Blog

Musician/Composer Dan Deacon performing; photo by Adam Boaz
Beyond the Films

February 16, 2018

10 Questions with “Rat Film” Composer Dan Deacon: On Baltimore, Rats, Player Pianos and Theremins

Craig Phillips in Beyond the Films

Baltimore-based composer/musician Dan Deacon did the music for Theo Anthony's Rat Film. The film, which uses the urban rat as a way to explore a deeper story of urbanization and…...

Wooden Figure Lying On Floor Watching Television, By Andrey_Popov, via Shutterstock
Lists

February 13, 2018

Beyond Romance: Searching for the Meaning of Love on Screen

Independent Lens in Lists

Although there are as many ways to love as there are people to do the loving, we are trained from an early age to value the pair-bond above all else.…...

Dylan with filmmaker Nanfu Wang reflected at right, shooting I Am Another You
Interviews

January 24, 2018

How a Chinese Filmmaker Ended up in Florida with a Drifter from Utah

Craig Phillips in Interviews

Nanfu Wang was a student at NYU when she went exploring America, which found her in Florida staying at a hostel. There she encountered a young drifter named Dylan, whom…...

The cast of Served Like a Girl, posing for the Ms Veteran America pageant
Announcements

January 19, 2018

Independent Lens Announces Spring 2018 Slate of Award-Winning Films

Independent Lens in Announcements

Independent Lens, which recently won the 2017 IDA Documentary Award for Best Curated Series from the International Documentary Association, now officially announces our March-May 2018 lineup on PBS. Dolores, Peter…...

Anti-War March Chicago, 1968 (public domain)
Lists

September 13, 2017

12 Documentaries About the Vietnam War on the American Homefront

Noel Murray in Lists

On Sunday, September 17th, PBS will debut the latest project from Ken Burns and his frequent collaborator Lynn Novick: the ten-part, 18-hour series The Vietnam War. Just like Burns and…...

From Paul Fierlinger's Still Life with Animated Dogs, his dog Spinnaker
Lists

August 24, 2017

Dogumentary Now: 7 Docs About Urban Dogs

Sharon Knolle in Lists

Just like the human population, dogs in the city can live a life of luxury or — sadly — roam the streets looking for food, shelter and the occasional kind…...

Montage of images from each of 20 films from Independent Lens 2016-17 season
Awards

June 30, 2017

2016-17 Independent Lens Audience Award Poll! The Winner Is…

Craig Phillips in Announcements

It's time to vote for your own personal favorite from the just-concluded 2016-2017 season of Independent Lens. The voting period will run through 5 pm PT Friday, July 21. There were…...

Jiro and son Takashi, in Jiro Dreams of Sushi
Lists

June 18, 2017

12 Father’s Day Docs:  Stepping Out of Dad’s Shadow

Craig Phillips in Lists

Relationships with our dads can be complicated, as reflected in a collection of diverse, very worthy documentary films we've selected for Father's Day viewing consideration. All of the dads depicted…...

From The Negro Soldier, 1944. USA. Directed by Stuart Heisler
Film History

May 26, 2017

Memorial Day: Docs That Capture the Human Experience of War

Sean Axmaker in Lists

There is no shortage of documentaries on war. The subject fascinates us as history, as sociology, and as drama. Some documentaries chronicle history in great detail, some grapple with the…...

Beyond the Films

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…...

The Last Laugh filmmaker Ferne Pearlstein with director/writer/comedian Mel Brooks
Interviews

April 20, 2017

Ferne Pearlstein Asks Comedians and Survivors: What Is Off-Limits in Comedy?

Craig Phillips in Interviews

“Somebody once said, ‘Tragedy plus time equals comedy.’ And I always felt, why wait?” - Comedian Gilbert Gottfried, in The Last Laugh There have been many films about the Holocaust,…...

The Ovas bike brigade pose with bikes in front of a warehouse in East Los Angeles
Lists

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…...