Blog

Close-up of a 14-year-old Bolivian boy staring directly at the camera
May, 23, 2006

The Devil’s Miner

Independent Lens

The Devil’s Miner is the story of 14-year-old Basilio Vargas and his 12-year-old brother Bernardino, who work in the ancient Cerro Rico silver mines of Bolivia. It is believed that more than eight million workers have perished in the mines…
Skyline with a refinery in the foreground
May, 16, 2006

Frozen Angels

Independent Lens

Frozen Angels investigates the future as it exists today in Los Angeles. Following a cast of bigger-than-life, often funny, characters, the viewer encounters wealthy sperm bank presidents, expectant surrogate mothers, gene researchers, radio talk show hosts, NASA scientists, infertile suburban…
A closeup of Oakley Hall
February, 28, 2006

The Loss of Nameless Things

Independent Lens

In 1978, Oakley Hall III was a brilliant 28-year-old playwright on the verge of national recognition when he mysteriously fell from a bridge and lost everything. In The Loss of Nameless Things, filmmaker Bill Rose uses interviews with Hall and…
February, 21, 2006

Almost Home

Independent Lens

Shot on location in a nursing home, this film tells the real stories of aging: couples bonded and divided by disability, children caring for their parents and their children, workers doing unsavory work for poverty wages, and a nursing home director…
A disabled man in a wheelchair in his home radio studio.
February, 15, 2005

On a Roll: Disability and the American Dream

Independent Lens

The founder of On a Roll talk radio, Greg Smith travels the globe in his power wheelchair, but finds his own nation's capital inaccessible — a minor challenge compared to living independently and having safe intimate relationships.
A multitude of electrical wires criss-cross a high-rise apartment building
January, 25, 2005

Power Trip

Independent Lens

With its rampant corruption, political assassinations and regular street riots, the former Soviet Republic of Georgia is, in the words of one journalist, "a basket case." During the country’s old Soviet days, electric power was cheap—or even free. But when…
April, 20, 2004

Ram Dass Fierce Grace

Independent Lens

When Harvard expelled faculty members Richard Alpert and Timothy Leary in 1963 for LSD experimentation, Alpert traveled to India and returned transformed into the beloved guru Ram Dass. Now in his 70s, the author of the best-seller Be Here Now…
January, 20, 2004

Life Matters

Independent Lens

In the 1960s, Baptist minister Curtis Boyd left his East Texas pulpit to become a doctor, providing safe abortions before it was legal. This portrait by his son Kyle, offers a myth-shattering look at a father, his times and his…
May, 20, 2003

Razing Appalachia

Independent Lens

In the face of thunderous blasting and choking dust caused by mountaintop mining, the last 40 families of Blair, West Virginia stay to fight America's second-largest coal company as it threatens their homes. Razing Appalachia is the story of a…
February, 4, 2003

Maggie Growls

Independent Lens

Maggie Kuhn (1905-1995) founded the Gray Panthers after being forced to leave the workforce at the age of 65, in what Ralph Nader describes as "the most significant retirement in history." It galvanized Maggie's campaign against mandatory retirement and ageism.…