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A person scanning their face on smartphone on city street, in a Still from Coded Bias, directed by Shalini Kantayya
Beyond the Films
April, 5, 2021

Coded Bias” Asks: Are Our Faces Being Used Against Us?

Independent Lens in Beyond the Films

By Christina Sturdivant Sani Coded Bias begins with MIT researcher Joy Boulamwini’s quest to find out why facial recognition technology inaccurately viewed her beautifully-hued brown face. After viewing the documentary with my friend India, a UX designer, and my husband Hamzat,…
MIT researcher Joy Buolamwini in Coded Bias
Behind the Films
April, 3, 2021

“Coded Bias” Explores Blurring of Real and Imagined Artificial Intelligence

Craig Phillips in Behind the Films

Shalini Kantayya has directed visually eye-catching and memorable work for both National Geographic TV with Breakthrough, a series profiling trailblazing scientists transforming the future) and the documentary Catching the Sun, about the race for a clean energy future, a New…
side profile of man with glasses
Beyond the Films
February, 22, 2021

Who Was Mr. SOUL?

Craig Phillips in Beyond the Films

If you're of a certain generation and familiar at all with the late '60s and early '70s groundbreaking public TV show SOUL!, you may recognize the name Ellis Haizlip, but he's not exactly a household name. The groundbreaking producer and…
Ellis Haizlip on the set of SOUL! withEllis Haizlip on the set of SOUL! with the band Mandrill the band Mandrill; Photo by Alex Harsley
Beyond the Films
February, 17, 2021

Listen Up: How Music Was the Heart of SOUL!

Independent Lens in Beyond the Films

by Nick Dedina Today we take it for granted that Black culture is mainstream American culture. But, before the age of hip-hop, cable TV, the internet, streaming, and mobile phones, African Americans basically had to crowdsource their own entertainment guide. …
On the set of SOUL! with Ellis Haizlip interviewing Melvin Van Peebles [Credit: Chester Higgins]
Beyond the Films
February, 9, 2021

How SOUL! Helped Pave the Way for Black Cultural Programming

Independent Lens in Beyond the Films

By Ade D. Adeniji Mr. SOUL! explores America’s first Black variety television show SOUL!, which ran from 1968 to 1973, and was steered by pioneering Black producer and host Ellis Haizlip. Many have likely seen the pristine sets of SOUL!…
Sgt. Alice White training cadets in procedural justice
Behind the Films
February, 5, 2021

Telling the Story of Gender, Politics, and Violence in America Through the Eyes of Women Police Officers

Craig Phillips in Behind the Films

In addition to her documentaries Still Doing It: The Intimate Lives of Women Over 65, and Suicide On Campus, a web documentary produced in conjunction with The New York Times Magazine, Deirdre Fishel's previous film CARE peeled back the curtain…
Actor Jared Leto, wearing a red beanie, lights a blow torch in the dark.
Behind the Films
January, 6, 2021

How Jared Leto and 92 Film Crews Captured 24 Hours in America

Craig Phillips in Behind the Films

In some ways, you'd think Jared Leto, Oscar-winning actor, movie star, and frontman for Platinum-selling band (with his brother Shannon) 30 Seconds to Mars, would not need much of an introduction. But now you can add another hat, with a…
A family plays a video game while images of the game are superimposed over them.
Lifestyle
December, 22, 2020

Leveling Up Representation: Depictions of People of Color in Video Games

Independent Lens in Lifestyle

By Nadine Dornieden The $100+ billion video game industry is big. So big, in fact, that it dwarfs both the film and music industry combined. Gaming as a hobby has become much more popular every year since the 1990s, after Nintendo…
Portrait of a young Latino man.
October, 28, 2020

The Graduates / Los Graduados

Independent Lens

The Graduates / Los Graduados explores pressing issues in education today through the eyes of six Latino and Latina students from across the United States. More than a survey of contemporary policy debates, the bilingual, two-part film offers first-hand perspectives…
5 people with various shades of skin tone sit together on the set of Soul! They are all wearing fabulous 1960s/70s outfits.
September, 21, 2020

Mr. SOUL!

Independent Lens

In 1968, America’s first Black variety show, “SOUL!,” helmed by producer and host Ellis Haizlip, premiered on public television. The pioneering series ran for five years, cementing itself as not only a vehicle to celebrate African American artistry, community, and…
Jamaican-American twins Ron and Don Brodie standing in middle of street in Jamaica
September, 15, 2020

Driver Radio: Jamaica

Independent Lens

Ron and Don Brodie, twin brothers and first-generation Jamericans raised in Washington, D.C., grew up making family visits to Jamaica. Driver Radio: Jamaica is inspired by the road trips they used to take there as children and captures the Brodies…
Marchers at a Black and Brown Unity rally in Chicago, June 2020. Photo by Mateo Zapata/Courtesy of Quiet Pictures.
Lists
September, 9, 2020

Honor Hispanic Heritage Month with Eight Unique Documentaries

Independent Lens in Lists

By Lola Méndez Hispanic Heritage Month has been honored annually in the United States since 1968 when President Lyndon Johnson first launched it as Hispanic Heritage Week. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan expanded the celebration to last the four weeks…