Independent Lens

Phil Sharp’s RNA breakthrough sparked a revolution in science, health, and biotech.

An elusive photographer uses street art tactics to share his previously unknown work with the world.

See how the Philippines' tense race for president in 2022 became the nation's fight for its soul.

An intimate portrayal of three families confronting the unique challenges of Alzheimer’s.

The story of how public libraries came to be free and open for all Americans—and remain so.

The dynamic story of funk music, from early roots to the explosion of '70s urban funk to influences.

Get ready for our upcoming documentaries premiering this Spring.

The coming-of-age story and rise of Ashley Chea, a Cambodian American basketball prodigy.

Father and son bond on an ambitious 350-mile bike ride in this portrait of familial love.

A filmmaker learns her architect father’s iconic design in São Paulo is occupied by unhoused people.

Following her brother's death, a filmmaker returns home to reflect on fronterizo life in Texas.

A hunger strike against solitary confinement at Pelican Bay prison became a massive feat of unity.

Watch Independent Lens on the PBS app.

Interwoven stories cover life in the city of Dallas, Texas.

After 13 years, a Lakota man returns to his reservation to reconnect with his family and culture.

Digital artists gaining global fame after embracing NFTs face a reckoning as it crashes around them.

A veteran uses hand-carved battlefield crosses to reconnect with families of fallen, fellow Marines.

A wild hog hunt in the Ozarks leads to an unexpectedly vulnerable dialogue.

Watch Independent Lens on the PBS app.

Unravel the complexities of the Electoral College through four 2020 presidential electors.

The role and meaning of sound is explored in an unconventional documentary experience.

The grueling journey to Mars.

Get early access with PBS Passport.

He sued police over 75 times. Now he’s the D.A. Can his team make change from the inside?

Two women investigate a shocking pattern of illegal sterilizations in women’s prisons.

They couldn’t kill their bosses, so they did the next best thing — they organized.

Mr. SOUL! explores the first nationally broadcast all-Black variety show on public TV.

July 4th, 2017: 92 film crews, 24 hours, a snapshot of a nation on the verge of upheaval.

Meet the NFL's most exploited athletes — the cheerleaders.

She made a split-second decision that changed everything.

The death of Longoria tore a Texas town apart and sparked a civil rights movement.

Follow Jessie Little Doe's tireless efforts to bring her tribal language back to life.

On Wilson Creek, neighbors grapple with a tough choice: saving land or livelihood?

Follow the rise of a young slam poet who finds her voice through American Sign Language.

Watch "Revenge of the Electric Car" - April 19, 2012 (check local listings)

It's under our feet and under our fingernails, but what is it?

Watch online from February 16 - 22, 2011!

Follow three, homeless teenagers as they struggle to survive on the streets of Haiti.

Watch Facing the Storm - premiering April 26, 2012 (check local listings)

Airs Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT. Check your local listings.

What do The Sound of Music, Blazing Saddles, and E.T. have in common?

In the age of intellectual property, can you own a sound?

Get Inspired by the Arts on Independent Lens

Watch Precious Knowledge - premiering May 17, 2012 (check local listings)

Watch Summer Pasture - premiering May 10, 2012 (check local listings)

Most Indians don't ride horses or wear feathers, but in the movies, they always do.

The Invisible War premieres May 13, 2013 at 10pm (check local listings)

Meet the people exploring the intersection between art and science with origami.

The film festival in your living room is back!

Life in a small town is anything but small.

Hell and Back Again - airing May 28, 2012 (check local listings)

Watch Left by the Ship - premiering May 24, 2012 (check local listings)

See Being Elmo - airing April 5 & 9, 2012 at 9pm (check local listings)

Watch "Have You Heard From Johannesburg" premiering in January 2012

Su muerte creo el campo para la lucha por los derechos civiles de los mexicano americanos.

It takes a true calling to make faith a way of life.

Watch Circo - premiering May 3, 2012 (check local listings)

A couple of modest means builds a world-class, contemporary art collection.

Watch Detropia - Premiering May 27 at 10 (check local listings)

In the midst of mid-life crises, an all-male synchronized swim team is born.

A food blogger cooks up his family's garnachas recipe after a jaunt to a Latin American grocery.

A family-run grocery in New Jersey brings people from all over for delectable treats from Italy.

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

Camp Widow is a place for widowed people to find both camaraderie and unexpected joy.

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.

Catchy, musical short chronicles the 175-year-long arbitrary system of race in America.

Iranian American comic Sohrab Forouzesh gets his big break: headlining Chicago's legendary Zanies.

L.A.'s Christina Catherine Martinez is a bewitching hybrid of standup, 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's Lea’h Sampson now embraces her true self in her standup.

Haitian-born, Brooklyn-based comic Tanael Joachim mines comedy from being a fish out of water.

The powerful story of an enslaved woman who sued and won her family’s freedom in 1832.

How America's first Chinese woman was exhibited and exploited as a circus oddity in 1830s New York.

An Ozarks wild hog hunt leads to a vulnerable reunion for an Iranian American and childhood friend.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Snuggle up.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?