Blog

TikTok Influencer Deja Foxx and her sister taking selfie in front of the ocean
Beyond the Films

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…...

Actors Vincent d'Onofrio, Matthew Modine and R.Lee Ermey on the set of
Lists

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…...

An Icon man leaving the crowd of duplicate silhouette individuals and becoming 3D.
Beyond the Films

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…...

Young woman getting haircut from siblings
Interviews

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…...

Students at the entrance to Lowell High School
Beyond the Films

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…...

illustrated graphic of girl weighted down by red backpack. credit: Getty Images/Malte Mueller.
Interviews

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…...

Meera and Suneeta reporting on an illegal mining mafia in the heartlands of Uttar Pradesh.
Beyond the Films

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…...

Tomika hugs her grinning daughter on visitation day at the prison
Interviews

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…...

Model of a classroom safety drill, with figurines of teacher and students and a model of a safe room
Interviews

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…...

From Missing in Brooks County: Omar Roman and his wife Michelle at a ranch in Brooks County, TX, where Homero Roman Gomez went missing.
Beyond the Films

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…...

Arapaho and Shoshone children arrive off the train to Carlisle, 1881
Beyond the Films

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…...

Michael Brown Senior is at the center of this photo mourning and celebrating the life of his son Michael, wearing red St Louis Cardinals hat.
Interviews

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…...