Blog

Rodrigo Reyes recreating courtroom scene with him as interpreter for Sanson
Interviews

September 18, 2023

From Crimmigration Court Interpreter to Lifelong Friends

Craig Phillips in Behind the Films

Mexican American filmmaker Rodrigo Reyes was and still is a court interpreter in rural California. It was in that capacity that he met then 19-year-old Mexican migrant Sansón Noé Andrade,…...

Short Film “Folk Frontera” Shows the Culture of Life on the Border
Interviews

September 15, 2023

Short Film “Folk Frontera” Shows the Culture of Life on the Border

Independent Lens in Behind the Films

By Ivonne Spinoza Alejandra Vasquez and Sam Osborn’s Folk Frontera is a border-set tale, expertly portraying the beauty and heartbreak that comes with living on the U.S.-Mexico border. Connecting two…...

illustrated animated film still of young Matt from the film Brother
Interviews

August 30, 2023

Feeding Our “Hungry Ghosts”: The Misunderstood Pain Behind Addiction

Independent Lens in Behind the Films

By Ivonne Spinoza Brother is an intimate portrayal of addiction that makes us question our preconceptions and helps shed light on what really goes on inside the mind of a…...

Kimberley and daughter Kai stand in front of a church at sunset
Interviews

June 20, 2023

Free Mom Hugs: How Mama Bears Spread Radical Love

Independent Lens in Behind the Films

By Alex Stergiou  [pullquote] "These women don't go from being conservative to allies because of other people. They go because they have skin in the game. They transform. Love is…...

Sam Harkness, age 11, screams as a freight train passes by, Color Super-8mm, 1998
Interviews

May 04, 2023

Home Movies and Heartbreak: Brothers Bond Over Decades of Filmmaking

Independent Lens in Beyond the Films

By Brian Darr Sam Now is filled with the unexpected twists and turns of a family undergoing great upheaval, filmed over the course of a quarter-century by one of its…...

Chol Soo Lee, in San Quentin prison
Interviews

April 18, 2023

What Happened to Chol Soo Lee?

Independent Lens in Behind the Films

By Bedatri D. Choudhury Chol Soo Lee was a Korean American immigrant wrongfully convicted in 1974 of murdering a Chinatown gang leader in San Francisco. After a decade of being…...

Ronnie Grigg inside the Overdose Prevention Society site in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside
Interviews

February 23, 2023

How Vancouver Finds Hope and Love Amid Fentanyl Crisis

Independent Lens in Behind the Films

  By Ivonne Spinoza One of the more horrible legacies we are left with from the war on drugs is the lack of compassion toward those who struggle with addiction.…...

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…...

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…...

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…...

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…...