1971
A group of ordinary citizens broke into a small FBI office in Pennsylvania in 1971 and shared with the world their findings on COINTELPRO, the FBI’s illegal surveillance program. Now, they tell their story publicly for the first time. Read More
Interviews
May 18, 2015
Johanna Hamilton Goes Back to 1971 to Find Burglars Who Revealed Illegal FBI Spying
Craig Phillips in
1971: A year before the Watergate scandal sent shockwaves through the United States, with no end in sight to the Vietnam War, and anti-war protests intensifying. In that same year a group of ordinary…...
May 14, 2015
Nine Movies about American Radicals
Independent Lens in Lists
By Noel Murray There’s something deeply and inherently provocative in movies that tell stories about open rebellion against the United States government, because they force us to think harder about…...
The Great Invisible
Crew members, families, fishermen, and others still haunted by the Deepwater Horizon explosion provide gripping first-hand accounts of their experience in a disaster that had tragic repercussions up and down the Gulf Coast and beyond. Read More
Little Hope Was Arson
A plague of arson in East Texas that saw 10 churches burn to the ground in 2010 ignited the largest criminal investigation in the area’s history, involving local law enforcement, Texas Rangers, and the ATF. Read More
Lists
January 19, 2015
Moral Dilemmas in 10 War Films
Craig Phillips in Lists
The central dilemma in Dan Krauss's Independent Lens documentary The Kill Team is grappled with by an American soldier in Afghanistan who found members of his platoon were committing immoral war crimes, and wanted…...
The Kill Team
The Kill Team goes behind closed doors for the story of Specialist Adam Winfield, a 21-year-old infantryman in Afghanistan who attempted to alert the military to heinous war crimes his platoon was committing but was then charged with murder. Read More
Interviews
January 15, 2015
Dan Krauss Investigates The Kill Team
Craig Phillips in Interviews
Filmmaker Dan Krauss, who was nominated for an Academy Award and two Emmys for his first feature, The Death of Kevin Carter, was on the Oscar shortlist for his latest documentary The…...
Test Your Knowledge
January 09, 2015
Evolution of a Criminal: Juvenile Justice Quiz
Craig Phillips in Test Your Knowledge
Alongside the PBS documentary Evolution of a Criminal, we thought it'd be interesting to dig a little deeper into the topic of juvenile criminality in America. To step back for…...
Lists
January 05, 2015
American Dreaming: Small Towns Through the Movies
Craig Phillips in Lists
Rich Hill is a new example of a realistic portrayal of a small American town, through the eyes of three young residents and their struggling families, but the fascination with (capital…...
Powerless
In Kanpur, India, a city with 15-hour power outages, an outlaw electrician provides Robin Hood-style services to the poor. Meanwhile, the first female chief of the electricity utility company is on a mission to dismantle the illegal connections for good. Read More
Brakeless
What led the driver of a Japanese commuter train to speed dangerously, causing a deadly crash? Brakeless investigates this tragic case and whether Japanese society’s pursuit of efficiency at all costs was in part to blame. Read More
