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White supremacist Craig Cobb and his followers march through Leith, North Dakota with their rifles.
November, 30, 2015

Welcome to Leith

Independent Lens

Welcome to Leith chronicles the attempted takeover of a small town in North Dakota by notorious white supremacist Craig Cobb. As his behavior becomes more threatening, tensions soar and residents desperately look for ways to expel their unwanted neighbor. An…
Reverend Rob Schenck prays.
October, 13, 2015

The Armor of Light

Independent Lens

The Armor of Light follows the journey of Evangelical minister Rob Schenck, who is trying to find the courage to preach about the growing toll of gun violence in America, and Lucy McBath, the mother of an unarmed teenager who…
Limited Partnership director Tom Miller (left), and producer Kirk Marcolina
Uncategorized
June, 15, 2015

Limited Partnership Filmmakers Commit Years to Telling Marriage Equality Story

Craig Phillips in Uncategorized

Tom Miller committed a long period of his life — 14 years — to his film Limited Partnership, and it became a true labor of love, appropriate for what is at its very heart a love story. The film traces…
Clela Rorex, Richard Adams, and Tony Sullivan re-united decades after Clela issues the couple's groundbreaking marriage license.
Beyond the Films
June, 12, 2015

Bringing the Same-Sex Marriage Debate Full Circle

Craig Phillips in Beyond the Films

Tony Sullivan is no stranger to practicing the art of patience. He navigated through decades of legal fights with the U.S. government over both his own legal status as an immigrant from Australia and the legality of his marriage to…
May, 18, 2015

Johanna Hamilton Goes Back to 1971 to Find Burglars Who Revealed Illegal FBI Spying

Craig Phillips

1971: A year before the Watergate scandal sent shockwaves through the United States, with no end in sight to the Vietnam War, and anti-war protests intensifying. In that same year a group of ordinary citizens broke into an FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania. What…
May, 18, 2015

1971

Independent Lens

In the past several decades, whistleblowers have helped shape the nation’s history, from Deep Throat exposing President Nixon’s Watergate scandal to Edward Snowden’s revelations about the NSA’s surveillance. But long before the dawning of the digital age, one group of…
Re-enactment screenshot of the Citizens' Commission to Investigate the FBI planning their Media, PA burglary.
Lists
May, 14, 2015

Nine Movies about American Radicals

Independent Lens in Lists

By Noel Murray There’s something deeply and inherently provocative in movies that tell stories about open rebellion against the United States government, because they force us to think harder about what it really means to be a good citizen. Are…
Filmmaker Dan Krauss films the Winfield family during hearing
Interviews
January, 15, 2015

Dan Krauss Investigates The Kill Team

Craig Phillips in Interviews

Filmmaker Dan Krauss, who was nominated for an Academy Award and two Emmys for his first feature, The Death of Kevin Carter, was on the Oscar shortlist for his latest documentary The Kill Team, which also received a Director’s Guild of America…
Archival photo of Muhammad Ali.
April, 14, 2014

The Trials of Muhammad Ali

Independent Lens

The Trials of Muhammad Ali explores the extraordinary and complex life of the legendary athlete outside the boxing ring. From joining the controversial Nation of Islam and changing his name from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali, from his refusal to…
Beyond the Films
February, 10, 2014

Uncle Sam Wants (to Spy on) You: Domestic Surveillance in the USA

Craig Phillips in Beyond the Films

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="270"] Edward Snowden in Moscow, October 2013 (picture via Wikimedia)[/caption] Spies of Mississippi, about a previously little-known chapter in the civil rights movement, comes at a time when the subject of domestic spying continues to be on…
Weather Underground members on the march.
April, 27, 2004

The Weather Underground

Independent Lens

In October 1969, hundreds of young people wielding lead pipes and clad in football helmets marched through an upscale Chicago shopping district, pummeling parked cars and smashing shop windows. Thus began the “Days of Rage,” the first demonstration of the…