Independent Lens

Historical explorations of gender inspired the first gay organization in the U.S.

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens film SEED: The Untold Story, Suman Khulko, a seed collector in a farming family in eastern India, tells how her brother insisted they use chemicals and hybrids to make their farm profitable, but the results were disastrous and tragic. Their hybrid seeds became

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens film T-Rex: Her Fight for Gold, Claressa "T-Rex" Shields and her coach Jason Crutchfield reminisce about how she first began as a boxer. Crutchfield first saw Shields box when she was all of 11 years old. Despite his reservations about girls

This short clip investigates the prevalence of HIV within the poor, black community in South Carolina and the difficulty of gaining access to health care.

Lacey Schwartz from Little White Lie, a documentary about her racial identity, spent her childhood believing she was white. As a college student, she discovered her father was black. This follow-up video shows Schwartz, now a mother, discussing her new-found sense of herself with two close friends.

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens film SEED: The Untold Story, we meet seed-obsessed botanical explorer Joseph Simcox, who, with his brother Patrick, shows us rare and precious seeds they've collected from all over. From Bolivia to Tanzania, Peru to West Virginia to Vietnam, Simcox has collected

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary Best and Most Beautiful Things, Michelle Smith, a legally blind young woman on autism spectrum, confronts a former teacher who meant well but had low expectations for Michelle's future. From her perspective the teacher saw her as someone with a

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens film The Witness, Bill Genovese watches as an actress recreates the moments leading up to his sister Kitty Genovese's death in the same part of Queens, New York in 1964. The actress's screams seem to fall on deaf ears

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens film Best and Most Beautiful Things, the legally blind Michelle gets more comfortable with her new boyfriend Michael, who gets her a flogger for Christmas. This is part of their adventurous exploration of BDSM and alternative lifestyles.

This excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary Containment takes a tour of the swampy area in Burke County, Georgia, adjacent to Savannah River Site nuclear facility. The distance separating the two is the width of the river itself. "No fishing" signs dot the area, and as one of

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary Containment that features graphic novel style animation, scientists and futurists explain different scenarios in which future peoples, and possibly visitors to planet Earth, need to be warned about our radioactive waste buried underground. Whether it's drilling robots or looting humans,

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens film Containment, two former Chairs of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission express concern about the safety of nuclear power and waste. And even for towns like Carlsbad, New Mexico, home of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), that did "want it,

In this excerpt from Independent Lens documentary The Witness, Bill Genovese, whose sister Kitty Genovese was murdered in Queens, New York in a notorious 1964 case that became front page news, returns to scene of the crime with Charlie Skoller, the prosecutor in Kitty's trial. In a peaceful

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary The Witness, Bill Genovese goes to the New York Office of Correctional Services to arrange a meeting (or confrontation) with the man -- Winston Moseley -- who murdered his sister Kitty Genovese in Queens, New York nearly 50 years ago. By meeting

The Prison in Twelve Landscapes premieres on PBS’s Independent Lens on Monday, May 8, 2017

In this scene from the Independent Lens film They Call Us Monsters, filmmaker Gabe Cowan introduces us to the screenwriting class he teaches to a group of incarcerated teen boys housed at a Los Angeles facility for juveniles tried as adults. While they can't physically leave, they can

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens film They Call Us Monsters, teenager Juan, who is incarcerated for 90 years-to-life for first degree murder, talks about the girl he's had a crush on since kindergarten and may never have a chance to tell her how he really feels

Jarad Nava is incarcerated for life for four attempted murders and is one of the boys featured in the Independent Lens film They Call Us Monsters, but in this excerpt from the film we get to know Yesenia, a 17-year old girl forever confined to a wheelchair after Jarad shot

Independent Lens is America’s home for documentaries, airing Mondays on PBS. Watch live or stream anytime on the PBS Video app.

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens film The Last Laugh, Holocaust survivor Renee Firestone talks about how her late husband missed some terrible things happening in the modern world, like 9/11, and Rwanda, which she visited. In Rwanda, she notes, 1 million Tutsis were murdered in just four

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens film The Last Laugh, writer/director/comedian Mel Brooks (who does his Hitler impression), director Rob Reiner and his dad Carl Reiner, and comedians Sarah Silverman and Judy Gold all talk about the importance of humor on taboo topics like the Holocaust. Gold

National Bird premieres on PBS’s Independent Lens on Monday, May 1, 2017.

National Bird premieres on PBS’s Independent Lens on Monday, May 1, 2017.

National Bird premieres on PBS’s Independent Lens on Monday, May 1, 2017.

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary Meet the Patels, Ravi Patel attends a wedding with his parents, who, much to Ravi's embarrassment, try to discretely (but not discretely) set him up with someone's daughter.

The Prison in Twelve Landscapes premieres on PBS’s Independent Lens on Monday, May 8, 2017

The Prison in Twelve Landscapes premieres on PBS’s Independent Lens on Monday, May 8, 2017

Dr. Angela Davis speaks with Hari Sreenivasen of the PBS NewsHour about a 1972 interview.

The Witness premieres on PBS’s Independent Lens on Monday, January 23, 2017.

No Más Bebés premieres on PBS’s Independent Lens on Monday, January 25, 2016.

Part of the "Sentencing Children" series about juvenile justice laws.

Sentencing Children: The Bill explores Tennessee's proposed juvenile justice reform law.

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens film The Last Laugh, Holocaust survivors Elly Gross and Renee Firestone take an indoor gondola ride at Las Vegas' Venetian Hotel serenaded by "Volare," but Elly admits she cannot enjoy it because she feels guilt for all those who did

Concerned that a teenager had been convicted in an adult court and sentenced to life in prison, lawyers appealed Cyntoia Brown's murder conviction in 2011 to challenge the fairness of the trial. They argued in a Nashville court that Cyntoia was herself a victim. Part of a 7-part

My Nazi Legacy premieres on PBS’s Independent Lens on Monday, May 2, 2016.

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary Best and Most Beautiful Things, Michelle Smith, a precocious young woman who is legally blind, shows how communicating in online communities makes her feel more equal, but going out into the real world is a lot more stressful — as she demonstrates when

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary Meet the Patels, Ravi Patel arrives in India for a trip with his parents, who are very eager for him to marry, and not so eager for him to date a white woman. As Ravi explains, everyone in his huge family have

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary Forever Pure, Dzhabrail Kadiyev and Zaur Sadayev, two young, Muslim soccer players who were brought over from Chechen to play for Beitar FC in Israel, begin training and are greeted angrily by a rowdy, anti-Muslim group of Beitar fans. "You brought

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary Forever Pure, we meet Arcadi Gaydamak, controversial Russian-Israeli billionaire owner of Israeli soccer team Beitar. Not much of a soccer fan, the team's influence was appealing to someone with designs on becoming mayor of Jerusalem. After Beitar won back-to-back Israeli

Ryan Abele's parents thought his frat brothers would look out for him. Instead, alleged hazing led to his death.

The tragic story of student George Desdunes is revisited from the perspective of his mother, a Haitian immigrant who made sacrifices to help her son go to college.

Autism in Love premieres on PBS’s Independent Lens on Monday, January 11, 2016.

When Black, Latinx and Southern white activists came together to form unlikely coalition.

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Available into perpetuity.

T-Rex: Her Fight for Gold premieres on PBS’s Independent Lens on Tuesday, August 2, 2016.

Did a song help free an incarcerated man?

Was this flick a prime example of Hollywood’s White Savior Complex?

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Free Chol Soo Lee co-directors share lunch with activists in L.A.'s Koreatown.

Get an inside look at Free Chol Soo Lee from Independent Lens.

A veteran shares their challenges with obtaining healthcare.

Werner Herzog interviews Ramin Bahrani about his documentary If Dreams Were Lightning.

What was that Korean-American journey like?

It's not always easy to spot the difference between facts and opinion.

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What are the challenges facing local journalists?

How a women-led newsroom blazed a trail for women's rights.

A mental health crisis has taken shape in our newsrooms.

America's three largest jails are also its three largest psychiatric treatment facilities.

At a Caribbean grocery in Brooklyn, the "island vibe" infuses the spirit of the neighborhood.

The family behind a Middle Eastern Brooklyn grocery makes a hearty mansaf meal.

Filipino food galore at Seafood City in Chicago is followed by the making of a crab torta feast.

This catchy, musical short chronicles the arbitrary system of race in the United States, which kept people who were not white in an ongoing battle of identity. See how immigrants had to play "race roulette" with a biased court system due to the Alien Naturalization Act of 1790,

Legendary Chicago comedy club Zanies, where anyone who’s anyone in standup (Seinfeld, Eddie Murphy, Kevin Hart) has appeared since 1978, is bringing out a new voice: Iranian American comic Sohrab Forouzesh.

Get to know Los Angeles native Christina Catherine Martinez, a fascinating hybrid standup who walks the line somewhere between traditional comedy, modern clown, and performance artist.

Legendary Atlanta comic Ian Aber takes the stage with jokes about growing up queer in the South.

Called "too much" her whole life, Austin comic Lea’h Sampson now embraces the "too much"-ness in her comedy. She confronts the challenges of life on the road while remaining her own true self, and of being a Black woman in a world where there

With comedy on lockdown, Haitian-born comedian Tanael Joachim a.k.a. TJ shows what it means to be a griot storyteller in Brooklyn. He wrestles with performing during a pandemic, whether "wokeness" is a thing, and mining comedy from being a fish out of water.

In this moving, animated short, poet Ashley M. Jones offers a lyrical historical account of Ann Williams, an enslaved Black woman who won her freedom in the 1830s. When faced with the torturous fate of being separated from her family and sold into Southern slavery, Williams took a literal leap

Acclaimed poet Sally Wen Mao narrates the animated history of Afong Moy, America’s first recorded Chinese woman. She was brought to America by merchants and was exhibited as a circus oddity in 1830s New York City. She was eventually managed and exploited by circus showman P.T. Barnum as

A wild hog hunt in the Ozarks leads to an unexpectedly vulnerable dialogue between Iranian American filmmaker Andy Sarjahani and his childhood friend Bubba as they navigate a polarized world. As their paths diverged in the increasingly anti-Middle Eastern years after 9/11, Andy's journey of self-examination tries

Oil painter Samir Khurshid's work reflects his tumultuous Iraq childhood and refugee life.

The Brodies take a tour of reminiscence with an old acquaintance in Jamaica.

Survivors of subway harassment share their stories in hopes of changing the stigma.

An imagined space run by formerly incarcerated women for comfort and healing.

The Brodies retrace routes and reconnect with family gone but not forgotten in Jamaica.

The richly obsessive life and work of a renowned autistic artist comes to life.

A transgender woman comes out to her old-school Ohio bowling league.

Both sons of migrant farm workers, Salinas, CA teacher Oscar Ramos mentors Jose Ansaldo.

Get to know Eastern Shoshone tribal elder Philbert McLeod, star of What Was Ours.

How hard is it to run a taxi service in Kingston, Jamaica? The Brodie brothers find out.

Don and Ron head from Kingston to rural Jamaica, for cooler temps and good fishing.

A filmmaker's brother opens up about his recovery from opioid use disorder.

Two fronteriza women live in two cultures at the same time along the U.S.-Mexico border.

University of Texas students can now legally carry loaded handguns on campus.

Ahead of Her Time: Government Official Approved Same-Sex Marriage Licenses -- in 1975

Sophie Sartain's film about her son, who was diagnosed with Asperger's, a form of autism.

An optimistic Salinas 14-year-old dreams of college amidst deportation worries.

What do truckers and tandooris have in common? Actor Rupak Ginn finds out.

Porters deliver precious cargo across the U.S.-Mexico border to keep families connected.

The bonds between a deaf father and his hearing, formerly incarcerated daughter deepen.

Snuggle up.

A filmmaker seeks a cure for her climate anxiety with eco-therapy.

For residents of an LGBTQ+ retirement home, “senior” prom takes on a whole new meaning.

Pani puri, pakoras, and… pageants? Indian food in Southern Virginia.

Rupak honors his mom's Maharashtrian heritage in New Jersey and with mom in New York.

Rupak Ginna goes home to LA for Desi street delicacies and grocery store comfort food.

A former ballet prodigy finds refuge in his alter ego, a Russian ballet instructor.

A support group for men who served time inside Louisiana's Angola State Pen.

A young woman feels pressure to plead guilty while kept waiting in jail for 60 days.

What's the first 24 hours after you're arrested like?