Blog

Bringing back a bounty of nutria, in Rodents of Unusual Size
Interviews

January 10, 2019

11 Questions for 3 Filmmakers About a Million Swamp Rats

Craig Phillips in Beyond the Films

The trio of filmmakers behind the Independent Lens film Rodents of Unusual Size -- Jeff Springer, Chris Metzler and Quinn Costello -- have previously captured unique environmental stories with a very…...

Marcos Doesn’t Live Here Anymore

A special presentation of Independent Lens, FRONTLINE and VOCES. From acclaimed filmmaker David Sutherland (Kind-Hearted Woman, Country Boys, The Farmer’s Wife), Marcos Doesn’t Live Here Anymore examines the US immigration system through the eyes of… Read More

Judge Kholoud picking olives with her children.
Interviews

November 14, 2018

Erika Cohn Unfolds a New Perception of Shari’a Law in Portrait of Remarkable Woman

Craig Phillips in Behind the Films

Erika Cohn, who co-directed (with Tony Vainuku) the Emmy Award-winning Independent Lens doc In Football We Trust, went from the gridiron in Utah to the Shari'a courts of Palestine for her…...

Charm City

Charm City is an intimate portrait of a diverse group of neighbors, including police, citizens, community leaders, and government officials who, with grit and compassion, survive in and work to improve their vibrant neighborhoods during a violent three-year stretch in Baltimore. There… Read More

Interviews

October 29, 2018

Filmmakers Seek the Truth in Eye-Opening Story of Forced Native Child Separation

Craig Phillips in Behind the Films

Before there was Dawnland, there was First Light, a shorter version of the same story about the forced separation of Native American children that helped lead to the trust necessary to tell…...

Tre Maison Dasan

Told directly through the eyes of the children themselves, Tre Maison Dasan is a moving portrait of three unforgettable young boys struggling to grow up with a parent in prison. They face the pressure of growing up in a society that often demonizes their… Read More

The Judge

Showing Shari’a law in a way we’ve never seen before–through the story of the first-ever female judge in Palestine’s religious courts–The Judge is portrait of a remarkable woman who overcame a male-dominated tradition to change minds. Middle East religious courts, including the… Read More

Dawnland

They were forced to assimilate into white society: children ripped away from their families, depriving them of their culture and erasing their identities. Can reconciliation help heal the scars from childhoods lost? Dawnland is the untold story of Indigenous child removal in the US through the… Read More

Wildland

“Fighting fire is just long hours of hard, boring work punctuated by moments of sheer terror.” Filmed during two recent wildfire seasons, Wildland is a sweeping yet deeply personal account of a firefighting crew as they struggle with fear, loyalty, dreams, and demons. This… Read More

Don't Tread on Me flag in foreground, watch tower in background, from No Man's Land
Beyond the Films

May 03, 2018

Takeovers and Occupations: A Survey of American Mini-Rebellions and Political Stands

Craig Phillips in Beyond the Films

In the Independent Lens No Man's Land, we get a fly on the wall sense of the tense armed takeover and 41-day standoff at Oregon's Malheur Wildlife Refuge, led by rancher…...

Interviews

May 02, 2018

Documentarian Ventures into the “No Man’s Land” of Malheur Takeover

Craig Phillips in Interviews

Documentarian David Garrett Byars is making his feature film debut with No Man’s Land, but he's made short films before. including Recapture, a short documentary chronicling the attempt of right-wing activists…...

Interviews

April 25, 2018

Director Finds Real Life Superheroes with “Conviction”

Craig Phillips in Interviews

Filmmaker Jamie Meltzer, also the program director of the MFA program in Documentary Film at Stanford University, has made acclaimed films about a wide collection of topics, from song-poems to…...