Independent Lens

"WE WANT THE FUNK!" is Stanley Nelson's syncopated voyage through the history of funk music, spanning from African, soul, and early jazz roots, to its rise into the public consciousness. Featuring James Brown's dynamism, George Clinton's extraterrestrial Parliament Funkadelic, transformed girl group Labelle, and Fela Kuti's Afrobeat, the story also traces funk's influences on new wave and hip-hop.

Home Court is the coming-of-age story of Ashley Chea, a Cambodian American basketball prodigy in Southern California whose life intensifies as recruitment heats up. As she overcomes injury as well as racial and class differences between her home and private school worlds, in peer groups, and against rival schools, Ashley strives to become her own person and leave a legacy behind.

After several health crises, a 70-year-old man embarks on a transformative long-distance cycling trip with his son.

A filmmaker reckons with Brazil's inequality when learning unhoused people occupy her father's architectural jewel.

In tribute to the brother she lost, a filmmaker returns home to reflect on life on the U.S.-Mexico border.

How a small hunger strike against solitary confinement at Pelican Bay prison turned into a massive statewide protest.

Thirteen years after leaving South Dakota, a Lakota dancer returns to the reservation to carry on the family legacy.

An insider's look at the rise and fall of the NFT (non-fungible token) phenomenon and how technology transformed the traditional art world, for better and worse. Featuring verité footage and candid interviews with groundbreaking artists—like Beeple, Latasha Alcindor, and Loish— at the center of this phenomenon, Minted delves into the complex world of the $40 billion NFT digital art market.

Featuring intimate stories of workers and young people—the chief medical examiner, a hospital worker, an auto body shop owner, and a high school senior—who all in their own ways make Dallas what it is, the final episode of Dallas, 2019 poses the question: What does it mean to be alive?

Meet a criminal district attorney bringing reform to an ineffectual yet functional incarceration system; a judge navigating the stress and expectations of upholding laws adversely affecting the very communities she comes from; the unapologetic owner of the largest bail bonds company in Dallas; and a community organizer with a mighty voice and warrior spirit.

Three spirits with longstanding Texas roots struggle with their place in the world: a transgender woman working at an LGBTQ organization lives her full truth; a Dallas County Court commissioner has given 40 years of his life to his work but questions his role and identity; and the director of Health and Human Services wrestles with his new role while reflecting on his Asian American roots.

Dreaming of a brighter future through the eyes of three people: a graduating high school student prepares to navigate the real world; Dallas Superintendent Michael Hinojosa reflects on sacrifices he's made in his career for a failing system; and Dallas County Sheriff Marian Brown looks for respect while questioning the future of law enforcement amidst a seemingly endless cycle of incarceration.

Tornados. Drive-by shootings. Environmental racism, The stark North-South Dallas economic divide. Dallas residents and city workers like City Manager T.C. Broadnax respond to the causal effects of natural and human-caused disasters while navigating a city in crisis.

A Marine veteran hand-carves battlefield crosses to reconnect with Gold Star families of the fallen and find healing.

Why does the U.S. have the Electoral College? Learn more following four presidential electors during the 2020 election.

A crew of 12 Mexican tree planters travel the United States regrowing America's forests.

There is a mental health crisis happening for many American farmers. A combination of climate change, the pandemic, and the domination of megafarms have contributed to increasing economic uncertainty and isolation. Following four family farms in the Midwest over several years, the documentary Greener Pastures is a story of perseverance and survival within the farming industry in the heartland.

Liberty City, Miami, is home to one of the oldest segregated public housing projects in the U.S. Now with rising sea levels, the neighborhood's higher ground has become something else: real estate gold. Wealthy property owners push inland to higher ground, creating a speculators' market in the historically Black neighborhood previously ignored by developers and policy-makers alike.

In Palm Springs, a historically Black neighborhood fights to remove a divisive wall of trees.

When arson strikes the local mosque, a Texas town must reckon with its troubled past.

When arson strikes the local mosque, a Texas town must reckon with its troubled past.

Muslim chaplains work for change inside the U.S. military, fighting for equality and religious freedom.

An unlikely collaboration changes the course of forensic science and international human rights.

The life story of an incarcerated young man, told through dramatic reenactments.

The rollercoaster life story of Chol Soo Lee, a Korean immigrant wrongfully convicted of murder.

For centuries in China, the once-secret written language of Nüshu was calligraphed on folded fans and handkerchiefs as hidden letters so women could share stories and express solidarity in a repressive era when many women were denied literacy. Confronting patriarchy, two modern women find solace in Nüshu, rediscovering connections between traditional Chinese womanhood and contemporary feminism.

After losing her job as a hotel worker in Las Vegas, Ruby Duncan joined a welfare rights group of mothers who defied notions of the "welfare queen." In a fight for guaranteed income, Ruby and other equality activists took on the Nevada mob in organizing a massive protest that shut down Caesars Palace.

As fentanyl overdose deaths in Vancouver, Canada reach an all-time high, the Overdose Prevention Society opens its doors—a renegade safe injection site that employs current or former drug users. Its staff and volunteers save lives and give hope to a marginalized community, doing whatever it takes to remain open in this intimate documentary that looks beyond the stigma of injection drug users.

Wade into the rich soil of Pahokee, Florida, a town on the banks of Lake Okeechobee. Beyond its football legacy, including sending over a dozen players to the NFL (like Anquan Boldin, Fred Taylor, and Rickey Jackson), the fiercely self-determined community tells their stories of Black achievement and resilience in the face of tragic storms and personal trauma.

The vibrant life of Ernest Withers—civil rights photographer, and FBI informant—was anything but black and white. From his Memphis studio, Withers' nearly 2 million images were a treasured record of Black history but his legacy was complicated by decades of secret FBI service revealed only after his death. Was he a friend of the civil rights community, or enemy—or both?

When Alison Bechdel received a coveted MacArthur Award for her best-selling graphic memoir Fun Home, it heralded the acceptance of LGBTQ+ comics in American culture. From DIY underground comix scene to mainstream acceptance, meet five smart and funny queer comics artists whose uncensored commentary left no topic untouched and explored art as a tool for social change.

Robin Rue Simmons and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) pressure the government to deliver monetary justice for Blacks harmed by chattel slavery, systemic injustice and corporate exploitation.

Young musicians in a youth orchestra in Venezuela's Las Brisas district strive for a better life through classical music.

At 27, Kelsey Peterson dove into Lake Superior as a dancer and emerged paralyzed. But within the Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) community, she found allies in her quest to discover who she is now and to dance with disability. When a cutting-edge trial surfaces, it tests her expectations of a possible cure. She finds herself both scared it might not work—and scared that it might.

What does it mean to be a digital native? TikTok, Boom. dissects the platform along myriad cross-sections—algorithmic, socio-political, economic, and cultural—to explore the impact of the history-making app. Balancing a genuine interest with healthy skepticism, delve into the security issues, global political challenges, and racial biases behind the platform.

Hazing is a widespread, far-reaching practice fueled by tradition, secrecy, groupthink, power, and the desire to belong in fraternities and sororities on college campuses across the U.S. Filmmaker Byron Hurt embarks on a deeply personal journey to understand the underground rituals of hazing, revealing the abuse and the lengths college students will go to fit in.

What is the science behind consciousness? Six brilliant researchers from around the world—a brain scientist, a plant behaviorist, a healer, a philosophy professor, a psychedelics scientist, and a Buddhist monk—take you on a mind-blowing quest to investigate this seemingly unsolvable mystery.

Is the "American Dream" of home ownership a false promise? While the government's postwar housing policy created the world's largest middle class, it also set America on two divergent paths – one of perceived wealth and the other of systematically defunded, segregated communities.

The deadliest part of a migrant's journey is just beyond the border. For those missing, one man offers a last hope. 

A white filmmaker collaborates with Clemente Course students of color to reckon with Boston's racial history. 

"Kill the Indian in him, and save the man." This was the guiding principle that removed thousands of Native American children and placed them in Indian boarding schools. Among the many who died at Carlisle Indian Industrial School were three Northern Arapaho boys. Now, more than a century later, tribal members journey from Wyoming to Pennsylvania to help them finally come home.

75-year-old Rebecca loses the only job she's even known. She has no savings, no 401K safety net, and no employment prospects. Rebecca teams up with son Sian-Pierre to take the trip of a lifetime, one bucket list adventure at a time. Her journey uncovers the economic insecurity faced by millions of Americans.

Does American democracy survive without the backbone of independent local journalism? Go inside The Storm Lake Times, a newspaper serving an Iowa town that has seen its fair share of changes in the 40 years since Big Agriculture came to the area. Pulitzer-winning editor Art Cullen and his family dedicate themselves to keeping the paper alive as local journalism across the country dies out.

How does a father find purpose in pain? In 2014, Michael Brown Sr.'s son was killed by white police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri, an event that fueled the global Black Lives Matter movement. But his personal story seeking justice and healing has not been told until now.

Pastors encourage an impoverished community to donate to Israel in anticipation of Jesus's return.

In an increasingly data-driven, automated world, the question of how to protect individuals' civil liberties in the face of artificial intelligence looms larger by the day. Coded Bias follows M.I.T. Media Lab computer scientist Joy Buolamwini and her Algorithmic Justice League, along with data scientists, mathematicians, and watchdog groups from all over the world, as they fight to expose the discrimination within facial recognition algorithms now prevalent across all spheres of daily life. Join the fight to expose threats to civil liberties posed by our new data-driven, automated world. 

Mr. SOUL! explores the first nationally broadcast all-Black variety show on public television, Ellis Haizlip's SOUL! 

Female Minneapolis police officers seek gender equity. A fatal shooting threatens their progress.

On July 4, 2017, more than 90 film crews across the country capture one day in the life of America.

Hear the horrifying truth about modern-day eugenics and reproductive injustice in California prison.

Follow Jonathan Scott on his mission to flip the switch on how Americans access power.

Meet three women fighting to reshape local politics on their own terms.

Follow artist Matt Furie, creator of Pepe the Frog, as he fights to take back his cartoon image.

The story of one warmhearted, stubborn man's visionary quest to find a cure for cancer, Jim Allison: Breakthrough is an homage to an unconventional superhero — a pioneering, harmonica-playing scientist from a small town in Texas who triumphed over a doubtful medical establishment to save innumerable lives around the world and win the Nobel Prize.

Brett Story's critically acclaimed documentary The Hottest August raises the specter of climate change without ever mentioning it, spotlighting ordinary New Yorkers as they share their anxieties about what the future holds while bracing for what could be one of the hottest months on record.

A psychiatrist visits ERs, jails and homeless camps to tell poignant stories behind mental illness.

Explore the untold history and rippling impact of China's former one-child policy.

Always in Season follows the tragedy of African American teenager Lennon Lacy, who in August 2014, was found hanging from a swing set in North Carolina. His death was ruled a suicide, but Lennon's mother and family believe he was lynched. The film chronicles her quest to learn the truth and takes a closer look at the lingering impact of more than a century of lynching African Americans.

Witness Creationism and science collide aboard an enormous Noah's Ark in rural Kentucky.

Cooked: Survival by Zip Code tells the story of the tragic 1995 Chicago heatwave, the most traumatic in U.S. history, in which 739 citizens died over the course of just a single week, most of them poor, elderly, and African American. Cooked is a story about life, death, and the politics of crisis in an American city that asks the question: Was this a one-time tragedy, or an appalling trend?

Notable community groups in 1960s Chicago bridge race and ethnicity to form a surprising alliance.

A Somalian father living in the U.S. strives to understand why his son would try to join ISIS.

The Interpreters is a poignant but tense portrayal of a very human and high-stakes side of war's aftermath. It's the story of how Afghan and Iraqi interpreters risked their lives aiding American troops--but then became the people we left behind and are now in danger themselves.

Discover why the Bronx burned in the 1970s and meet those who chose to resist, remain and rebuild.

Go inside the lives of four surrogates and the intended parents whose children they carry.

Meet the rural doctors trying to care for patients amidst a physician shortage and opioid epidemic.

Meet three of the estimated one in 14 American children growing up with a parent in prison.

For young Chinese raised on social media, virtual relationships are replacing real-life connections.

Visit Hale County, Alabama for an intimate and eye-opening look at life in the South's Black Belt.

Meet the people who reproduce, consume and seek to reclaim black memorabilia.

Climb into Elvis' 1963 Rolls-Royce for a musical road trip and meditation on modern America.

Take an electrifying look at the Native American influence in popular music, despite attempts to ban, censor and erase Indian culture.

Go deep in the bayous where locals face invasive pests. Man vs. rodent: may the best mammal win.

See North Dakota's oil boom through the lens of a family fighting to save their way of life.

Meet the white preacher who set himself on fire to bring awareness to the racism in his Texas town.

Meet the first woman judge to be appointed to the Middle East's Shari'a courts.

Explore the shadow industry of "content moderators" and learn who controls what we see online.

Reveals the untold story and devastating impacts of Indigenous child removal in the U.S.

Meet a wildland firefighting crew whose members struggle with fear, loyalty, love and defeat.

Look & See: Wendell Berry's Kentuckyis a portrait of the changing landscapes and shifting values of rural America through the voice of writer, farmer, and activist Wendell Berry. Centered in his native Henry County, Kentucky,Look & Seeis an elegy to a lost way of life that was once the bedrock of America–the culture of agriculture.

Travel to West Virginia to uncover the truth behind a massive chemical spill.

Meet the unforgettable people who are turning the job of shoe shiner into an art form.

Explore the journey of Iranian musician Shahin Najafi after clerics issue a fatwa for his death.

Meet the indomitable Dolores Huerta, who has tirelessly led the fight for racial and labor justice.

Trace Baltimore's history through a film that uses rats to chronicle oppression in poor communities.

The rich history of America's Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) began before the end of slavery, flourished in the 20th century, and profoundly influenced the course of the nation for over 150 years — yet remains largely unknown. With Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities, the latest documentary from Stanley Nelson (Black Panthers, Freedom Riders) and Marco Williams, the powerful story of the rise, influence, and evolution of HBCUs comes to life.  A haven for Black intellectuals, artists, and revolutionaries — and a path of promise toward the American dream — HBCUs have educated the architects of freedom movements and cultivated leaders in every field while remaining unapologetically Black for more than 150 years. These institutions have nurtured some of the most influential Americans of our time, from Booker T. Washington to Martin Luther King, Jr., W.E.B. Du Bois to Ralph Ellison, Toni Morrison to Oprah Winfrey, Alice Walker to Spike Lee to Common. A key driver of Black social, political, and economic progress, HBCUs were also a place of unprecedented freedom for African American students and a refuge from the rampant racism raging outside the campus walls. Tell Them We Are Rising captures this important history to tell the dynamic story of Americans who refused to be denied a higher education and — in their resistance — created a set of institutions that would influence and shape the landscape of the country for centuries to come.

Explore the life of Winnie Mandela and her struggle to bring down apartheid.

Join Chinese filmmaker Nanfu Wang and a charming young drifter as they explore freedom and America.

Go deep inside the long-troubled Oakland Police Department as it struggles with demands for reform.

Explore James Baldwin's unfinished book about race in America in this Oscar-nominated documentary.

Follow filmmaker Jennifer Brea's struggle with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in this intimate film.

Meet Naomi, an Orthodox Jewish girl with a surprising talent: breaking world powerlifting records.

Explore the billion-dollar global arms trade through those who perpetrate and investigate it.

Explore the life of jazz great John Coltrane; Denzel Washington speaks the words of Coltrane.

Explore how the tentacles of America's criminal justice system reach far beyond the prison walls.

Investigate the U.S. drone war with two women and a former NSA analyst who become whistleblowers.

Hear Jewish comics discuss whether any topic - even the Holocaust - should be off-limits in comedy.

Follow passionate seed keepers determined to protect humanity's 12,000-year-old food legacy.

Explore the aftermath and resilience of a community devastated by the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook.

Join the East LA bike crew Ovarian Psycos and explore the impact of their unique brand of feminism.

Visit a remote Mojave Desert high school where educators help at-risk students build better futures.

Explore the deadly 1966 mass shooting at the University of Texas through interviews with survivors.

Meet an African American musician out to challenge racism by befriending members of the KKK.

Learn how Griffith's 1915 The Birth of a Nation sparked a dialogue on racism that continues today.

Get a fresh look at the notorious 1964 murder of Kitty Genovese, a crime that defined an era.

Join a group of Native Americans as they embark on a journey to reclaim lost tribal artifacts.

Governments around the world struggle to protect future generations from nuclear waste; excerpt from "Uranium Drive-In.''

Join a quirky young woman on a journey of self-discovery that celebrates outcasts everywhere.

Explore the influence of culture and identity on an intense, personal, important part of life - love.

The debates between Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley during the 1968 political conventions.

Few dancers reach the elite level of ballet; of that already small number only a fraction are black women. Misty Copeland shattered those barriers in 2015, making history as the first African American principal dancer with the prestigious American Ballet Theatre (ABT).A Ballerina's Tale intimately documents Copeland's historic rise while shining a light on the absence of women of color at major ballet companies. The film also explores how ballet's emphasis on waifish bodies impacts the health of ballerinas while sending a negative message to young fans.

The history of Mexican-American women who were sterilized against their will during the 1960s and '70s at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center.

Polynesian-American high-school football players in Utah aim for careers in pro sports while dealing with day-to-day gang violence and poverty.

Four adults with varying degrees of autism navigate dating, romance and relationships.

A black market VHS racketeer and a female translator bring the magic of film to Romanians during the 1980s.

Born in Mexico but living in Salinas, California, 3rd-grader Jose Ansaldo loves school. With little support at home, he turns to his teacher, Oscar Ramos, who like Jose was born the son of migrant farm workers, and who inspires him to imagine a life beyond the fields. Jose dutifully finishes his math homework before eating dinner or watching TV. He's anxious to get good grades so he can join the class field trip to the beach — a place he's never been despite living on the California coast. Follow Jose's quest for a better life away from the rough streets of LA.

A 92-year-old woman, still caring for her 64-year-old disabled daughter, realizes it is time to find her daughter a new home.

The rape and murder of a 23-year-old medical student in Delhi, India, sparks an international movement.

Cameras follow an unconventional veteran of the Vietnam War as he rides his motorcycle with fellow servicemen to the Vietnam Memorial and runs a business with his wife while contending with the conflict's legacy and reaching out to others.

Follow three ambitious Chicago teens who fight to stay in school, graduate and build a future.

See how the burning of 10 churches ignited the largest criminal investigation in East Texas history.

See what happens when a filmmaker unlocks a powerful family secret about her real father's identity.

Explore the power of unconscious biases, using Myrdal's 1944 investigation of Jim Crow racism.

Sequel to the series based on Half the Sky, as Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn track stories of women overcoming gender-based oppression, sexual violence and sex trafficking

Learn about a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan who tried to alert military to war crimes committed by his platoon.

Witness the challenges, hopes and dreams of three boys in an economically depressed Missouri town.

See how television may affect a Bhutanese child isolated from commerce, materialism and celebrity.

See a man who provides illegal electrical services in India and the woman trying to dismantle them.

Examine the Japanese pursuit of efficiency, even at the expense of safety.

Examine the inextricable bond between adopted twins reared apart.

Get an unflinching look at the effects of bullying on the lives of five kids and their families.

Follow a down-but-not-out basketball team whose struggles parallel its town's fight for survival.

Follow the Mexican-American girls who help preserve the Martha Washington debutante ball in Laredo.

Learn about a spy agency formed by the state of Mississippi in the 50s-60s to preserve segregation.

Witness the tense emotions and complex realities behind Arizona's struggle with illegal immigration.

Trace Rocky Braat's journey from America to India, where he devotes his life to HIV-infected orphans.

Go back to school in Frederick Wiseman's intimate and sprawling documentary about UC Berkeley.

Watch two young playwrights, African- and Indian-American, create a new language for the stage.

View the healthcare system through the eyes of those stuck in an ER waiting room in Oakland.

Follow the personal journey of Arnel Pineda, of the rock band Journey, on a whirlwind world tour.

Meet the Arizonans who try to identify the bodies of illegal crossers lost in the desert.

See how President Mohamed Nasheed is trying to prevent the drowning of 385,000 Maldivians.

Explore the human-rights implications of the nation's least winnable war-the war on drugs.

Learn about the life and work of celebrated Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei.

Follow Whitney Young's journey from segregated Kentucky to head of the National Urban League.

Learn why the textbook tempest in Texas is jeopardizing the next generation's education.

Enter the world of artist Wayne White, an iconic auteur of the weird, the silly and the joyfully absurd.

Learn about soul food's relevance to black cultural identity.

Witness the economic disparities faced by New Yorkers only minutes from one another as the crow flies.

Explore India's Barefoot College, which gives impoverished women skills to change their communities.

Experience the struggles and triumphs of Gene Robinson, the first openly gay elected bishop.