Independent Lens
Airing weekly on PBS, the five-time Emmy Award-winning series Independent Lens is an independent film festival in your living room. Each week we introduce a new documentary film from among the best independent filmmakers working today.
CLIPS (550)
-
S21 E19: Bring Out Your Inner Craziness | Pipe DreamsIn this excerpt from Pipe Dreams, talented young organists competing in the ...In this excerpt from Pipe Dreams, talented young organists competing in the intense Canadian International Organ Competition (CIOC) in Montreal practice, practice, practice, and even do physical ...
-
S21 E18: TV's Power to Influence | RecorderIn this excerpt from Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project, activist and prolific ...In this excerpt from Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project, activist and prolific archivist Marion Stokes first becomes cognizant of the power of television to inform —or misinform—people when she ...
-
S21 E17: Floating International Trash | Eating Up EasterIn this excerpt from Eating Up Easter, isolated Rapa Nui or Easter Island, 2,500 ...In this excerpt from Eating Up Easter, isolated Rapa Nui or Easter Island, 2,500 miles from the mainland, has to find creative solutions (like shipping recycling out) to get rid of excess trash piling ...
-
S21 E8: "I Was Just a Little Kid" | RewindIn this excerpt from Rewind, filmmaker Sasha Neulinger and his mother revisit ...In this excerpt from Rewind, filmmaker Sasha Neulinger and his mother revisit his childhood through powerful home movies to pinpoint the period he went from outgoing, gifted kindergartner to sullen ...
-
S21 E16: The Wondrous T-Cell | Jim Allison: BreakthroughIn this excerpt from Jim Allison: Breakthrough, while young medical student ...In this excerpt from Jim Allison: Breakthrough, while young medical student Allison was meeting his future wife at the University of Texas in Austin, he was also becoming fascinated by an important ...
-
S21 E15: Survive for the Next Day | The Hottest AugustIn this excerpt from The Hottest August, two New Yorkers -- an artist/designer ...In this excerpt from The Hottest August, two New Yorkers -- an artist/designer in his studio and a naturalist on his boat in Jamaica Bay -- are asked about their futures and the planet's. The designer ...
-
S21 E14: Jails for Mental Illness | BedlamAmerica's three largest jails are also its three largest psychiatric treatment ...America's three largest jails are also its three largest psychiatric treatment facilities. In this excerpt from Bedlam, while one person with mental illness faces a long wait in jail before finding ...
-
S21 E13: The Baby Recruiting Network | One Child NationIn this excerpt from One Child Nation, Brian Stuy, Utah-based co-founder of ...In this excerpt from One Child Nation, Brian Stuy, Utah-based co-founder of Research China and father to three adopted girls from China, explains how a "recruiting network" worked to find and bring ...
-
S21 E12: "Like a Lynching" | Always in SeasonIn this excerpt from the film Always in Season, Pierre Lacy, brother of Lennon ...In this excerpt from the film Always in Season, Pierre Lacy, brother of Lennon Lacy, recalls the awful day he learned of his brother's death. Pierre is convinced Lennon did not commit suicide, despite ...
-
S21 E12: "He Had too Much to Live For" | Always in SeasonIn this excerpt from the film Always in Season, Lennon Lacy's mother Claudia ...In this excerpt from the film Always in Season, Lennon Lacy's mother Claudia remembers her son, and the very last time she saw him before his shocking death. "He had too much to live for," she says, ...
-
S21 E11: "A Real Ark for a Real Flood" | We Believe in DinosaursIn this excerpt from We Believe in Dinosaurs, the staff behind the "Ark ...In this excerpt from We Believe in Dinosaurs, the staff behind the "Ark Encounter" exhibit at the Creation Museum in Kentucky explain how their $120 million theme park will show how the Biblical flood ...
-
S21 E10: "You're Fooling Yourself" | Leftover WomenIn this excerpt from the documentary Leftover Women, Qiu Hua Mei, a lawyer in ...In this excerpt from the documentary Leftover Women, Qiu Hua Mei, a lawyer in her 30s, wants to find a man who is well-educated, shares chores, and respects women. Is that too much to ask? Well the ...
-
S21 E9: "Almost Perfect Overlaps" | Cooked: Survival by Zip CodeIn this excerpt from Cooked: Survival by Zip Code, Dr. Linda Murray, a public ...In this excerpt from Cooked: Survival by Zip Code, Dr. Linda Murray, a public health medical officer, talks about being enraged but not surprised at the high death toll of poor people of color who ...
-
S21 E6: Unlikely Allies | First Rainbow CoalitionIn this excerpt from The First Rainbow Coalition, be a fly on the wall at a ...In this excerpt from The First Rainbow Coalition, be a fly on the wall at a first meeting in Chicago in the 1960s, between three wholly different activist groups -- Black Panthers, led by the ...
-
S21 E7: When the FBI Detained My Son | Accept the CallIn this excerpt from Accept the Call, Yusuf Abdurahman, a father who left ...In this excerpt from Accept the Call, Yusuf Abdurahman, a father who left Somalia as a refugee to begin his life anew in Minnesota, receives a shocking call from the FBI telling him his son Zach was ...
-
S21 E5: "Rich Man's Sport" | ATTLAIn a scene from ATTLA, the grand-nephew of legendary Alaska Native dogsled racer ...In a scene from ATTLA, the grand-nephew of legendary Alaska Native dogsled racer George Attla reflects on growing up not fully appreciating how much of a champion his great uncle was, in a culture ...
-
S21 E4: No Mosquitos, No Fish | Conscience PointIn a scene from Conscience Point, off the coast of the Hamptons a Long Island ...In a scene from Conscience Point, off the coast of the Hamptons a Long Island bayman shows how much fish and shellfish populations have been reduced due to mosquito control, harming the ecosystem and ...
-
S21 E3: "You Will Call Me Phillip Morris" | The InterpretersIn this scene from The Interpreters, Sgt Paul Braun and an affable Iraqi ...In this scene from The Interpreters, Sgt Paul Braun and an affable Iraqi interpreter who called himself "Philip Morris" talk about the friendship they developed while Paul was in Iraq. Interpreters ...
-
S21 E2: Banana Kelly Community Improvement | Decade of FireThis excerpt from the documentary Decade of Fire shows how the Banana Kelly ...This excerpt from the documentary Decade of Fire shows how the Banana Kelly Community Improvement Association, named after a banana-shaped portion of Kelly Street in the Bronx, took matters into their ...
-
S21 E1: Nicole, a Host of Possibilities | Made in BoiseMeet Nicole, the CEO of the largest surrogacy agency in Boise, called A Host of ...Meet Nicole, the CEO of the largest surrogacy agency in Boise, called A Host of Possibilities, who co-owns the agency with her husband Don. She became interested in surrogacy because she loved being ...
-
S21 E1: Surrogacy Support Group | Made in BoiseSammie and other women in a Boise-based surrogacy support group meet to share ...Sammie and other women in a Boise-based surrogacy support group meet to share stories of surrogacy, including the mixed feelings family members have about their choice to carry babies for intended ...