Director Sam Pollard Talks 'Black Art,' 'MLK/FBI' & His Work With Spike Lee [Deep Focus Podcast]

At 70-years-old, filmmaker Sam Pollard has had a massive career spanning five decades. But it's arguably just getting its due in a major way and unlike never before (“The phone’s been ringing off the hook,” he said).  Pollard— a director, editor, and producer— is an Oscar nominee (Spike Lee's “4 Little Girls” doc, which he co-produced and edited), has been nominated for seven Emmys and has won three different times (two wins for the Spike’s incredible Katrina doc, “When The Levees Broke”) and has also been honored with a Peabody Award (for Spike's second Katrina doc, (“If God Is Willing And The Creek Won't Rise.” So behind the scenes, he's known and is a giant in the world of documentaries, but thanks to the one-two punch of “MLK/FBI,” the IFC Films documentary released in January and “Black Art: In The Absence of Light,” the critically-acclaimed HBO doc about contemporary Black art in the United States that came out earlier this month, Pollard is finally getting some major name recognition. He's a veteran and an elder statesman of film and documentaries and was recently given another major honor with a lifetime achievement honor from the IDA Documentary Awards. I talked to Pollard about 'MLK/FBI,' 'Black Art,' his seminal work with Spike Lee, and a lot about his entire career. Please take a listen to the words and wisdom of filmmaker Sam Pollard.