January 03, 2023
WIN “A Day in the Life of America” T-Shirt
Independent Lens in Contests
We're giving away ten fabulous shirts to celebrate Jared Leto's A Day in the Life of America. Stream the documentary on the PBS app by January 11. The contest runs…...
December 02, 2022
Remembering Legendary Oscar and Emmy-Winning Director Julia Reichert
Independent Lens in Announcements
It is with a heavy heart that we write of the passing of documentary filmmaker extraordinaire Julia Reichert, after a lengthy journey with cancer. She was a member of the…...
November 15, 2022
More Than Just a Hashtag: Disability and TikTok
Independent Lens in Beyond the Films
By Chloe Johnson If you enter the world’s most popular app, TikTok, ADHD might genuinely be the first thing that nondisabled people think of when they imagine what "disability TikTok"…...
November 07, 2022
“I Want to Move, I Want to Embrace Change”: Kelsey Peterson’s Journey to Dance Again
Independent Lens in Behind the Films
By Xian Horn Kelsey Peterson and I have had very different experiences of disability—I was born with cerebral palsy, and she became disabled as an adult. But watching her film…...
November 01, 2022
“Everybody’s Voice Is Unique”: Disability in the Performing Arts
Independent Lens in Beyond the Films
By Allison Kirkland Kelsey Peterson's journey in Move Me will resonate with anyone who has undergone change and found something different but just as beautiful on the other side of…...
October 27, 2022
The Real People Behind Shadowbanned TikTok Accounts
Independent Lens in Beyond the Films
By Andy Hirschfeld Tensions are especially high across the globe right now, and on TikTok, knee-jerk reactions may drive some people into—or out of—their 15 minutes of fame. With that…...
October 10, 2022
Wild & Disturbing: 10 Hazing Scenes in Movies and TV
Independent Lens in Beyond the Films
By Ade D. Adeniji The documentary Hazing begs the question: How far will people go just to fit in? Our need to haze and be hazed has been explored in…...
September 15, 2022
The Price of Hazing: A Personal Journey to Understand the Need to Belong
Craig Phillips in Behind the Films
Byron Hurt has made indelible films about the traditions of African American culinary traditions (Soul Food Junkies) and masculinity and misogyny in rap music with his daring doc Hip-Hop: Beyond…...
September 13, 2022
The Psychology of Groupthink and the Desperate, Dangerous Desire for Social Acceptance
Craig Phillips in Beyond the Films
There's a slippery slope in the climb toward social acceptance. Why do people do what they do to be part of something, not just in college environments but in foreign…...
May 16, 2022
Try to Win a Try Harder! Notebook
Independent Lens in Contests
Write down all your ideas or award-winning essays with one of these snazzy notebooks. We're giving away five to celebrate the documentary Try Harder! Watch it now on the PBS…...
May 09, 2022
At Remote High School, Indigenous Teens Dream of a Glittering Future
Craig Phillips in Beyond the Films
South African-born, Utah-based documentarian Jared Jakins, currently the film curator at Granary Arts Center in Ephraim, Utah, is interested in stories of cultural intersection, and documenting communities and identities emerging…...
May 03, 2022
A Path to Forgiveness Complicated by Race and Justice: A Conversation with Claude Motley and Brad Lichtenstein
Craig Phillips in Behind the Films
Filmmaker Brad Lichtenstein was nominated for a News & Documentary Emmy Award for the Independent Lens/PBS film As Goes Janesville, which was about a blue-collar town struggling to renew itself.…...