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…...
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…...
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…...
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…...
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…...
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…...
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…...
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…...
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.…...
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…...
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…...
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…...