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April 11, 2018

Pollution (and Other Environmental) Public Service Announcements: A Look Back

Jennie Z. Rose in Beyond the Films

In conjunction with the Independent Lens film What Lies Upstream, which is an exposé about what led to a major source of water becoming poisoned after a disastrous chemical spill…...

a big pile of worn sneakers, free image courtesy of Pixabay
Beyond the Films

April 02, 2018

The Art of the Sneaker

Craig Phillips in Beyond the Films

One of the many quiet revelations for me in the documentary The Art of the Shine is that despite being in what seems like a casual and disposable culture, many…...

Shahin Najafi in a public performance, from When God Sleeps
Beyond the Films

March 30, 2018

Censored Iranian Artists, Poets and Musicians Threatened with Exile

Independent Lens in Beyond the Films

[Note: Please enjoy this guest essay on Iranian artists and censorships, in conjunction with the broadcast premiere of When God Sleeps, by artist and game creator Kurosh ValaNejad. See more…...

Dolores Huerta, with Cesar Chavez, in public speech from the 60s, in a film strip image
Beyond the Films

March 21, 2018

Screenwriter Josefina López on how Dolores Huerta is the Mother of Inspiration

Independent Lens in Beyond the Films

by Josefina López The award-winning screenwriter (Real Women Have Curves), playwright, and activist López writes her own personal perspective on her connection to and parallels with Dolores Huerta's story. I…...

Musician/Composer Dan Deacon performing; photo by Adam Boaz
Beyond the Films

February 16, 2018

10 Questions with “Rat Film” Composer Dan Deacon: On Baltimore, Rats, Player Pianos and Theremins

Craig Phillips in Beyond the Films

Baltimore-based composer/musician Dan Deacon did the music for Theo Anthony's Rat Film. The film, which uses the urban rat as a way to explore a deeper story of urbanization and…...

An HBCU student tears up at his graduation, from Tell Them We Are Rising
Beyond the Films

February 15, 2018

HBCU Grads Share Their Stories of Campus Life

Craig Phillips in Beyond the Films

Graduates of Historic Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are proud alums, and in connection with the Independent Lens film Tell Them We Are Rising, which tells the 170 years—and rising—history of…...

Miriam Makeba (r) with Dizzy Gillespie in France 1991
Beyond the Films

January 30, 2018

For “Winnie”: Anti-Apartheid Songs of Protest

Independent Lens in Beyond the Films

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Miriam Makeba and Dizzy Gillespie, 1991[/caption] By Sarah Bardeen, guest contributor Modern South Africa was forged in apartheid. The struggle defined life for generations of South…...

Armistead Maupin at typewriter in the 1970s, from Untold Tales
Test Your Knowledge

December 18, 2017

Take the Armistead Maupin and Tales of the City Pop Quiz!

Independent Lens in Beyond the Films

How much do you know about Armistead Maupin and about his beloved Tales of the City series? Are you a Maupin superfan? Take this quiz we created for both for longtime…...

Naomi Kutin gets make-up before her Bat Mitzvah, in Supergirl
Beyond the Films

December 12, 2017

On Supergirls, Sasha Fierce, Slim Shady and Having an Alter Ego

Independent Lens in Beyond the Films

By Michelle Konstantinovsky Naomi Kutin is technically the central subject of the new Independent Lens documentary Supergirl. But as the film unfolds, viewers learn fairly quickly that there are actually two equally important…...

RICCARDO PRIVITERA, from Shadow World
Beyond the Films

November 18, 2017

Meet Your Guides to the Shady Global Arms Trade of Shadow World

Craig Phillips in Beyond the Films

Shadow World is in many senses an epic film, that (as Ian McQuaid wrote in The Ransom Note) "draws together a sordid tale of corruption, violence, and greed that sprawls across decades…...

money-paper airplane fighters, in graphic for Shadow World created by Independent Lens
Interviews

November 10, 2017

Global Arms Expert Andrew Feinstein Explores Shadow World of Weapons Trade

Craig Phillips in Beyond the Films

Andrew Feinstein is one of the world's leading experts on political corruption and the global arms trade. A frequent commentator on BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera, and The Guardian, his writing…...

an abstract shot of John Coltrane playing sax, as if through water
Beyond the Films

October 31, 2017

Chasing Trane Playlist: Coltrane and His Disciples

Independent Lens in Beyond the Films

By Nick Dedina, Guest Contributor Drop a needle on a John Coltrane record, hit play on one of his digital playlists, or watch Chasing Trane and it’s easy to understand…...