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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…
Michael Brown Senior is at the center of this photo mourning and celebrating the life of his son Michael, wearing red St Louis Cardinals hat.
Beyond the Films
November, 8, 2021

“A Father Hurts Too”: In Conversation with Michael Brown Sr and the Filmmaker of Ferguson Rises

Independent Lens in Beyond the Films

By Ade D. Adeniji Ferguson Rises, a documentary by filmmaker Mobolaji Olambiwonnu, brings us back to the days before the masks and the quarantining, the summer of protests and the images of a band of intruders in the halls of…
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…
steps of Supreme Court, Man carrying Pride flag.
Beyond the Films
October, 8, 2021

The Damage from Gay Conversion Therapy Still Lingers for Many LGBTQ+ People

Independent Lens in Beyond the Films

By Caitlin Cruz In 1973, the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from the list of diagnosable mental illnesses, a monumental victory for early queer activists. Despite this successful effort, queer people still experience harmful reparative therapy today, thought by many…
From the Tacos of Texas docuseries, musicians from Brownsville Texas are seen in rear view mirror
Lists
September, 17, 2021

Road Trippin’, Part II: These Documentaries Will Show You All 50 States

Craig Phillips in Lists

[related-link link="https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/blog/road-trippin-part-1-documentaries-for-every-state/" link_title="Read Part I: Road Trippin' here >>"] [pictured at left, in the side mirror: a scene from Tacos of Texas (Brownsville)] We continue our epic journey across America through documentary film: Montana Sweetgrass: Unsentimental but beautiful film about…
Side mirror with image from Real Dirt on Farmer John in the mirror
Lists
September, 17, 2021

Road Trippin’ Part I: These Documentaries Will Show You All 50 States

Craig Phillips in Lists

Rev up your virtual station wagon and pack your bags for a road trip across America through documentary film. No documentary or double feature will capture an entire state's essence, and not all these films will be featured by the…
Demonstrators gathered in Albany, New York, in 1971 to demand gay rights and to declare that "Homo Is Healthy."
Behind the Films
September, 16, 2021

Telling the Story of When LGBTQ+ Activists Fought the Establishment and Won

Craig Phillips in Behind the Films

The Los Angeles-based Bennett Singer and the D.C.-based Patrick Sammon have been making widely acclaimed historical documentaries for many years. Sammon was creator and Executive Producer of Codebreaker, a “superb” (The Telegraph) drama-documentary vividly exploring the life of gay British…
A young man with dark skin tone sits on the stairs of a brick house.
August, 23, 2021

Owned: A Tale of Two Americas

Independent Lens

Is the "American Dream" of home ownership a false promise? While the government’s postwar housing policy created the world’s largest middle class, it also set America on two divergent paths – one of perceived wealth and the other of systematically…
Man in front of microphones with woman by his side
August, 6, 2021

When Claude Got Shot

Independent Lens

In Milwaukee, a 15-year-old attempted to carjack law student Claude Motley and shot him in the face. Through multiple surgeries and catastrophic health care bills, the effects of gun violence upends Claude’s life. Yet he still finds himself torn between…
Rebecca works as a Hotel Housekeeper
July, 27, 2021

Duty Free

Independent Lens

75-year-old Rebecca loses the only job she's even known. She has no savings, no 401K safety net, and no employment prospects. Rebecca teams up with son Sian-Pierre to take the trip of a lifetime, one bucket list adventure at a…
Illustration of Michael Brown Sr., father of Michael Brown, looking into the distance. He has a long beard and wears a baseball hat.
July, 12, 2021

Ferguson Rises

Independent Lens

How does a father find purpose in pain? In 2014, Michael Brown Sr.’s son was killed by white police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri, an event that fueled the global Black Lives Matter movement. But his personal story seeking…
Demonstrators gathered in Albany, New York, in 1971 to demand gay rights and to declare that "Homo Is Healthy."
July, 12, 2021

Cured

Independent Lens

When doctors classified homosexuality as a mental illness to be “cured,” they employed cruel treatments like electroshock and lobotomies. LGBTQ+ activists and their allies fought back — and won a momentous victory when the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from…