June 09, 2020
How Do You Sort Through 70,000 Videotapes?
Craig Phillips in Behind the Films
The San Jose (CA) native, New York City-based filmmaker Matt Wolf is no stranger to having to comb through archival footage for his documentaries. His film Wild Combination, about the…...
April 12, 2020
Rural Perspective on Mental Health Care in a Time of Crisis
Independent Lens in Beyond the Films
by Rooney Elmi Kenneth Paul Rosenberg MD’s Bedlam profiles of one of the most pervasive and stigmatized public health crises: mental illness. Taking its titular inspiration from the infamous English…...
April 08, 2020
“My Family’s Tragedy Is an American Tragedy”: Bedlam Filmmaker’s Journey to Depict Mental Health Crisis
Craig Phillips in Beyond the Films
In his film Bedlam, Kenneth Paul Rosenberg, MD follows the lives of three patients who find themselves with a chronic lack of institutional support, while he also weaves in his…...
April 08, 2020
Enter to Win a Copy of “Bedlam: An Intimate Journey into America’s Mental Health Crisis”
Independent Lens in Contests
Looking for your next great read? Bedlam: An Intimate Journey into America's Mental Health Crisis by Bedlam filmmaker Kenneth Paul Rosenberg, MD, sheds light on the mental-health-care crisis in the…...
April 06, 2020
Peer Support and the Complexity of Mental Health
Independent Lens in Beyond the Films
By Lennlee Keep The film Bedlam explores mental illness from the perspectives of physicians, politicians, parents, and patients themselves. The power of documentary film is that it generates conversations about…...
March 26, 2020
This Couple Finds Answers for Adopted Daughters From China
Craig Phillips in Beyond the Films
Brian and Long Lan Stuy are a Utah couple who have adopted three daughters from China: Meikina from DianBai, Meigon from Guangzhou, and Meilan from Luoyang. After discovering that documentation…...
March 25, 2020
Nanfu Wang’s Riveting Personal Story Probes Impact of One-Child Policy
Craig Phillips in Behind the Films
Taking risks is nothing new for Chinese filmmaker Nanfu Wang. Her previous documentary I Am Another You, which was a SXSW Jury Award-winner and aired on Independent Lens, involved her…...
February 20, 2020
As American as the Blues: Lynching in Film and TV
Independent Lens in Beyond the Films
By Ade Adeniji Always in Season explores the history of lynching through the mysterious 2014 death of Lennon Lacy while also looking at historical reenactments of lynching, prompting some to…...
February 20, 2020
Filmmaker Explores First Steps Toward Justice and Reconciliation
Craig Phillips in Behind the Films
Independent filmmaker Jacqueline Olive, who has worked in non-fiction filmmaking for years and co-directed and co-produced the award-winning hour-long documentary, Black to Our Roots (PBS WORLD), makes her feature documentary…...
February 19, 2020
Billie Holiday’s Searing “Strange Fruit” Still Has the Power to Startle
Independent Lens in Beyond the Films
By Nick Dedina There are often false narratives we tell ourselves so that we can simplify, and beautify, the past and erase aspects of the present that we are uncomfortable…...
February 05, 2020
The One-Child Policy Legacy on Women and Relationships in China
Independent Lens in Beyond the Films
By Kristal Sotamayor The one-child policy was introduced to China in 1979, written into the national constitution in 1982, and subsequently ended in 2015. Over the 36 years of the…...
February 05, 2020
Filmmakers Follow Women in China Trying to Overcome Stigma of Being Single
Craig Phillips in Behind the Films
Israeli filmmakers Shosh Shlam and Hilla Medalia have had films air on international television as well as here in the U.S. on HBO, MTV, Sundance, and PBS (Medalia has received…...