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from history of white people in america episode 6, the US capitol with a huge number of illustrations from world cultures of diverse peoples, none of them racial caricatures
Beyond the Films
December, 18, 2024

Behind the Animated, Musical Documentary About “Race Roulette”

Independent Lens in Beyond the Films

By Independent Lens Staff The sixth episode of the short docuseries History of White People in America is in the format of a catchy musical, but for a purpose: to tell the story of the arbitrary system of race in…
Illustration of a white man in colonial garb towering over miniature couples and families.
September, 30, 2024

The History of White People in America

Independent Lens

A series of musical animations, chronicling diverse experiences of how race has helped shape American culture. These shorts provide insight into the unique lived experiences of historical figures who played a role in the evolving definitions of identity.
Photograph of a man and woman looking at a cityscape out of floor-to-ceiling windows covered in graffiti. One of the windows is broken and glass is scattered along the floor.
July, 3, 2024

Skin of Glass

Independent Lens

A journey to reckon with Brazil’s harsh inequality begins when filmmaker Denise Zmekhol discovers her father’s architectural masterpiece in São Paulo—a 24-story tall modernist icon known as “Pele de Vidro” (Skin of Glass)—is inhabited by hundreds of unhoused people. But…
Illustration of a transparent red star laid over a military camp. Three adults and two children are shown fleeing atop the red star.
November, 13, 2023

Beyond Utopia

Independent Lens

They grew up believing their land was paradise. Now, they risk everything in escaping it. In an unforgettable documentary, follow families on a treacherous journey to defect from their homeland of North Korea, as the threat of severe punishment and…
A child with medium skin tone and dark hair, looking downcast, sits with his arms and head resting on a table full of food.
Behind the Films
September, 25, 2023

“Your Story Makes You Strong”: Sansón, an Incarcerated Man, Watches His Life as Documentary Reenactment

Craig Phillips in Behind the Films

By Craig Phillips with Rodrigo Reyes and Sansón & Me team  The life story of a young man serving life in prison for murder, Sansón and Me is told through dramatic re-creations—featuring members of Sansón's own family as actors—out of…
A group of Black men and women sitting in a row, watching someone speak.
Independent Film
February, 22, 2023

6 Documentaries About the Black Experience

Independent Lens in Independent Film

Add these Independent Lens docs to your must-watch list. The Big Payback Directed by Erika Alexander and Whitney Dow Outta The Muck Directed by Ira McKinley and Bhawin Suchak The Picture Taker Directed by Phil Bertelsen When Claude Got Shot Directed by Brad…
Woman with medium skin tone and long braids sits at a table speaking energetically with others.
Behind the Films
January, 16, 2023

From Podcast to Doc: Erika Alexander and Whitney Dow on Their Reparation Collaboration

Craig Phillips in Behind the Films

Will the burden to make restitution for Black Americans ever be addressed, or is it too late for a reparations movement to finally happen? That question is at the center of the provocative documentary The Big Payback, which focuses especially…
Black and white photograph of Black photographer Ernest Withers. He carries a camera while walking with a group of civil rights leaders.
July, 27, 2022

The Picture Taker

Independent Lens

From his Memphis studio, Ernest Withers' nearly 2 million images were a treasured record of Black history but his legacy was complicated by decades of secret FBI service revealed only after his death. Was he a friend of the civil…
A man in a suit with medium-dark skin tone talks to reporters while a woman with medium-dark skin tone looks on.
Behind the Films
May, 3, 2022

A Path to Forgiveness Complicated by Race and Justice: A Conversation with Claude Motley and Brad Lichtenstein

Craig Phillips in Behind the Films

Filmmaker Brad Lichtenstein was nominated for a News & Documentary Emmy Award for the Independent Lens/PBS film As Goes Janesville, which was about a blue-collar town struggling to renew itself. His documentary Messwood was about a high school football team…
A woman with dark skin tone, wearing a purple shirt, hugs her grinning daughter, a young girl with dark skin tone and long braids.
Beyond the Films
February, 11, 2022

How Incarceration Affects Mothers and Their Children

Craig Phillips in Beyond the Films

Jennifer Redfearn, an Oscar-nominated director and producer (Sun Come Up) and current director of the documentary program at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism, made the documentary Apart—with producer/cinematographer Tim Metzger—with the hope that "the film encourages audiences to grapple…
A husband and wife look over a fence straddling a river in Brooks County, Texas.
Beyond the Films
February, 3, 2022

“Death Valley for Migrants”: The Invisible Cost of Border Crossing

Independent Lens in Beyond the Films

By Ivonne Spinoza What is more important: laws or lives? This is the question at the center of the immigration debate and its ramifications.  Conversations around illegal border crossings often result in the dehumanization of migrants. These are people we’re…
A husband and wife tape a missing persons poster to a telephone pole.
Interviews
January, 10, 2022

Confronting the Agonizing Facts of Life and Death in Brooks County

Craig Phillips in Interviews

Missing in Brooks County is an eye-opening investigation set in an unforgiving region of South Texas, where migrants go missing more than anywhere else in the United States. The documentary features activist detective Eddie Canales of the South Texas Human…