Stanley Nelson

Stanley Nelson

Stanley Nelson is the Emmy-Winning Documentary Filmmaker & Producer of PBS’ American Experience.  The Emmy winning MacArthur “Genius” Fellow, Nelson is widely regarded as the preeminent African American documentary film director of our age. For three decades, Nelson’s documentaries have made audiences, distributors, and television commissioner’s alike sit up and take notice. With interviews, photographic stills, and found footage, the filmmaker’s eloquent works combine historical research and current issues to provide a uniquely intelligent perspective. Nelson’s 2002 film, The Murder of Emmett Till, led to a reopened trial investigation; the U.S. Justice Department stated the presence of witnesses unearthed in Nelson’s film as a major factor in their decision. Nelson’s recent work in PBS’s American Experience award winning, “Freedom Riders”, the story behind a courageous band of civil rights activists who in 1961 challenged segregation in the American South.