July 20, 2018
Great American Melting (Crock)Pot: Comfort Food Recipes from Independent Lens Family
Craig Phillips in Beyond the Films
In trying times, we turn to food. Especially comfort food, recipes from childhood, from our families, that warm our spirits and send us back to simpler times. We reached out…...
July 09, 2018
The Pursuit of APP-iness: Can Tech Help Soothe Anxiety?
Craig Phillips in Lifestyle
It may be presumptuous to state this but I will take a chance: I'm likely not the only one out there these days feeling the pull of anxiety. And thus…...
June 18, 2018
Make Your Voice Heard: Pick Your Favorite 2017-18 Independent Lens Film (Updated)
Independent Lens in Announcements
It's that time of the year again: Now that Independent Lens has concluded another season, we need you to vote for the recipient of this year's Audience Award. Yes you,…...
June 11, 2018
Kick It with the 9 Most Unforgettable Soccer Commercials
Craig Phillips in Lists
As far as I'm concerned, soccer is a year-round sport. I can find a footie game on the telly from somewhere in the world anytime I want, but the World…...
May 27, 2018
Things Only Women Who Served in the Military Would Understand
Independent Lens in Beyond the Films
We asked a few women veterans one question and one question only: What are things only women who've served in the military would understand? Denyse Gordon (at right), who served 12 years…...
May 23, 2018
Overturning Expectations Alongside the Women Warriors of Ms. Veteran America
Craig Phillips in Interviews
Long a successful film producer, Lysa Heslov, along with her husband, Oscar-winning producer/writer/director Grant Heslov, founded Children Mending Hearts ten years ago, a non-profit dedicated to empowering disadvantaged youth in…...
May 17, 2018
Documentarians Meet the Real People Behind a Media Firestorm
Craig Phillips in Interviews
Documentarians Reuben Atlas and Sam Pollard picked a hefty, complex, but as it turned out incredibly timely subject to collaborate on. The film ACORN and the Firestorm looks at the…...
May 03, 2018
Takeovers and Occupations: A Survey of American Mini-Rebellions and Political Stands
Craig Phillips in Beyond the Films
In the Independent Lens No Man's Land, we get a fly on the wall sense of the tense armed takeover and 41-day standoff at Oregon's Malheur Wildlife Refuge, led by rancher…...
May 02, 2018
Documentarian Ventures into the “No Man’s Land” of Malheur Takeover
Craig Phillips in Interviews
Documentarian David Garrett Byars is making his feature film debut with No Man’s Land, but he's made short films before. including Recapture, a short documentary chronicling the attempt of right-wing activists…...
April 25, 2018
Director Finds Real Life Superheroes with “Conviction”
Craig Phillips in Interviews
Filmmaker Jamie Meltzer, also the program director of the MFA program in Documentary Film at Stanford University, has made acclaimed films about a wide collection of topics, from song-poems to…...
April 20, 2018
Five Questions with Nick Offerman about Wendell Berry
Craig Phillips in Behind the Films
Look & See: Wendell Berry's Kentucky co-producer Nick Offerman, an actor of many an indie film and of course on TV's Parks & Recreation, Fargo, and author of Paddle Your Own…...
April 19, 2018
Laura Dunn Draws From Wendell Berry for Look at Rural America
Craig Phillips in Interviews
Laura Dunn's first feature documentary, The Unforeseen, executive produced by Robert Redford and Terrence Malick, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, aired on the Sundance Channel, and was called "a…...