Beyond the Films
May 16, 2023
From Mothers’ Pensions to Welfare Queens, Debunking Myths about Welfare
Independent Lens in Beyond the Films
By Lennlee Keep A common mindset through modern American history is that people living in poverty simply don't want to work.¹ For decades, politicians have used programs like food stamps, unemployment,…...
Interviews
March 27, 2023
Telling the Story of Keeping the Secret Nüshu Language Alive
Craig Phillips in Behind the Films
"Besides a well, one does not thirst. Besides a sister, one does not despair." — Nüshu poem Inspired by a bestselling book that featured Nüshu, filmmaker Violet Du Feng was…...
Watch Video
February 23, 2023
6 Documentaries About the Black Experience
Independent Lens in Independent Film
Add these Independent Lens docs to your must-watch list. The Big Payback Directed by Erika Alexander and Whitney Dow Outta The Muck Directed by Ira McKinley and Bhawin Suchak The Picture…...
Interviews
January 17, 2023
From Podcast to Doc: Erika Alexander and Whitney Dow on Their Reparation Collaboration
Craig Phillips in Behind the Films
Will the burden to make restitution for Black Americans ever be addressed, or is it too late for a reparations movement to finally happen? That question is at the center…...
Beyond the Films
September 13, 2022
The Psychology of Groupthink and the Desperate, Dangerous Desire for Social Acceptance
Craig Phillips in Beyond the Films
There's a slippery slope in the climb toward social acceptance. Why do people do what they do to be part of something, not just in college environments but in foreign…...
Children of Las Brisas
Storming Caesars Palace
The Picture Taker
From his Memphis studio,… Read More
Folk Frontera
Far West Texas is a place where local folklore looms as large as the landscape. Two fronteriza women—one a public radio music show host, the other a Mariachi and folklórico dancer—live in two cultures at the same time, as they struggle to find their place in the vast Chihuahuan Desert. Read More
Interviews
May 03, 2022
A Path to Forgiveness Complicated by Race and Justice: A Conversation with Claude Motley and Brad Lichtenstein
Craig Phillips in Behind the Films
Filmmaker Brad Lichtenstein was nominated for a News & Documentary Emmy Award for the Independent Lens/PBS film As Goes Janesville, which was about a blue-collar town struggling to renew itself.…...
Beyond the Films
May 02, 2022
A Wild Two Years Since ‘Try Harder’: What You Need to Know About Lowell High School
Independent Lens in Beyond the Films
By Holly McDede Bay Area filmmaker Debbie Lum’s documentary Try Harder! captures the unnerving pressure facing seniors at San Francisco’s elite Lowell High School, where students need high grades and…...