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A photo of a violinist with osteogenesis imperfecta holding her instrument. She wears a red flower in her hair and has a eyebrow ring.
Beyond the Films
November, 1, 2022

“Everybody’s Voice Is Unique”: Disability in the Performing Arts

Independent Lens in Beyond the Films

By Allison Kirkland Kelsey Peterson's journey in Move Me will resonate with anyone who has undergone change and found something different but just as beautiful on the other side of that change. Using dance and choreography as a guiding framework,…
Screengrab from the film "Full Metal Jacket" shows a military leader screaming at a solider played by Vincent D'Onofrio.
Beyond the Films
October, 10, 2022

Wild & Disturbing: 10 Hazing Scenes in Movies and TV

Independent Lens in Beyond the Films

By Ade D. Adeniji The documentary Hazing begs the question: How far will people go just to fit in?  Our need to haze and be hazed has been explored in broader American popular culture for decades, with rituals most commonly…
A cartoonist wears a suit in front of a wall of black and white comic strips.
September, 12, 2022

No Straight Lines

Independent Lens

When Alison Bechdel received a coveted MacArthur Award for her best-selling graphic memoir Fun Home, it heralded the acceptance of LGBTQ+ comics in American culture. From DIY underground comix scene to mainstream acceptance, meet five smart and funny queer comic…
Two girls with medium-light skin tone read sheet music and play the violin while sitting on a floral couch.
August, 16, 2022

Children of Las Brisas

Independent Lens

In Venezuela, amidst a backdrop of poverty, murder, and corruption, the El Sistema youth orchestra offers children hope and the opportunity to pursue a life of art in spite of the harshness of the society around them. Yet the country’s…
Black and white portrait of a woman posing defiantly in a wheelchair. Surrounding her is a gallery wall of different artwork.
August, 5, 2022

Move Me

Independent Lens

At 27, Kelsey Peterson dove into Lake Superior as a dancer and emerged paralyzed. But within the spinal cord injury (SCI) community, she found allies in her quest to discover who she is now and to dance with disability. When…
Woman in dress dancing and smiling
May, 26, 2022

Folk Frontera

Independent Lens

Far West Texas is a place where local folklore looms as large as the landscape. Two fronteriza women—one a public radio music show host, the other a Mariachi and folklórico dancer—live in two cultures at the same time, as they…
Poster for PBS educational show "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego" showing members of the cast in costume and illustrations of the TV show's characters.
Lifestyle
March, 5, 2022

Remember These Classic PBS Educational TV Shows?

Independent Lens in Lifestyle

[Carmen Sandiego image courtesy producer Howard Blumenthal] By Ade D. Adeniji Sesame Street. Magic School Bus. Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. Reading Rainbow. Millennials and Gen Xers were lucky enough to come of age during the prime of public educational television. But…
Rebecca flies a kite in the movie Duty Free, a pointilized version of photo.
Test Your Knowledge
November, 17, 2021

QUIZ: Which Bucket List Is Yours?

Craig Phillips in Test Your Knowledge

How about your own bucket list?  What would be on it? One of the most fun—and moving—storylines in the documentary Duty Free is how filmmaker Sian-Pierre Regis was able to go on a series of bucket list adventures with his…
scene from Griffith's Birth of a Nation wherein the Klan surround a "mulatto man" (played by a white actor in blackface), in the film Birth of a Movement
November, 16, 2021

Birth of a Movement

Independent Lens

A co-presentation with WNET/Thirteen. In 1915, Boston-based African American newspaper editor and activist William M. Trotter waged a battle against D.W. Griffith’s technically groundbreaking but notoriously Ku Klux Klan-friendly The Birth of a Nation, unleashing a fight that still rages…
Aloe Blacc performing the song "Other Side" in a special performance for Ferguson Rises and Independent Lens. He's wearing a wide brimmed hat.
Watch Video
November, 8, 2021

Aloe Blacc Goes to the “Other Side” for Ferguson Rises

Independent Lens in Watch Video

Aloe Blacc's inspiring anthem, "Other Side," is the featured song in the PBS documentary Ferguson Rises. The tragic killing of teenager Michael Brown Jr. by Ferguson, Missouri, police launched the energetic rise of #BlackLivesMatter and a historical wave of racial…
Storm Lake Times newspaper for sale in a local restaurant
Beyond the Films
November, 3, 2021

Feisty Community Newspapers That Are Surviving or Thriving Against the Odds

Independent Lens in Beyond the Films

By Julie Reynolds Martinez The Storm Lake Times, as featured in the documentary Storm Lake, isn’t the only small, independent newspaper to hang on in the age of news deserts. Here are five more independent papers that have managed to…
Many people in a room paying attention to a Latina caucus leader during the Iowa Caucuses in 2020.
Behind the Films
October, 27, 2021

Going Inside the Family-Run Newspaper Keeping Local Journalism Alive

Craig Phillips in Behind the Films

Beth Levison is no stranger to having her films on Independent Lens. Notable producing credits include Women in Blue and the Emmy-nominated Made in Boise. For her latest film, Storm Lake, she partnered with Jerry Risius, the much sought-after director…