The Homestretch
Three homeless teens brave Chicago winters, high school pressures, and life on the streets to build a brighter future. Against all odds, they recover from a life of abandonment to create new, surprising definitions of home. Read More
April 13, 2015
Update: Kasey Checks In
Craig Phillips in Where Are They Now?
Kasey, one of the three formerly homeless teens portrayed in The Homestretch who are striving to make a better future for themselves, checked in just today to give us all…...
April 09, 2015
Homeless but Not Hopeless: Homeless Youth in America
Craig Phillips in Beyond the Films
Youth homelessness is on the rise in the United States, and the numbers aren't pretty. One in 30 kids (nearly 2.5 million children) of K-12 school age are now homeless in the…...
Beyond the Films
March 23, 2015
I Identify: What Forces Determine Your Identity?
Independent Lens in Beyond the Films
In Little White Lie, filmmaker Lacey Schwartz uncovers an identity-altering family secret, and then embarks on a journey of discovery as she contends with her new sense of self. The film challenges us…...
March 23, 2015
Lacey Schwartz Uproots Her Family Tree
Craig Phillips in Uncategorized
As a girl, Lacey Schwartz grew up wondering why she had darker skin, which became a source of embarrassment for her and eventually led her to question everything. Little White Lie…...
Little White Lie
Filmmaker Lacey Schwartz, who grew up in a typical upper-middle class Jewish household in Woodstock, NY, begins to piece together the mystery of how a white girl could have such dark skin as she learns the truth about her biological father. Read More
Lists
March 19, 2015
9 Movies about Family Secrets
Independent Lens in Lists
By Noel Murray When Lacey Schwartz applied to Georgetown at age 18, she left the “racial identity” box unchecked, but did submit a photograph, and not long after she was…...
February 23, 2015
Christine Herbes-Sommers Talks about Film on Racial Bias in America, Then and Now
Craig Phillips in Interviews
[caption id="attachment_6486" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Gunnar Myrdal with Ralph Bunche in Washington D.C., 1942[/caption] American Denial tells the the story of Swedish researcher Gunnar Myrdal, whose landmark 1944 study, An American…...
American Denial
Using the story of Gunnar Myrdal’s 1944 investigation of Jim Crow racism as a springboard, American Denial explores the power of unconscious biases and how the ideals of liberty, equality, and justice still impact notions of race and class today. Read More
February 16, 2015
Black Family History Through a Lens
Craig Phillips in Uncategorized
Archival family photo from the Digital Diaspora Family Roadshow A wonderful companion piece to Thomas Allen Harris's film Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People is his…...
Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People
An artist-filmmaker takes a deeply personal look back through the parallel histories of how African Americans have been depicted in commercial photography, contrasted with how they were captured in family photos. Read More
February 13, 2015
Thomas Allen Harris Goes Through a Lens Darkly
Craig Phillips in
The first documentary to explore the role of photography in shaping the identity, aspirations, and social emergence of African Americans from slavery to the present, Through a Lens Darkly: Black…...