Blog

Announcements
April, 16, 2019

Independent Lens Wins Two 2018 Peabody Awards

Craig Phillips in Announcements

Independent Lens is proud to announce that two of the series' films —Dolores and The Judge — have won 2018 Peabody Awards in the Documentary category. The oldest and most prestigious award for electronic media, honoring the “most powerful, enlightening and invigorating stories…
Elizabeth Perez and kids and Marcos
Where Are They Now?
April, 11, 2019

An Update from Elizabeth Perez

Independent Lens in Where Are They Now?

Note: Elizabeth Perez, star of David Sutherland's film Marcos Doesn't Live Here Anymore (a co-presentation of Independent Lens, FRONTLINE, and Voces), wrote us a heartfelt update about how she, her husband Marcos, and their family are doing. Here's Elizabeth with…
doctor takes a patient's blood pressure; image courtesy Rawpixel.com
Beyond the Films
April, 4, 2019

New Efforts to Improve Rural Healthcare Crisis

Independent Lens in Beyond the Films

By Suzanne Gordon The three caregivers we meet in The Providers face daunting challenges as they try to deliver medical and mental healthcare to patients in rural New Mexico. Sadly, their struggles are reproduced all over America because for decades…
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

Craig Phillips 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…
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

Craig Phillips 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…
Mr. C from Charm City, sporting a Baltimore hat
October, 29, 2018

Charm City

Independent Lens

Charm City is an intimate portrait of a diverse group of neighbors, including police, citizens, community leaders, and government officials who, with grit and compassion, survive in and work to improve their vibrant neighborhoods during a violent three-year stretch in…
Behind the Films
October, 29, 2018

Filmmakers Seek the Truth in Eye-Opening Story of Forced Native Child Separation

Craig Phillips in Behind the Films

Before there was Dawnland, there was First Light, a shorter version of the same story about the forced separation of Native American children that helped lead to the trust necessary to tell the expanded story of Dawnland. Those two films by Boston-based…
From Tre Maison Dasan: Maison and his dad tease each other during Saturday visiting hours at John J Moran Medium Security Prison in Cranston, RI.
October, 11, 2018

Tre Maison Dasan

Independent Lens

Told directly through the eyes of the children themselves, Tre Maison Dasan is a moving portrait of three unforgettable young boys struggling to grow up with a parent in prison. They face the pressure of growing up in a society…
Judge Kholoud behind desk in The Judge
July, 10, 2018

The Judge

Independent Lens

Showing Shari’a law in a way we've never seen before--through the story of the first-ever female judge in Palestine’s religious courts--The Judge is portrait of a remarkable woman who overcame a male-dominated tradition to change minds. Middle East religious courts,…
Georgina Sappier-Richardson (Passamaquoddy) holding her childhood photo; from Dawnland
July, 10, 2018

Dawnland

Independent Lens

They were forced to assimilate into white society: children ripped away from their families, depriving them of their culture and erasing their identities. Can reconciliation help heal the scars from childhoods lost? Dawnland is the untold story of Indigenous child…
Young male firefighters at rest in a forest during a wildfire
July, 10, 2018

Wildland

Independent Lens

“Fighting fire is just long hours of hard, boring work punctuated by moments of sheer terror." Filmed during two recent wildfire seasons, Wildland is a sweeping yet deeply personal account of a firefighting crew as they struggle with fear, loyalty,…