Independent Lens

Season 26

19 episodes · Sep 29, 2024

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  • One Person, One Vote?
    S26E1

    One Person, One Vote?

    Sep 30, 202477m

    At a time when many Americans question democratic institutions, One Person, One Vote? unveils the complexities of the Electoral College, the uniquely American and often misunderstood mechanism for electing a president. The documentary follows four presidential electors representing different parties in Colorado during the intense 2020 election.

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  • Make Peace or Die: Honor the Fallen
    S26E2

    Make Peace or Die: Honor the Fallen

    Nov 11, 202486m

    Riddled with survivor's guilt after his unit lost 17 men during "Operation Enduring Freedom" in Afghanistan, Marine veteran Anthony Marquez makes it his mission to reconnect with the Gold Star families of the fallen. By carving and hand-delivering a battlefield cross for each of the families affected by loss, Anthony finds the path to heal himself.

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  • Dallas, 2019 | Episode 1
    S26E3

    Dallas, 2019 | Episode 1

    Jan 3, 202552m

    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.

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  • Dallas, 2019 | Episode 2
    S26E4

    Dallas, 2019 | Episode 2

    Jan 3, 202552m

    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.

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  • Dallas, 2019 | Episode 3
    S26E5

    Dallas, 2019 | Episode 3

    Jan 3, 202550m

    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.

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  • Dallas, 2019 | Episode 4
    S26E6

    Dallas, 2019 | Episode 4

    Jan 3, 202555m

    Meet a criminal district attorney bringing reform to a complex and disparate justice system; a judge who is dedicated to breaking cycles of incarceration and knows what it's like to have a loved one in the system; the unapologetic owner of the largest bail bonds company in Dallas; and a community organizer with a mighty voice and warrior spirit.

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  • Dallas, 2019 | Episode 5
    S26E7

    Dallas, 2019 | Episode 5

    Jan 3, 202548m

    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?

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  • Minted
    S26E8

    Minted

    Jan 6, 202576m

    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.

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  • Without Arrows
    S26E9

    Without Arrows

    Jan 13, 202585m

    After 13 years living in Philadelphia, Delwin Fiddler Jr., a champion grass dancer, embraces indigenous culture by returning to his ancestral home on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota. Leaving his big city life behind, Delwin aims to protect his centuries-old Lakota heritage and heal from family tragedy, through his passion for dance.

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  • The Strike
    S26E10

    The Strike

    Feb 3, 202585m

    The high-security Pelican Bay prison was designed for mass-scale solitary confinement, often for a decade or more, and with little due process. In 2013, 30,000 prisoners went on a hunger strike that spread into a feat of unity across California prisons. The Strike follows these solitary survivors who fought to abolish indefinite isolation.

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  • The In Between
    S26E11

    The In Between

    Feb 10, 202583m

    Following her brother's death, a filmmaker returns to Eagle Pass, the Texas bordertown where she grew up, to document the places that shaped their family. She finds a treasure trove of his own footage that brings him back to life, sparking a reflection on growing up Mexican American along the U.S.-Mexico border. She rediscovers the beautiful mysteries of their complex hometown.

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  • Skin of Glass
    S26E12

    Skin of Glass

    Feb 17, 202585m

    A journey to reckon with Brazil’s harsh inequality begins when filmmaker Denise Zmekhol discovers her father’s architectural masterpiece in São Paulo—a 24-story tall modernist icon known as “Pele de Vidro” (Skin of Glass)—is inhabited by hundreds of unhoused people. But after getting to know these occupants, what started as a personal quest becomes something much bigger.

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  • Bike Vessel
    S26E13

    Bike Vessel

    Feb 24, 202585m

    Knowing his dad miraculously recovered from three open-heart surgeries after discovering a passion for cycling, filmmaker Eric D. Seals proposes an ambitious idea: Bike together from St. Louis to Chicago. 350 miles. 4 days. On their journey, the two push each other as they find a deeper connection and a renewed appreciation of their quests for their own health and to reimagine Black health

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  • Home Court
    S26E14

    Home Court

    Mar 24, 202585m

    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.

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  • WE WANT THE FUNK!
    S26E15

    WE WANT THE FUNK!

    Apr 8, 202582m

    WE WANT THE FUNK! is a 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, the extraterrestrial funk of George Clinton's Parliament Funkadelic, transformed girl group Labelle, and Fela Kuti's Afrobeat, the story also traces funk's influences on both new wave and hip-hop.

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  • Free For All: The Public Library
    S26E16

    Free For All: The Public Library

    Apr 29, 202584m

    Free For All: The Public Library tells the story of the quiet revolutionaries who made a simple idea happen. From the pioneering women behind the “Free Library Movement” to today's librarians who service the public despite working in a contentious age of closures and book bans, meet those who created a civic institution where everything is free and the doors are open to all.

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  • Matter of Mind: My Alzheimer's
    S26E17

    Matter of Mind: My Alzheimer's

    May 5, 202554m

    Matter of Mind: My Alzheimer’s is an intimate portrayal of three families confronting the unique challenges of Alzheimer’s and how this progressive neurodegenerative disease transforms roles and relationships. Whether it's a partner caring for a loved one or an adult child shifting into being their parent's caregiver, these stories show how families evolve when a loved one is diagnosed.

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  • And So It Begins
    S26E18

    And So It Begins

    May 12, 202584m

    And So It Begins follows the Philippines’ turbulent 2022 presidential race, with the son of ousted former dictator Ferdinand Marcos waging a combative social media campaign against his more progressive opponent, incumbent Vice President Leni Robredo. Following it all is independent journalist and Nobel-winner Maria Ressa, with an eye toward the specter of increasing autocracy.

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  • Who is Michael Jang?
    S26E19

    Who is Michael Jang?

    May 19, 202542m

    After a long career as a commercial and portrait photographer, mischievous San Francisco artist Michael Jang sat for decades on a hidden treasure of pictures taken in his 20s—both candid celebrity shots and a down-to-earth cross-section of Chinese American family life rarely captured so playfully. Then, during the pandemic, Jang set out to share his work with the world, street guerilla-style.

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