Airing weekly on PBS, the five-time Emmy Award-winning series Independent Lens is an independent film festival in your living room. Each week we bring you another original documentary film, each made by one of the best independent filmmakers working today.
This season, Independent Lens returns with 22 independent films that will transport you and challenge you to experience universal human themes from unique perspectives. We will delve into issues emerging from the economic crisis in America, from job loss to wealth disparity; examine the origins of soul food, its importance in African American culture, and its serious health implications; we will examine a military culture in which female soldiers are sexually assaulted at a terrifying rate, and their attackers often left unpunished; we
This season, Independent Lens returns with 22 independent films that will transport you and challenge you to experience universal human themes from unique perspectives. We will delve into issues emerging from the economic crisis in America, from job loss to wealth disparity; examine the origins of soul food, its importance in African American culture, and its serious health implications; we will examine a military culture in which female soldiers are sexually assaulted at a terrifying rate, and their attackers often left unpunished; we
Latest Articles About Independent Lens on PBS
ACORN AND THE FIRESTORM Premieres on Independent Lens Monday, May 21, 2018 on PBS
by Macon Prickett - April 24, 2018
For 40 years, the controversial community organizing group ACORN sought to empower marginalized communities. Its critics, though, believed ACORN exemplified everything wrong with liberal ideals, promoting government waste and ineffective activism. These competing perceptions exploded on the national...
Documentary 'True Conviction' About Exonerated Prisoners Turned Detectives, to Premiere on PBS/Independent Lens
by Stephi Wild - March 29, 2018
After serving a combined 60 years in prison for crimes they did not commit, three recently exonerated Texans — Christopher Scott, Johnnie Lindsey and Steven Phillips — join forces to form the unlikeliest of investigative teams, on a mission to help wrongfully convicted prisoners obtain freedom l...
LOOK & SEE: Wendell Berry's Kentucky Premieres on Independent Lens 4/23 on PBS
by Macon Prickett - March 22, 2018
Look & See: Wendell Berry's Kentucky is a cinematic portrait of the changing landscapes and shifting values of rural America in an era of industrial agriculture, as seen through the mind's eye of writer, farmer, and activist Wendell Berry. Through his poetic and prescient words and the testimonies ...
VIDEO: Watch the New Trailer for Upcoming Mr. Rogers Documentary WON'T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR?
by Macon Prickett - March 20, 2018
Watch the official trailer for Morgan Neville's new movie, Won't You Be My Neighbor? below!...
THE ART OF THE SHINE Documentary To Premiere on Independent Lens 4/9 on PBS
by Macon Prickett - March 14, 2018
You might pass them on the sidewalk, at the mall or at the airport. They're the shoe shiners, purveying an old school trade that seems like something out of the Mad Men era, out of step with our fast-paced, disposable consumer culture. Yet, to many of the shoe shiners in Stacey Tenenbaum's joyous an...
PBS To Present Special Earth Day Themed Programming This April
by Macon Prickett - March 12, 2018
In conjunction with Earth Day on April 22, PBS stations will offer a selection of themed programming with topics ranging from agriculture to meteorology to climate change. Kicking off on Monday, April 16, at 10:00 p.m. ET, INDEPENDENT LENS investigates the disturbing chemical spill in West Vir...
WHEN GOD SLEEPS Documentary to Premiere on Independant Lens on PBS 4/2
by Macon Prickett - March 09, 2018
Directed by Till Schauder, 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 song that focuses on the oppression of women and human rights abuses. Shahin's frantic escap...
'Friends' & 'Grace And Frankie' Co-Creator And Producer Marta Kauffman To Be Honored At Big Sunday's 3rd Annual Gala
by A.A. Cristi - February 28, 2018
Leaders in entertainment, business, philanthropy, and the arts will gather at the 3rd Annual Big Sunday Gala on Thursday evening, March 8th to celebrate two distinguished honorees - Marta Kauffman and Kaiser Permanente. Big Sunday, one of the USA's foremost organizations connecting people through ...
Documentary DOLORES, About Activist Icon Dolores Huerta, on PBS/INDEPENDENT LENS March 27
by Macon Prickett - February 28, 2018
One of the most important, yet least known activists of our time, Dolores Huerta was an equal partner in founding the first farm workers union with César Chávez. Tirelessly leading the fight for racial and labor justice, Huerta evolved into one of the most defiant feminists of the twentieth centur...
RAT FILM To Premiere On Independant Lens On PBS
by Macon Prickett - February 07, 2018
In his critically-acclaimed directorial debut, Theo Anthony uses the rat to burrow into the dark, complicated history of Baltimore. A unique blend of history, science and sci-fi, poetry and portraiture, Rat Film explores how racial segregation, discriminatory lending practices known as “redlinin...
Provocative Documentary About Winnie Mandela Airs on INDEPENDENT LENS, 2/5
by Caryn Robbins - January 26, 2018
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela is one of the most misunderstood and intriguing of contemporary female political figures. Her rise and seeming fall from grace bear the hallmarks of epic tragedy....
CALL ME BY YOUR NAME, THIS IS US Among 29th Annual GLAAD MEDIA AWARD Nominees; Full List
by Caryn Robbins - January 19, 2018
The nominations for the 29th Annual GLAAD Media Awards were announced today. The GLAAD Media Awards recognize and honor media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community and the issues that affect their lives....
Sundance Film Festival: Juries, Awards Night Host Announced
by Tori Hartshorn - January 16, 2018
Sundance Film Festival: Juries, Awards Night Host Announced...
Focus Features Shares First Look At Mister Rogers Documentary WON'T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR?
by Tori Hartshorn - January 16, 2018
Focus Features Shares First Look At Mister Rogers Documentary WON'T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR?...
THE UNTOLD TALES OF ARMISTEAD MAUPIN Premieres on PBS, 1/1
by BWW News Desk - January 01, 2018
Jennifer M. Kroot's THE UNTOLD TALES OF ARMISTEAD MAUPIN, winner of an Audience Award at the 2017 SXSW Film Festival, premieres on Independent Lens, Monday, January 1, 2018, 10:30PM ET...
Academy Award Nominee I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO Premieres on Independent Lens on PBS 1/15
by Tori Hartshorn - December 27, 2017
Academy Award Nominee I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO Premieres on Independent Lens on PBS...
New Documentary on Orthodox Jewish Powerlifter SUPERGIRL, Premieres on PBS 12/18
by BWW News Desk - December 18, 2017
Filmed over the course of three years, beginning when Naomi was 11, through her Bat Mitzvah at 12, through age 14, Supergirl follows Naomi and her family through training and powerlifting events as well as documenting their strong faith and involvement in the Orthodox community....
THE UNTOLD TALES OF ARMISTEAD MAUPIN Premieres on PBS, 1/1
by Caryn Robbins - December 14, 2017
Jennifer M. Kroot's THE UNTOLD TALES OF ARMISTEAD MAUPIN, winner of an Audience Award at the 2017 SXSW Film Festival, premieres on Independent Lens, Monday, January 1, 2018, 10:30PM ET...
The Apollo Announces MLK Celebration And Black History Month Programming For 2018
by Stephi Wild - December 14, 2017
On Sunday, January 14 at 3pm, the Apollo Theater and WNYC are partnering for the fifth year to present WNYC's 12th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day celebration, 50 Years After MLK: A Dream Deferred, as part of the Apollo's Uptown Hall series....
PBS Announces Premiere Dates for LITTLE WOMEN with Angela Lansbury, Tony Bennett Tribute ft. Josh Groban & More
by Caryn Robbins - December 06, 2017
PBS today announced its Winter/Spring 2018 schedule lineup, which includes the much-anticipated second season of MASTERPIECE's hit series Victoria (Sundays, January 14-February 25),starring Jenna Coleman, Tom Hughes and, this season, Dame Diana Rigg....
Art Africa Miami Arts Fair to Return with 'BACK TO BLACK: NO ON/OFF RAMPS'
by BWW News Desk - December 05, 2017
Art Africa Miami Arts Fair explores how Black Arts respond to the assaults that currently beset the global African Diaspora and the world at large and how artists of African descent and the global south create modes of intervention of radical autonomy....
Art Africa Miami Arts Fair to Return with 'BACK TO BLACK: NO ON/OFF RAMPS'
by BWW News Desk - November 28, 2017
Art Africa Miami Arts Fair explores how Black Arts respond to the assaults that currently beset the global African Diaspora and the world at large and how artists of African descent and the global south create modes of intervention of radical autonomy....
New Documentary on Orthodox Jewish Powerlifter SUPERGIRL, Premieres on PBS 12/18
by Caryn Robbins - November 08, 2017
Filmed over the course of three years, beginning when Naomi was 11, through her Bat Mitzvah at 12, through age 14, Supergirl follows Naomi and her family through training and powerlifting events as well as documenting their strong faith and involvement in the Orthodox community....
Chasing Trane Opens INDEPENDENT LENS New Season on PBS This November
by BWW News Desk - November 06, 2017
The award-winning PBS series INDEPENDENT LENS opens its new season on Monday, November 6 with Chasing Trane, John Scheinfeld's portrait of jazz great John Coltrane, featuring Denzel Washington speaking the words of Coltrane....
ITVS Wins Five News & Documentary Emmys
by Caryn Robbins - October 06, 2017
Five ITVS documentaries, four for Independent Lens and one for POV, received News & Documentary Emmy Awards, it was announced today at the 38th Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards....
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