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…...
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.…...
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…...
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…...
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…...
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…...
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…...
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…...
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…...
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…...
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,…...
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…...