June 16, 2017
Transgender People Trying to Find Love
826chi in Beyond the Films
In the Independent Lens film Real Boy, transgender nineteen-year-old Bennett is touched to find his reluctant mother by his side as he undergoes a double mastectomy as part of his…...
June 09, 2017
Trans Musicians Carving Their Own Identities [Updated June 2022]
Independent Lens in Beyond the Films
By Craig Phillips and Independent Lens Staff Real Boy is the portrait of Bennett, who is undergoing gender reassignment surgery, and his mom's struggle to process the change. But it's…...
May 17, 2017
Teachers Beat the “Macho Culture” in Prisons through Art Programs
826chi in Beyond the Films
In the early 2000s, Hollywood invested in the urban fairy tale where a teacher is called into the principal’s office of a school in a low-income, broken part of town…...
May 05, 2017
The Prison Economy: How Do Prisons Affect the Places We Live?
Independent Lens in Beyond the Films
The Independent Lens film The Prison in Twelve Landscapes examines the effect prisons have on the communities around them in both positive and negative ways. Prisons can stimulate the economy and…...
April 27, 2017
A Drone by Any Other Name: The Different Kinds of Drones
Craig Phillips in Beyond the Films
Drones are at the center of the Independent Lens film National Bird, though the documentary puts a very human face behind military drone operations, focusing on the post-traumatic stress stemming from participating…...
April 21, 2017
Comedians Talk About Pushing Boundaries and Crossing Lines
Craig Phillips in Beyond the Films
Defining what is taboo in comedy is the central question of The Last Laugh: What is out of bounds to talk about in comedy? The film features performers who are no strangers…...
April 20, 2017
Growing Industry: Why Weed Seeds Are Giving Way to Pot Clones
826chi in Beyond the Films
In the Independent Lens doc SEED: The Untold Story, biodiversity evangelists travel the globe in search of as many seed varieties as they can bank in their vaults before they…...
April 13, 2017
Banking on Seeds: Rare, Diverse, and Endangered
Jennie Z. Rose in Beyond the Films
When National Geographic Magazine reported that about 94% of the world’s vegetable seeds circa 1903 are now missing from the Earth, Taggart Siegel and Jon Betz promptly started work on…...
March 31, 2017
Healing Places: Rebuilding After a Community Tragedy
Craig Phillips in Beyond the Films
"The only thing tragedy gives us is the opportunity to rebuild our life." -writer Paulo Coelho The film Newtown asks, "What remains after all is lost?" Some have said that it…...
March 27, 2017
Girl Power: The Original #SquadGoals (and Just #Goals in General)
826chi in Beyond the Films
In the Independent Lens documentary Ovarian Psycos, we're introduced to The Ovas — a chicanx (xicanx) feminist group who bike through the streets of East L.A. in honor of sisterhood. While…...
March 16, 2017
Principal Vonda Viland and 10 of the Most Unforgettable “Bad Kids”
Independent Lens in Beyond the Films
The following is by Vonda Viland, principal of Black Rock Continuation High School in Yucca Valley in California's Mojave Desert, and subject of the documentary The Bad Kids. Viland's tireless work to…...
February 13, 2017
TOWER Playlist: 1966 Music Soundscape
Independent Lens in Beyond the Films
Pure and simple, 1966 was considered by many critics as one of the greatest years for popular music ever [see the Guardian’s “Was 1966 pop music greatest’s year?” and the…...