May 02, 2022
A Wild Two Years Since ‘Try Harder’: What You Need to Know About Lowell High School
Independent Lens in Beyond the Films
By Holly McDede Bay Area filmmaker Debbie Lum’s documentary Try Harder! captures the unnerving pressure facing seniors at San Francisco’s elite Lowell High School, where students need high grades and…...
April 28, 2022
A Hard “Try Harder!” Quiz: Are You Smarter than a High Schooler?
Independent Lens in Test Your Knowledge
Out of all the facts and figures that you were ever tested on, how much did you actually retain? This quiz may prove "not much!" Test yourself on actual questions…...
April 27, 2022
How Today’s High School Students Face High Pressure in a Grind Culture
Independent Lens in Beyond the Films
By Gail Cornwall Christina Zhang, 16, averages a couple hours of free time a day, but it’s hard to watch Netflix. “The whole time you’re thinking about, ‘Oh, what if…...
April 22, 2022
Telling Asian American Stories That Resonate: Filmmaker Explores Why These High School Students Are Stressed Out
Craig Phillips in Behind the Films
During her long time living in the San Francisco Bay Area, filmmaker Debbie Lum was greatly influenced by working as an editor for documentarian Spencer Nakasako. Lum as a youth…...
April 18, 2022
Investigating the Mysteries of Consciousness
Craig Phillips in Behind the Films
AWARE: Glimpses of Consciousness is the fourth film collaboration between Eric Black and Frauke Sandig, who are based in San Francisco and Berlin respectively, but managed to collaborate on a…...
March 28, 2022
Women Journalists Are Targeted Just for Reporting the Facts
Independent Lens in Beyond the Films
By Lennlee Keep Journalism is a male-dominated field around the globe. A global report on the Status of Women in the News Media by the International Women in Media foundation…...
March 15, 2022
Oscar-Nominated “Writing With Fire” Goes Inside India’s Only All-Women Newspaper
Craig Phillips in Interviews
Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh, co-directors, made a long journey metaphorically and literally with their film Writing With Fire, from northern India's Uttar Pradesh state, where they worked on the…...
March 14, 2022
Win a Shirt and a Bundle of Books!
Independent Lens in Contests
We're giving away a rewarding bundle of goodies—a T-shirt and an assortment of incredible books—in honor of our acclaimed documentary Apart, which is now streaming on the PBS Video app,…...
March 05, 2022
Remember These Classic PBS Educational TV Shows?
Independent Lens in Lifestyle
[Carmen Sandiego image courtesy producer Howard Blumenthal] By Ade D. Adeniji Sesame Street. Magic School Bus. Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. Reading Rainbow. Millennials and Gen Xers were lucky enough to come…...
February 11, 2022
How Incarceration Affects Mothers and Their Children
Craig Phillips in Beyond the Films
Jennifer Redfearn, an Oscar-nominated director and producer (Sun Come Up) and current director of the documentary program at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism, made the documentary Apart—with producer/cinematographer Tim…...
February 08, 2022
What Americans Will Do to Feel Safe in Schools
Craig Phillips in Beyond the Films
What is the cost of feeling "safe" in American classrooms in an era when mass shootings have become more commonplace? The documentary Bulletproof takes a unique vérité approach in exploring…...
February 03, 2022
“Death Valley for Migrants”: The Invisible Cost of Border Crossing
Independent Lens in Beyond the Films
By Ivonne Spinoza What is more important: laws or lives? This is the question at the center of the immigration debate and its ramifications. Conversations around illegal border crossings often…...