Director
Stanley Nelson
71 years · New York City, New York, USA · 28 films
Stanley Earl Nelson Jr. (born June 7, 1951) is an American documentary filmmaker and a MacArthur Fellow known as a director, writer and producer of documentaries examining African-American history and experiences. He is a recipient of the 2013 National Humanities Medal from President Obama. He has won three Primetime Emmy Awards. Among his notable films are Freedom Riders (2010), Wounded Knee (2009), Jonestown: The Life & Death of People's Temple (2006), Sweet Honey in the Rock: Raise Your Voice (2005), A Place of Our Own (2004), The Murder of Emmett Till (2003), and The Black Press: Soldiers without Swords (1998).
Best known for
Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple
2006 · Director
Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool
2019 · Director, Producer
Crack: Cocaine, Corruption & Conspiracy
2021 · Director
On Netflix
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
2015 · Director, Writer
Attica
2021 · Director, Writer
On fuboTV
We Want the Funk!
2025 · Director
Filmography 28
The Color of Cola
2026 · Director
Critical Condition: Health in Black America
2025 · Director
We Want the Funk!
2025 · Director
San Juan Hill: Manhattan’s Lost Neighborhood
2024 · Director
Sound of the Police
2023 · Director, Producer
On Hulu
Becoming Frederick Douglass
2022 · Director, Producer
On WETA+
After Jackie
2022 · Producer
Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom
2021 · Director
Attica
2021 · Director, Writer
On fuboTV
Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre
2021 · Director
On History
Crack: Cocaine, Corruption & Conspiracy
2021 · Director
On Netflix
Vick
2020 · Director
Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool
2019 · Director, Producer
BOSS: The Black Experience in Business
2019 · Producer, Director
On Kanopy
The Story of Access
2018 · Director
Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities
2017 · Director, Screenplay
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
2015 · Director, Writer
Freedom Summer
2014 · Director, Writer
Focus Forward: Short Films, Big Ideas
2012 · Director
Jesse Owens
2012 · Writer, Producer
Freedom Riders
2010 · Writer, Director
Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple
2006 · Director
A Place of Our Own
2004 · Self - Narrator (voice), Director
Beyond Brown: Pursuing the Promise
2004 · Director