Blog

The Philadelphia D.A., a man with light skin tone, gray hair, and glasses, sits in a leather chair flanked by his team: two rows of people with various skin tones wearing business casual attire.
December, 15, 2020

Philly D.A.

Independent Lens

In 2017, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania had one of the highest incarceration rates of any major city in the United States. And it’s become the epicenter of a historic experiment that could shape the future of prosecution in America for decades to…
Myya records for her campaign
Interviews
October, 20, 2020

How Three Passionate Candidates Represent Women Shaping the Future

Craig Phillips in Interviews

What does "representation" mean in the midst of a historically tense election year?  In her film Represent, filmmaker Hillary Bachelder sought to show the universal struggle to redefine repressive expectations for women in politics with a look at three women…
From an animation in Feels Good Man of a desktop full of memes, Pepe the frog and otherwise
Beyond the Films
October, 8, 2020

From Kilroy to Pepe: A Brief History of Memes

Independent Lens in Beyond the Films

By Lennlee Keep What do Pepe the Frog, the Spanish Inquisition, the blinking guy, the French Revolution, concern for the environment, and the Third Reich all have in common? These are all ideas that spread until they became pervasive throughout…
From animation of Pepe the Frog playing a video game with pal, from Matt Furie art
Behind the Films
October, 2, 2020

How a Cartoon Frog Became a Symbol for a “Confounding Moment in Our History”

Craig Phillips in Behind the Films

Filmmakers Arthur Jones and Giorgio Angelini both bring very unique artistic backgrounds to the drawing table that led to the fruitful collaboration for Feels Good Man, which is Jones' feature film debut. Both are well-suited to tell the vivid tale…
Marchers at a Black and Brown Unity rally in Chicago, June 2020. Photo by Mateo Zapata/Courtesy of Quiet Pictures.
Lists
September, 9, 2020

Honor Hispanic Heritage Month with Eight Unique Documentaries

Independent Lens in Lists

By Lola Méndez Hispanic Heritage Month has been honored annually in the United States since 1968 when President Lyndon Johnson first launched it as Hispanic Heritage Week. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan expanded the celebration to last the four weeks…
Illustrator Matt Furie, a man with light skin tone, is bent over a table drawing an image of Pepe the Frog.
July, 29, 2020

Feels Good Man

Independent Lens

Feels Good Man is the story of how artist Matt Furie, creator of a trippy, once-benign comic character named Pepe the Frog, fought an uphill battle to reclaim his iconic creation from those who turned it into a symbol of…
A skateboarder rides with an American flag flying behind them. A lens flare obscures the image slightly.
July, 24, 2020

A Day in the Life of America

Independent Lens

Director Jared Leto crafts a sweeping yet intimate cross-section of America shot on a single July 4th in 2017 with 92 film crews fanning out across each of the United States and Puerto Rico to capture A Day in the…
the three women running for office, composite image for Represent
July, 22, 2020

Represent

Independent Lens

Local elections, especially those in smaller cities in Middle America, are often overlooked by national media, even though the dynamics at play can mirror — and even predict — the ebb and flow of America’s large-scale political landscape. Represent follows…
Black and white photo from 1965 showing John Lewis and many other civil rights protestors walking over the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama.
Film History
July, 10, 2020

“Your Vote Is Your Voice”: Best Films About Voting Rights

Sharon Knolle in Film History

The right to vote is one of the most fundamental rights in a Democracy, and yet who has been allowed to vote in America has been a battle that’s been bitterly waged for decades.  Two new documentaries; John Lewis: Good…
Interviews
May, 17, 2018

Documentarians Meet the Real People Behind a Media Firestorm

Craig Phillips in Interviews

Documentarians Reuben Atlas and Sam Pollard picked a hefty, complex, but as it turned out incredibly timely subject to collaborate on. The film ACORN and the Firestorm looks at the downfall of the huge community organizing non-profit ACORN, brought about…
Gore Vidal (front) and William F Buckley (back) are prepped in makeup chairs for their ABC debates
Behind the Films
September, 27, 2016

Morgan Neville and Robert Gordon Peel the Layers of Buckley and Vidal

Craig Phillips in Behind the Films

It's not often you'll find a documentary filmmaking team who combined have won an Oscar, an Emmy, and a Grammy, but the multi-faceted duo of Morgan Neville and Robert Gordon have done just that. Neville's 20 Feet from Stardom won the Oscar for Best…
William F. Buckley and Gore Vidal debate on ABC, in the film Best of Enemies (Black and White)
August, 11, 2016

Best of Enemies

Independent Lens

In the summer of 1968, television news changed forever. That year, gunmen assassinated both Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. The Democratic convention in Chicago flared up with protests and violence. Overseas, the Vietnam War raged on, and the…