Independent Lens
Season 19
201720 episodes
Episode 1
Chasing Trane
Nov 6, 20171h
Set against the social, political and cultural landscape of the times, Chasing Trane brings saxophone great John Coltrane to life, as a man and an artist. The film is the definitive look at the boundary-shattering musician whose influence continues to this day.
Episode 2
Shadow World
Nov 20, 20171h
Explore the shocking realities of the billion-dollar global arms trade through those who perpetrate and investigate it.
Episode 3
Supergirl
Dec 18, 20171h
A profile of a seemingly ordinary Orthodox Jewish preteen from New Jersey whose extraordinary talent—breaking world powerlifting records—has turned her into an international phenomenon.
Episode 4
The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin
Jan 1, 20181h
A profile of "Tales of the City" creator Armistead Maupin, including his evolution from a conservative son of the Old South to a gay rights pioneer.
Episode 5
Unrest
Jan 8, 20181h
Director Jennifer Brea, confined to her bed due to chronic fatigue syndrome, documents how people around the world live and function with this disease.
Episode 6
I Am Not Your Negro
Jan 15, 20181h
Filmmaker Raoul Peck examines James Baldwin's unfinished book about the lives and assassinations of Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.
Episode 7
The Force
Jan 22, 20181h
A cinema vérité look at the Oakland Police Department as it struggles to confront federal demands for reform, a popular uprising following events in Ferguson, Mo., and an explosive sex scandal.
Episode 8
I Am Another You
Jan 29, 20181h
Chinese filmmaker Nanfu Wang follows a homeless man on a journey across America, exploring the meaning of freedom.
Episode 9
Winnie
Feb 5, 20181h
One of the more misunderstood and intriguing contemporary female political figures, Winnie Mandela's rise and seeming fall from grace bear the hallmarks of epic tragedy. Winnie explores her life and contribution to the struggle to bring down apartheid in South Africa from the inside, with intimate insight from Winnie herself, those closest to her and enemies who sought to extinguish her activism.
Episode 10
Tell Them We Are Rising
Feb 19, 20181h
Historically black colleges and universities play a pivotal role in shaping American history, culture and national identity.
Episode 11
Rat Film
Feb 26, 20181h
The history and cultural fabric of Baltimore is explored through the lens of the city's rat infestation.
Episode 12
Dolores
Mar 27, 20181h
The story of Dolores Huerta, among the most important, yet least-known, activists in American history. Co-founder of the first farmworkers union with Cesar Chavez, she tirelessly led the fight for racial and labor justice, becoming one of the most defiant feminists of the 20th century.
Episode 13
When God Sleeps
Apr 2, 20181h
The story of Iranian musician Shahin Najafi's stand for freedom of expression, after he was forced into hiding when hardline clerics issue a fatwa for his death, incensed by a rap song focusing on human rights. Despite the risks to his life every time he performs on stage, Shahin refuses to stop, even with a $100,000 bounty on his head.
Episode 14
The Art of the Shine
Apr 9, 20181h
Shining shoes is a calling and a passion, a way to be one’s own boss and connect with other people from all walks of life. From New York to Toronto, from Paris and La Paz, travel the world for an inside look at a forgotten profession.
Episode 15
What Lies Upstream
Apr 16, 20181h
Investigative filmmaker Cullen Hoback travels to West Virginia to study the unprecedented loss of clean water for over 300,000 Americans in the 2014 Elk River chemical spill. While he’s deep into his research in West Virginia, a similar water crisis strikes Flint, Michigan, revealing that the entire system that Americans assume is protecting their drinking water is fundamentally broken.
Episode 16
Look & See: Wendell Berry's Kentucky
Apr 23, 20181h
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 & See is an elegy to a lost way of life that was once the bedrock of America--the culture of agriculture.
Episode 17
True Conviction
Apr 30, 20181h
After serving a combined 60 years in prison for crimes they did not commit, three recently exonerated Texans join forces to form the unlikeliest of investigative teams, on a mission to help wrongfully convicted prisoners obtain freedom like they did.
Episode 18
No Man's Land
May 7, 20181h
A detailed, on-the-ground account of the 2016 standoff between protesters occupying Oregon’s Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and federal authorities.
Episode 19
ACORN and the Firestorm
May 14, 20181h
For 40 years, the community-organizing group ACORN sought to empower poor and marginalized communities. Its critics believed ACORN exemplified everything wrong with progressive ideals. In 2008, these competing perceptions exploded on the national stage as Barack Obama was running for president. Fueled by a YouTube video made by amateur undercover “journalists,” ACORN came under attack.
Episode 20
Served Like a Girl
May 28, 20181h
A candid look at a shared sisterhood to help the rising number of homeless women veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and suffer from PTSD, sexual abuse, and other traumas. By entering into the “Ms. Veteran America” competition, these amazing ladies unexpectedly come full circle in a quest for healing and hope.