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 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 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 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 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…...
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…...
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…...
November 30, 2021
Three Arapaho Boys: Reclaiming Their Lives and Retelling Their Stories
Independent Lens in Beyond the Films
This article was published in tandem with the Independent Lens documentary Home from School: The Children of Carlisle By Jordan Dresser When the Indian wars were coming to a close…...
November 08, 2021
“A Father Hurts Too”: In Conversation with Michael Brown Sr and the Filmmaker of Ferguson Rises
Independent Lens in Beyond the Films
By Ade D. Adeniji Ferguson Rises, a documentary by filmmaker Mobolaji Olambiwonnu, brings us back to the days before the masks and the quarantining, the summer of protests and the…...