Sam Pollard is a primetime Emmy award-winning producer, writer and director with over 30 years experience. Sam’s career as a producer started in 1989 when he produced the documentary series “Eyes on the Prize II: America at the Racial Crosswords”, for one of which he received an Emmy. Later he co-produced Henry Hampton’s last documentary series “I’ll Make Me a World: Stories of African-American Artists and Community”, for which he received The George Peabody Award. In addition, he co-produced a couple of documentary productions for the small and big screen, one of which received an Emmy (Spike Lee Presents Mike Tyson) and another one was nominated for an Academy Award (Four Little Girls). His recent award-winning spate of films include MLK/FBI, and Blood Brothers. There is no doubt that Mr. Pollard has spent his life working on black people’s progress and showcase through documentaries and film in general.

Alice Elliott is a successful writer, director, producer, cinematographer and an adjuct professor at the NYU School of Continuing Education - she is a strong advocate for the disabled and minorities, along with a founding member of New Day Films (an educational film distribution cooperative)

Alice Elliott has over 20 years experience in acting, participating in two feature movies and many commercials. “The Collector of Bedford Street” (1991) was her first debut as a director and producer. Since then, she has won numerous awards and was nominated for an Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject.

Alan Blankstein is an award-winning author and education leader who served for 25 years as President and Founder of the HOPE Foundation, whose honorary chair was Nobel Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu. A former “high-risk” youth, Blankstein began his career in education as a music teacher. He worked for Phi Delta Kappa, March of Dimes, and Solution Tree, which he founded in 1987 and directed for 12 years while launching Professional Learning Communities beginning in the late 1980s.

Blankstein is the author of the best-selling book Failure Is Not an Option®: Six Principles That Guide Student Achievement in High-Performing Schools, which received the Book of the Year award from Learning Forward. He is senior editor, lead contributor, or author of 18 books, including Excellence Through Equity with Pedro Noguera (2016), and Breakthrough Leadership with Marcus Newsome, Foreword by Pedro Noguera (2020) .

Blankstein has provided keynote presentations and workshops for virtually every major U.S. education organization, and throughout the United Kingdom, Africa, and the Middle East. He has served on the Harvard International Principals Centers advisory board and the Jewish Child Care Agency, where he once was a youth in residence.

Petersburg Rising

Petersburg Rising - Short Film Documentary

Petersburg Rising