Blog

RUMBLE director Catherine Bainbridge, center rear, with members of Ulali
Interviews
January, 11, 2019

RUMBLE Filmmakers Go Deep into the Indigenous Foundations of Rock

Craig Phillips 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,…
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…
October, 11, 2018

People’s Republic of Desire

Independent Lens

In an age where the power of technology helps us connect, are we as isolated as ever? People’s Republic of Desire exposes the baffling reality of how virtual relationships are replacing real-life human connections through China’s video-based social network YY––a…
An Elvis impersonator looks at a statue of young Elvis
October, 11, 2018

The King

Independent Lens

Is the promise of the "American Dream" alive or a concept that's faded in the rear-view mirror? Forty years after the death of Elvis Presley, acclaimed filmmaker Eugene Jarecki takes the King’s 1963 Rolls-Royce on a musical road trip across…
Link Wray on stage with guitar, from RUMBLE
July, 2, 2018

RUMBLE

Independent Lens

They tried to ban, censor and erase Indian culture from rock and roll history but Native American influence is wrapped into modern music's DNA. RUMBLE: The Indians Who Rocked the World is an electric look at Native American influence in…
Shahin Najafi in a public performance, from When God Sleeps
Beyond the Films
March, 30, 2018

Censored Iranian Artists, Poets and Musicians Threatened with Exile

Independent Lens in Beyond the Films

[Note: Please enjoy this guest essay on Iranian artists and censorships, in conjunction with the broadcast premiere of When God Sleeps, by artist and game creator Kurosh ValaNejad. See more on him at the end.] by Kurosh ValaNejad, guest contributor In…
Shahin Najafi resting before concert, in ultraviolet light
Interviews
March, 28, 2018

Filmmaker Till Schauder Had Many Sleepless Nights Telling Shahin Najafi’s Story

Craig Phillips in Interviews

The German-born, New York-based filmmaker Till Schauder's previous film The Iran Job was about an American basketball player who went with great trepidation to play professionally in Iran, a winning film about sports, politics, and the people of that country.…
Musician/Composer Dan Deacon performing; photo by Adam Boaz
Beyond the Films
February, 16, 2018

10 Questions with “Rat Film” Composer Dan Deacon: On Baltimore, Rats, Player Pianos and Theremins

Craig Phillips in Beyond the Films

Baltimore-based composer/musician Dan Deacon did the music for Theo Anthony's Rat Film. The film, which uses the urban rat as a way to explore a deeper story of urbanization and segregation, is a unique blend of history, science and sci-fi,…
Miriam Makeba (r) with Dizzy Gillespie in France 1991
Beyond the Films
January, 30, 2018

For “Winnie”: Anti-Apartheid Songs of Protest

Independent Lens in Beyond the Films

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Miriam Makeba and Dizzy Gillespie, 1991[/caption] By Sarah Bardeen, guest contributor Modern South Africa was forged in apartheid. The struggle defined life for generations of South Africans, and music was crucial in that struggle. Black South…
Iranian musician Shahin Najafi performing, in When God Sleeps
January, 18, 2018

When God Sleeps

Independent Lens

Would you risk your life for what you believe in? When God Sleeps is a rap-punk-rock documentary about Iranian musician Shahin Najafi, who is forced into hiding after hardline clerics issue a fatwa for his death, incensed by a rap…
Rick Hall stands on a hillside in Muscle Shoals.
Announcements
January, 3, 2018

Muscle Shoals’ Rick Hall Passes Away

Craig Phillips in Announcements

Sad news to report, that Rick Hall, the star of the Independent Lens film Muscle Shoals, has died at the age of 85 after a long illness. The Fame Studios founder, who is credited with launching the career of such music…
Naomi Kutin gets make-up before her Bat Mitzvah, in Supergirl
Beyond the Films
December, 11, 2017

On Supergirls, Sasha Fierce, Slim Shady and Having an Alter Ego

Independent Lens in Beyond the Films

By Michelle Konstantinovsky Naomi Kutin is technically the central subject of the new Independent Lens documentary Supergirl. But as the film unfolds, viewers learn fairly quickly that there are actually two equally important protagonists: Kutin and her all-powerful alter ego, "Supergirl." At first…