January 05, 2024
What Happens to Your Family When You Escape North Korea, and Other Harrowing Tales from Beyond Utopia
Craig Phillips in Beyond the Films
The harrowing, riveting documentary Beyond Utopia, captures what life is like for refugees after escaping North Korea. What happens to the family you left behind? How hard is it to…...
November 17, 2023
“Stinky Lunch Kids Strike Back”: South Asians Redefine What American Food Can Mean
Independent Lens in Beyond the Films
By Bedatri D. Choudhury Journalist and chef Pervaiz Shallwani’s mother moved from Pakistan to Toronto, where she ate her first hot dog in 1975. “She thought it was the grossest…...
November 06, 2023
The Complex Role and Diverse Array of Chaplains in the Military
Independent Lens in Beyond the Films
By Ivonne Spinoza When you hear the term chaplain, if you're not in the military, what usually comes to mind? It could be a pop culture reference, like Father Mulcahy…...
October 09, 2023
Forensic Anthropology Tools of the Trade
Independent Lens in Beyond the Films
By Amy Whipple In 1992, forensic anthropologist Mercedes (Mimi) Doretti (pictured above, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in the 1980s) traveled to El Salvador as part of a U.N.-sponsored team to…...
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…...
September 18, 2023
From Crimmigration Court Interpreter to Lifelong Friends
Craig Phillips in Behind the Films
Mexican American filmmaker Rodrigo Reyes was and still is a court interpreter in rural California. It was in that capacity that he met then 19-year-old Mexican migrant Sansón Noé Andrade,…...
September 15, 2023
Short Film “Folk Frontera” Shows the Culture of Life on the Border
Independent Lens in Behind the Films
By Ivonne Spinoza Alejandra Vasquez and Sam Osborn’s Folk Frontera is a border-set tale, expertly portraying the beauty and heartbreak that comes with living on the U.S.-Mexico border. Connecting two…...
September 05, 2023
Got Climate Anxiety? You’re Not Alone, but Here’s How to Cope
Independent Lens in Beyond the Films
By Jennie Rose With climate-related events bombarding us on a seemingly daily basis, there's naturally a corresponding increase in eco-anxiety, a chronic fear of environmental devastation. The Independent Lens short…...
August 30, 2023
Feeding Our “Hungry Ghosts”: The Misunderstood Pain Behind Addiction
Independent Lens in Behind the Films
By Ivonne Spinoza Brother is an intimate portrayal of addiction that makes us question our preconceptions and helps shed light on what really goes on inside the mind of a…...
June 20, 2023
Free Mom Hugs: How Mama Bears Spread Radical Love
Independent Lens in Behind the Films
By Alex Stergiou [pullquote] "These women don't go from being conservative to allies because of other people. They go because they have skin in the game. They transform. Love is…...
June 05, 2023
Celebrate Armistead Maupin for Pride and Win a Copy of “Logical Family: A Memoir”
Independent Lens in Contests
If you are a fan of the Tales of the City series and the Independent Lens documentary Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin, celebrate Armistead Maupin's wonderful life and career, and…...
May 26, 2023
From True Believer to The Help, How the White Gaze Has Shown Hollywood’s Shortsightedness
Independent Lens in Beyond the Films
An Essay by Dana Verde [Sources and further reading listed at the end] They say hindsight is 20/20 and, historically, stories about real BIPOC characters in both mainstream film and…...