Blog

Young men in football uniforms lined up
Interviews

February 15, 2023

Beyond Football: Pahokee, Florida’s History of Black Resilience

Craig Phillips in Behind the Films

This community and the surrounding area around the southern shores of Lake Okeechobee, Florida, has a rich history, but the people of Pahokee's past has often been skipped over, even…...

alderwoman Robin Rue Simmons talking at a table with others
Interviews

January 17, 2023

From Podcast to Doc: Erika Alexander and Whitney Dow on Their Reparation Collaboration

Craig Phillips in Behind the Films

Will the burden to make restitution for Black Americans ever be addressed, or is it too late for a reparations movement to finally happen? That question is at the center…...

Kelsey Peterson, a woman i a wheelchair, at the beach, stretching her wrists
Interviews

November 07, 2022

“I Want to Move, I Want to Embrace Change”: Kelsey Peterson’s Journey to Dance Again

Independent Lens in Behind the Films

By Xian Horn Kelsey Peterson and I have had very different experiences of disability—I was born with cerebral palsy, and she became disabled as an adult. But watching her film…...

Gaelynn Lea, with violin, photo credit Paul Vienneau
Beyond the Films

November 01, 2022

“Everybody’s Voice Is Unique”: Disability in the Performing Arts

Independent Lens in Beyond the Films

By Allison Kirkland Kelsey Peterson's journey in Move Me will resonate with anyone who has undergone change and found something different but just as beautiful on the other side of…...

Woman sitting on couch surrounded by photos of her dead son
Interviews

September 15, 2022

The Price of Hazing: A Personal Journey to Understand the Need to Belong

Craig Phillips in Behind the Films

Byron Hurt has made indelible films about the traditions of African American culinary traditions (Soul Food Junkies) and masculinity and misogyny in rap music with his daring doc Hip-Hop: Beyond…...

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…...

Claude Motley speaks to press after sentencing of the young man who shot him
Interviews

May 03, 2022

A Path to Forgiveness Complicated by Race and Justice: A Conversation with Claude Motley and Brad Lichtenstein

Craig Phillips in Behind the Films

Filmmaker Brad Lichtenstein was nominated for a News & Documentary Emmy Award for the Independent Lens/PBS film As Goes Janesville, which was about a blue-collar town struggling to renew itself.…...

Sophia at Graduation, happy in cap and gown
Interviews

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…...

Mayan healer Josefa Kirvin Kulix, in AWARE
Interviews

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…...

Meera leading the a digital training session for her colleagues at Khabar Lahariya, most of whom have never touched a smartphone.
Interviews

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…...

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…...