The following is by Vonda Viland, principal of Black Rock Continuation High School in Yucca Valley in California's Mojave Desert, and subject of the documentary The Bad Kids. Viland's tireless work to…...
They Call Us Monsters goes behind the walls of the Compound, a high-security facility where Los Angeles houses its most violent juvenile criminals. To their advocates, they’re kids. To the system, they’re adults. To their victims, they’re monsters. The film follows three young offenders who… Read More
Champa V. Patel and Vasant V. Patel, the wise and witty parents of Ravi and Geeta, and their memorable co-stars in Meet the Patels, will never shy away from giving romantic advice when prompted (or sometimes unprompted). In these new videos exclusive to Independent Lens, mom Champa and dad… Read More
Located in an isolated and impoverished Mojave Desert community, Black Rock Continuation High School is one of California’s alternative schools for at-risk students. Every student there has fallen so far behind that they have little hope of earning a diploma at a traditional high school — Black Rock… Read More
Zackary Canepari and Drea Cooper's film T-Rex: Her Fight for Gold tells the story of Claressa "T-Rex" Shields, who at the 2012 London Olympics became the first American woman to win…...
The many global fans of our film Twin Sisters are constantly asking us for any kind of update on the twin girls featured in Mona Friis Bertheussen's popular documentary. After…...
On December 14, 2012, a disturbed young man committed a horrific mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut that took the lives of 20 elementary school children and six educators. Filmed over the course of nearly three years, Newtown uses deeply personal, never-before-heard testimonies to tell the story… Read More
TRAPPED goes to the front lines of the controversial battle currently being waged over so-called TRAP laws — Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers — which reproductive rights advocates believe are designed to restrict access to abortion. Told through the eyes of doctors, clinic owners, and staff in Alabama… Read More
June Cross, who has two national Emmys and two duPont-Columbia Journalism Awards to her credit and is the founder of the Documentary Program at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism,…...
When we left Lindsey Nebeker and Dave Hamrick in Autism in Love, they were joyously embracing after becoming engaged under the oak trees of Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia. We’re happy to report the pair officially joined hands in marriage back in October in Washington D.C. among a close group of family and… Read More
Not just a filmmaker but a trained anthropologist, Laura Pacheco has traveled the world to tell the stories of people overcoming the odds of their rough circumstances, including for the Emmy…...
Longtime documentary film writer, editor, and fundraiser Sophie Sartain decided to go personal for her directorial debut. Her film Mimi and Dona enters the world of Sophie's grandmother and developmentally disabled aunt, who after…...