ACADEMY ICONS: SUSAN LACY—AUGUST WILSON

Susan Lacy is an acclaimed director and producer best known for creating American Masters (launched in 1986), the PBS biography series profiling artists and visionaries who have helped shape our country’s culture. Her subjects have included James Baldwin, Bob Dylan, Judy Garland, David Geffen, Lena Horne, Joni Mitchell, and hundreds more. American Masters garnered unprecedented awards over the years. Susan earned the series 71 Emmy nominations and 28 wins, including a remarkable ten for Outstanding Non-Fiction Series, in addition to 13 Peabody Awards, three Grammy Awards and a nomination, and an Academy Award and four nominations. Since moving to HBO in 2013, Susan has directed and produced Spielberg, Jane Fonda in Five Acts, Very Ralph, and executive produced The Janes, all for HBO Documentary Films. Among many other distinctions, Susan was a Governor of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for eight years, is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and a cherished member of Guild Hall’s Academy.

Sam Pollard is an accomplished feature film and television video editor, and documentary producer/director whose work spans almost 30 years. His first assignment as a documentary producer came in 1989 for Henry Hampton’s Blackside production 𝘌𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘐𝘐: 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘙𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘊𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘥𝘴. For one of his episodes in this series, he received an Emmy. Eight years later, he returned to Blackside as co-executive producer/producer of Hampton’s last documentary series, 𝘐’𝘭𝘭 𝘔𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘔𝘦 𝘈 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥: 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘈𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯-𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘈𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺. For the series, Pollard received a Peabody Award. Between 1990 and 2010, Pollard edited a number of Spike Lee’s films: 𝘔𝘰’ 𝘉𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘉𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘴, 𝘑𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘍𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳, 𝘎𝘪𝘳𝘭 6, 𝘊𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘴 and 𝘉𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘻𝘭𝘦𝘥. Pollard and Lee also co-produced a number of documentary productions for the small and big screen: 𝘚𝘱𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘓𝘦𝘦 𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘔𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘛𝘺𝘴𝘰𝘯, a biographical sketch for HBO for which Pollard received an Emmy; 𝘍𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘓𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘎𝘪𝘳𝘭𝘴, a feature-length documentary about the 1963 Birmingham church bombings that was nominated for an Academy Award; and 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘦𝘴 𝘉𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦, a four-part documentary that won numerous awards, including a Peabody and three Emmy Awards.

Five years later, he co-produced and supervised the edit on the follow up to Levees, 𝘐𝘧 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘐𝘴 𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘋𝘢 𝘊𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘬 𝘋𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘙𝘪𝘴𝘦. Since 2012, Pollard has produced and directed 𝘚𝘭𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘉𝘺 𝘈𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘕𝘢𝘮𝘦 (2012), a 90- minute documentary for PBS that was in competition at the Sundance Film Festival; 𝘈𝘶𝘨𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘴𝘰𝘯: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘖𝘯 𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘐 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 (2015), a 90-minute documentary for American Masters; 𝘛𝘸𝘰 𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘙𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯’ (2016), a feature-length documentary that premiered at the Full Frame Film Festival; and 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘢𝘭𝘬: 𝘙𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢 (2017) for PBS.