Blog

Copyright IDIOM Film, Courtesy RaMell Ross; Family at hospital, from Hale County This Morning, This Evening
Behind the Films
February, 7, 2019

RaMell Ross Charts “the Visual Story of Blackness” in Oscar-Nominated Doc

Independent Lens in Behind the Films

Just one year after RaMell Ross' Hale County This Morning, This Evening won a Special Jury Award at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, the filmmaker will follow his film's television debut on PBS by awaiting the Academy Awards, where it is…
Elderly African American woman standing in front of a colorful quilt.
January, 31, 2019

While I Yet Live

Independent Lens

In this short film, five acclaimed African American quilters from Gee’s Bend, Alabama, talk about love, religion and the fight for civil rights as they continue the tradition of quilting that originally brought them together.
Black memorabilia figurines
Interviews
January, 30, 2019

The Challenge of Making a Film About Racist Relics

Independent Lens in Interviews

Filmmaker and teacher Chico Colvard's first feature doc, Family Affair, premiered at Sundance and was the first film acquired by Oprah Winfrey for her cable channel, OWN. The searingly personal documentary explored his family's own troubled history that ultimately had a message…
Hale County Oscar Nom graphic
Announcements
January, 22, 2019

Independent Lens Film “Hale County This Morning, This Evening” Honored with Oscar Nomination

Independent Lens in Announcements

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced the nominations for the 91st Oscars and Independent Lens was elated that Hale County This Morning, This Evening received a nomination for Best Feature Documentary. RaMell Ross's critically acclaimed film,…
RUMBLE director Catherine Bainbridge, center rear, with members of Ulali
Interviews
January, 11, 2019

RUMBLE Filmmakers Go Deep into the Indigenous Foundations of Rock

Independent Lens in Interviews

The making of RUMBLE was a team effort, all of them passionate about bringing an important story to the world. Director-producer Catherine Bainbridge and co-director Alfonso Maiorana worked with Executive Producer Stevie Salas, a Native American musician, film composer and producer,…
Bringing back a bounty of nutria, in Rodents of Unusual Size
Beyond the Films
January, 10, 2019

11 Questions for 3 Filmmakers About a Million Swamp Rats

Independent Lens in Beyond the Films

The trio of filmmakers behind the Independent Lens film Rodents of Unusual Size -- Jeff Springer, Chris Metzler and Quinn Costello -- have previously captured unique environmental stories with a very human element to them, as Jeff and Chris made the…
Ulali (Charly Lowry, Pura Fe, Layla Locklear, Jennifer Kreisberg) Photo by David MacLeod
Beyond the Films
January, 3, 2019

RUMBLE On: More Native American Musicians You Should Know

Independent Lens in Beyond the Films

by Gregg McVicar, Host and producer of UnderCurrents on Native Voice One Rock and roll was born in the United States, and it makes sense that some of its forerunners would be the original Americans. The people are the land…
recreation of Moore's suicide note left on a dashboard in Grand Saline, in Man on Fire
Interviews
December, 11, 2018

Filmmaker Explores a Preacher’s Shocking Sacrifice and How It Can Start a Conversation

Independent Lens in Interviews

Joel Fendelman's Man on Fire, which has its television premiere on Independent Lens, won the David L. Wolper Student documentary award at the 2017 IDA Awards. The story at its heart is shocking. In 2014, a 79-year-old white Methodist minister named…
A Napa winery worker peers into a grapevine, in a scene from Harvest Season
December, 6, 2018

Harvest Season

Independent Lens

Harvest Season probes the lives of the multigenerational Latinos, temporary laborers, and permanent residents intimately connected to the production of premium wines in the Napa and Sonoma regions of Northern California — in the midst of one of the most…
Jailen Young before a match. From WRESTLE.
December, 6, 2018

Wrestle

Independent Lens

Wrestle goes inside the lives of four members of the high school wrestling team at Huntsville’s J.O. Johnson High School--a longstanding entry on Alabama’s list of failing schools. Teammates Jailen, Jamario, Teague, and Jaquan show that needing a win can…
marcos and family from marcos doesn't live here anymore
December, 5, 2018

Marcos Doesn’t Live Here Anymore

Independent Lens

A special presentation of Independent Lens, FRONTLINE and VOCES. From acclaimed filmmaker David Sutherland (Kind-Hearted Woman, Country Boys, The Farmer’s Wife), Marcos Doesn't Live Here Anymore examines the US immigration system through the eyes of two unforgettable protagonists whose lives…
Judge Kholoud picking olives with her children.
Behind the Films
November, 14, 2018

Erika Cohn Unfolds a New Perception of Shari’a Law in Portrait of Remarkable Woman

Independent Lens in Behind the Films

Erika Cohn, who co-directed (with Tony Vainuku) the Emmy Award-winning Independent Lens doc In Football We Trust, went from the gridiron in Utah to the Shari'a courts of Palestine for her follow-up film The Judge, the story of the first-ever female judge…