Stanley Nelson
Photoplayd Industry Rating
Not enough rated films yet to compute a weighted score.
Roles are weighted by involvement: director 1.0, screenwriter 0.7, lead 0.8, supporting 0.4, crew 0.1.
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).
Known for
Credits
Crack: Cocaine, Corruption & Conspiracy (2021)
Director
Attica (2021)
Director
We Want the Funk! (2025)
Director
Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool (2019)
Director
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution (2015)
Director
Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple (2006)
Director
Vick (2020)
Director
Focus Forward: Short Films, Big Ideas (2012)
Director
Freedom Riders (2010)
Director
Freedom Summer (2014)
Director
The Murder of Emmett Till (2003)
Director
Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre (2021)
Director
Sound of the Police (2023)
Director
The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords (1999)
Director
Becoming Frederick Douglass (2022)
Director
A Place of Our Own (2004)
Director
BOSS: The Black Experience in Business (2019)
Director
The Story of Access (2018)
Director
Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom (2021)
Director
Marcus Garvey: Look for Me in the Whirlwind (2001)
Director
San Juan Hill: Manhattan’s Lost Neighborhood (2024)
Director
Beyond Brown: Pursuing the Promise (2004)
Director
Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities (2017)
Director
Critical Condition: Health in Black America (2025)
Director
Two Dollars and A Dream: The Story of Madame C.J. Walker (1987)
Director