Blog

Alex and Jessica Sutton, doing some hunting, in Farmer/Veteran
Interviews

May 25, 2017

Filmmakers Capture a Troubled Veteran’s Farm Life

Craig Phillips in Interviews

Farmer/Veteran was made by a trio of talented young filmmakers: Alix Blair documented the lives of women in southwestern Uganda for her Master’s work at Duke University; Jeremy Lange has been…...

Interviews

May 17, 2017

Ben Lear Shows Reality and Human Face of Juvenile Justice System

Craig Phillips in Interviews

They Call Us Monsters is Ben Lear's first film as director, but he's not new to the business. Yes, Ben is the son of trailblazing TV producer-writer Norman Lear of All…...

Young Muslim-Chechen player Dzhabrail Kadiev sits with his mom, in moment from Forever Pure
Interviews

May 11, 2017

Maya Zinshtein Explores How Soccer and Racism Intersected in Israel

Craig Phillips in Interviews

Israeli journalist-filmmaker Maya Zinshtein is in many ways the perfect person to make a film about the combustible story of Beitar Jerusalem FC, the Israeli soccer club which imploded when…...

Prison in Twelve Landscapes filmmaker Brett Story
Interviews

May 05, 2017

Canadian Filmmaker Explores American Prison System’s Long Reach

Craig Phillips in Interviews

Canadian filmmaker Brett Story was recently awarded the inaugural New Visions Award from Canada's DOC Institute, who wrote of her, "Watching Story’s socially engaged but visually driven work provides ample evidence…...

National Bird director Sonia Kennebeck
Interviews

April 28, 2017

Sonia Kennebeck Makes Film About the Human Cost of Drone Wars and Whistleblowing

Craig Phillips in Interviews

Sonia Kennebeck's film National Bird, which was executive produced by renowned filmmakers Errol Morris and Wim Wenders, takes a risk just by making it in the first place. It tells the…...

Mark Barden's son Daniel Barden races the school bus in Newtown
Interviews

April 03, 2017

Kim A. Snyder Tells Newtown Families’ Deeply Intimate Story

Craig Phillips in Interviews

Filmmaker Kim Snyder is no stranger to having to patiently and empathetically ingratiate herself with a community. Her film Welcome to Shelbyville, which was nationally broadcast on Independent Lens, spent time in a…...

Joey McGee walks down a road in the Mojave Desert.
Interviews

March 17, 2017

Filmmakers Lou Pepe and Keith Fulton Tell Story of At-Risk Youth Getting Last Chance

Craig Phillips in Behind the Films

Filmmakers Lou Pepe and Keith Fulton have gone from the deserts of Spain (for their acclaimed film Lost in La Mancha about Terry Gilliam's ill-fated attempt to make a Don Quixote…...

Interviews

February 09, 2017

Filmmaker Matt Ornstein Captures Daryl Davis’s Quest to Confront Racism, One Racist at a Time

Craig Phillips in Interviews

Filmmaker Matt Ornstein has a background in music videos and short films (one of which, Atlantis, was about that space shuttle's last launch and starred Jason Ritter), but the story…...

Silhouetted image of William M. Trotter speaking in protest about Birth of a Nation, from Birth of a Movement
Interviews

February 02, 2017

Filmmakers Tell Story of William Trotter’s Fight Against Racist Silent Blockbuster

Craig Phillips in Interviews

Birth of a Movement, based on Dick Lehr's book, captures the backdrop to a prescient clash between human rights, freedom of speech, and a changing media landscape — that happened in 1915.…...

The Witness filmmaker James Solomon in profile
Interviews

January 21, 2017

Filmmaker James Solomon Peels Back the Mythology of the Kitty Genovese Story

Craig Phillips in Interviews

The Witness  may be James Solomon's first film as director, but his vast experience as a storyteller made him the perfect fit for reopening this case. The Witness, which made…...

Wind River Director, Mat Hames, and DP, Wilson Waggoner, film a Northern Arapaho child at the Ethete Powwow.
Interviews

January 11, 2017

Filmmaker Mat Hames Goes to Wind River to Amplify Native Voices

Craig Phillips in Interviews

Award-winning filmmaker Mat Hames’s feature documentary, When I Rise, about African American mezzo-soprano and civil rights icon Barbara Conrad, was featured on Independent Lens and nominated for an IDA Documentary…...

Nicky Nuke graphic by artist Peter Kuper
Interviews

January 06, 2017

Containment Filmmakers Go into the Future to Read the Warning Signs

Craig Phillips in Interviews

Harvard professors and filmmakers Peter Galison and Robb Moss have been collaborating for a decade: first, in co-teaching a course, bringing student filmmakers into scientific laboratories to think about the…...