Independent Lens

Indie Films Series / 8 Seasons

Authentic stories. Extraordinary people.

52m 3s / TV-PG

Join the Club with Mary-Louise Parker

25s

Hey film fans, we're starting the Independent Lens documentary club this year and we really want you to join. It's free and easy! Just follow @IndependentLens on Twitter. We'll discuss another great film every week under the hashtag #ILDocClub. So what are you waiting for? We need your insights!

A Family Reunion Unlike Any Other

2m 36s / TV-PG

JoEllen Marsh is 20 years old, and has never met her father. As she goes in search of her paternity, her path to Donor 150 becomes an exploration into identity and the complex permutations of family.

Donor Unknown: "Hello, I'm Your Sister. Our father Is Donor

3m 26s / TV-PG

When one girl discovered a unique online registry that connects donor-conceived children, she managed to track down a half-sister in New York. The New York Times picked up the story and, over time, 12 more half-siblings emerged across the United States.

Mary-Louise Parker to Host Independent Lens

43s

The Emmy Award-winning PBS series Independent Lens is proud to announce that the multi-award winning actress Mary-Louise Parker will host the upcoming tenth anniversary season, premiering on Thursday, October 13, 2011 at 10 PM (check local listings). Parker, the star of the acclaimed Showtime series Weeds, is the latest in the distinguished company of Independent Lens hosts.

Wham! Bam! Islam!: Behind the Scenes

4m 42s / TV-PG

Isaac Solotaroff has worked as a documentary producer and editor since 1998. His work has been nominated for an Emmy Award and received a special commendation from the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences.

Independent Lens Launches Its Tenth Season

2m 18s

In 10 years, Independent Lens has brought more than 275 films to PBS. The stories and storytellers we continue to champion make the series the most diverse on television. Our goal is to help viewers better understand today's complex world by taking them to places they wouldn't otherwise see, and encounter people they wouldn't otherwise meet.

Wham! Bam! Islam!: Imagining New Heroes for Muslim Children

1m 19s / TV-PG

Naif Al-Mutawa, the creator of The 99, describes reading about a Palestinian businessman who published a sticker book called the Intifada Album that extolled the virtues of suicide bombers. He would cite this as an example to potential funders for his own project, explaining that Muslim children needed new heroes.

Beware Evildoers: Here Come the 99!

2m 49s / TV-PG

When a Kuwaiti psychologist launches a comic series based on the 99 virtues of Allah, he runs up against suspicion from Muslims and the harsh realities of the global marketplace.

Wham! Bam! Islam!: The Secrets of a Comic Book Mastermind Re

1m 42s / TV-PG

The fictional universe was a kind of refuge to the chubby young Al-Mutawa during his childhood in Kuwait. Books became his passport to other worlds...something he would champion through the creation of his comic book, The 99.

Wham! Bam! Islam!: Investing in Comics for Social Change

1m 54s / TV-PG

Kuwaiti investor Majid Al-Refai describes how his own upbringing in rural Mississippi gives him an added advantage when negotiating cultural differences between Americans and Arabs...except when it comes to chitlins!

Being Elmo: Puppeteer Kevin Clash Talks About Being Elmo

1m 7s

Elmo puppeteer Kevin Clash answers the question: what's the most unusual time you've done Elmo's voice outside of Sesame Street? Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey will hit theaters in October. The documentary will have its PBS premiere on Independent Lens in April, 2012.

Being Elmo: Elmo Answers Your Question

29s

Elmo answers the question: what is Elmo's favorite food? Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey will hit theaters in October. The documentary will have its PBS premiere on Independent Lens in April, 2012.

Two Spirits: Father Figures

2m 35s / TV-PG

Author, photographer, and activist Mark Thompson describes his experience being mentored as a youth by a gay couple who set a positive example of how to live a creative and healthy life. This kind of mentoring is very important to help young people like Fred grow up and be all that they possibly can be.

Two Spirits: The Changing Ones

2m 34s / TV-PG

The world struggles for an understanding of what the terms "gay, straight, bisexual, and transgender" mean. But Native American beliefs about the spectrum of the masculine and feminine also connect with a gender-bending tradition from the Middle Ages in Europe.

Two Spirits: Kids Like Fred

2m 40s / TV-PG

Activist Cathy Renna describes "overkill," the inordinate level of violence which is common in hate crimes, as Fred's mother Paula copes with the desecration of Fred's grave and murder site by vandals and tries to keep kids like Fred safe.

Two Spirits: Gender as a Spectrum, Not a Divide

2m 24s / TV-PG

In traditional Navajo culture, there are 4 genders which include the nadleehi and dilbaa -- persons born, respectively, as males or females, but who fulfill the roles of the other in adulthood. In this excerpt from the film, a more fluid way of describing gender is considered.

Striving to Be Accepted, Not Tolerated

2m 32s / TV-PG

In Navajo, nadleehi means "one who is transformed," and as the film traces the ramifications of Fred's murder, it also shows the transformation being undertaken by Native activists who are working to restore the rich heritage of two-spirit people and to claim their place within their tribal communities.

"This is How I'm Gonna Be"

2m 43s / TV-PG

When Fred Martinez told his mother that he felt as if he was both a boy and a girl, she explained that this was a special gift, according to traditional Navajo culture. But the place where two discriminations meet is a dangerous place to live, and Fred became one of the youngest hate-crime victims in modern history when he was brutally murdered at 16.

The Bravest Choice Is To Be Yourself

2m 1s / TV-PG

Two Spirits is the tragic story of a mother's loss of her son with a revealing look at the largely unknown history of a time when the world wasn't simply divided into male and female, and many Native American cultures held places of honor for people of integrated genders.

Geena Davis Talks About "Women and Girls Lead"

1m 8s

Oscar-winning actor Geena Davis helped launch ITVS's Women and Girls Lead campaign at the PBS Annual meeting in Orlando, Florida. During the conference, Davis discussed her own work on gender discrimination in media, as well as ITVS's multi-year initiative, Women and Girls Lead, aimed at supporting women and girls' leadership through independent films.

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