never-before-seen footage, this documentary delivers a startling new look at the Peoples Temple, headed by preacher Jim Jones who, in 1978, led more than 900 members to Guyana, where he orchestrated a mass suicide via tainted punch.
A Place of Our Own
Producer
Filmmaker Stanley Nelson's look back at the 40 years he spent summering at Oak Bluffs, a black-oriented resort community on Martha's Vineyard.
A Place of Our Own
Self - Narrator (voice)
Filmmaker Stanley Nelson's look back at the 40 years he spent summering at Oak Bluffs, a black-oriented resort community on Martha's Vineyard.
A Place of Our Own
Writer
Filmmaker Stanley Nelson's look back at the 40 years he spent summering at Oak Bluffs, a black-oriented resort community on Martha's Vineyard.
A Place of Our Own
Director
Filmmaker Stanley Nelson's look back at the 40 years he spent summering at Oak Bluffs, a black-oriented resort community on Martha's Vineyard.
Beyond Brown: Pursuing the Promise
Director
On May 17, 1954, in its decision in Brown v. Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the doctrine of "separate but equal," ending legal segregation in American education. Fifty years later, how close is America to fulfilling the promise of Brown?
The Murder of Emmett Till
Director
A documentary examining the 1955 murder of a 14-year-old black boy from Chicago while visiting relatives in Mississippi, and the broad impact of his death, his funeral, and the subsequent trial and acquittal of his accused killers.
Marcus Garvey: Look for Me in the Whirlwind
Director
Marcus Garvey: Look for me in the Whirlwind uses a wealth of archival film, photographs and documents to uncover the story of this Jamaican immigrant, who between 1916 and 1921 built the largest black mass movement in world history. It explores Garvey’s dramatic successes and failures before his fall into obscurity. Among the film’s most powerful sequences are interviews with people who were part of the Garvey movement decades ago. These interviews communicate the appeal of Garvey’s revolutionary ideas to a generation of African Americans, and reveal how he invested hundreds and thousands of black men and women with a newfound sense of pride.
The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords
Producer
The history of black newspapers in America.
The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords
Writer
The history of black newspapers in America.
The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords
Director
The history of black newspapers in America.
Two Dollars and A Dream: The Story of Madame C.J. Walker
Researcher
Documentary about the first self-made American millionairess, Madam C.J. Walker.
Two Dollars and A Dream: The Story of Madame C.J. Walker
Editor
Documentary about the first self-made American millionairess, Madam C.J. Walker.
Two Dollars and A Dream: The Story of Madame C.J. Walker
Producer
Documentary about the first self-made American millionairess, Madam C.J. Walker.
Two Dollars and A Dream: The Story of Madame C.J. Walker
Director
Documentary about the first self-made American millionairess, Madam C.J. Walker.
Frederick Douglass: An American Life
Sound Recordist
This director's cut of the William Greaves' documentary short film dramatizes the life and deeds of the noted abolitionist Frederick Douglass.
Puerto Rico: Our Right to Decide
Writer
A documentary made by the United Methodist Church which explores the possibilities of decolonization in Puerto Rico. Interviews are done with farmers, Puerto Rican intellectuals, and different reverends from the UMC located around the island.
Just Doin’ It (A Tale of Two Barbershops)
Sound
An intimate portrait of two inner-city barbershops that provide patrons with more than haircuts.
Just Doin’ It (A Tale of Two Barbershops)
Assistant Editor
An intimate portrait of two inner-city barbershops that provide patrons with more than haircuts.
Free for ALL: Inside the Public Library
Executive Producer
From award-winning filmmakers comes the story of how a simple idea shaped a nation, and the quiet revolutionaries who made it happen.