Bike Vessel

Independent Lens

Indie Films Series / 8 Seasons

Authentic stories. Extraordinary people.

Watch Latest: S26 E13

1h 24m

Community Classroom Makes Learning Cinematic

1m 4s

Community Classroom brings innovative media resources to educators in high schools, colleges, and other youth-serving organizations to provide educators with access to high quality video content and standards aligned curriculum that supports development of critical thinking and writing skills, media literacy, media creation, and opportunities to engage with local service organizations.

Stanley Tucci to Host New Season of Independent Lens

49s / TV-PG

Acclaimed actor and filmmaker Stanley Tucci will host the upcoming season of Independent Lens, which moves to Mondays at 10 PM on PBS this fall (check local listings). Tucci is the latest in the distinguished company of Independent Lens hosts, including Mary-Louise Parker, America Ferrera, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Susan Sarandon, Terrence Howard, Edie Falco, Angela Bassett, and Don Cheadle.

Half the Sky: Rape is Civil War's Legacy in Sierra Leone

5m 10s / TV-PG

Dr. Olabisi Cole works at the International Rescue Committee’s Rainbo Centers in Freetown and Kenema, Sierra Leone, providing medical care for girls and women who have been victims of sexual violence. Dr. Cole lived in Sierra Leone during the civil war. She discusses how rape and violence became part of the mainstream culture during that time period. Dr. Cole also helps lead Girls With a Future.

Strong: Visualizing Weightlifting as Poetry in Motion

5m 30s / TV-PG

Forget everything you think you know about strong women! In this companion video to the Independent Lens documentary Strong!, filmmaker Julie Wyman talks about what inspired her to profile former Olympic weightlifter Cheryl Haworth, who gives "girl time" new meaning as she demonstrates how to raise the bar ... the competitive weightlifting way.

Strong!: Shopping's a Drag for a Power Lifter

1m 45s / TV-PG

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary, Strong!, weightlifter Cheryl Haworth goes clothes shopping with a friend, but has trouble finding anything she likes. Striving to be the strongest woman in the world seemingly puts her at odds with conventional standards of beauty.

Lift Like a Girl!

3m 3s / TV-PG

Cheryl Haworth is a young woman with a big dream: to be the strongest woman in the world. As the 300-pound U.S. Olympic weightlifter prepares for Beijing 2008, she struggles with injury, confidence, and her place in a world where larger women are not readily accepted.

Being Big Has Its Advantages

1m 14s / TV-PG

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary, Strong!, weightlifter Cheryl Haworth describes why being heavier is better for competition in her weight class. "You're sturdier, more stable," she says.

Strong!: Raising the Bar With Strength and Grace

1m 30s / TV-PG

"Weightlifting is not simply about heaving weight over your head," says champion Cheryl Haworth. In this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary, Strong!, Haworth and her teammates describe the physics -- and grace -- involved in their sport.

We Were Here: A Health Crisis Catalyzes a Political Movement

1m 6s / TV-PG

In the early years of the epidemic, delegations of people living with AIDS began going to Washington DC to raise awareness about the impact of the disease and to lobby for more research and treatment of the disease, as we see in this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary, We Were Here.

We Were Here: We Don't Let Our Friends Get Hurt

29s / TV-PG

As the AIDS crisis began claiming more and more victims, the community in San Francisco rallied to care for not just those suffering from the disease, but to support the LGBT community as a whole, as we see in this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary, We Were Here.

The Epidemic That Decimated and Defined a Community

2m 18s / TV-PG

When AIDS arrived in San Francisco in 1981, it decimated a community, but also brought people together in inspiring and moving ways to support and care for one another and to fight for dignity and a cure.

We Were Here: Realizing the Devastating Effects of AIDS

47s / TV-PG

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary, We Were Here, a nurse who treated patients during the early years of the AIDS epidemic describes how victims of the disease experienced rapid health declines, as they struggled with the onset of pneumonia and Karposi's sarcoma.

Hell and Back Again: Appreciation for a Returning Veteran

1m 4s / TV-PG

In this excerpt from the Oscar-nominated war documentary, Hell and Back Again, Sergeant Nathan Harris describes how he was wounded in Afghanistan to a surprised store-greeter. "It's alright, I'm here and I'm home now," he tells her as she expresses her concern and appreciation through a hug.

Oscar-Nominated Hell and Back Again Comes to PBS

1m 48s / TV-PG

Danfung Dennis's haunting war documentary Hell and Back Again has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary. The film follows U.S. Marine Sergeant Nathan Harris, 25, as he leads his unit to fight a ghostlike enemy in Afghanistan. Wounded in battle, Harris returns to North Carolina and his devoted wife to fight pain, addiction, and the terrifying normalcy of life at home.

Hell and Back Again: For One Marine, a Parking Lot Becomes a

40s / TV-PG

In this excerpt from the Oscar-nominated war documentary, Hell and Back Again, Sergeant Nathan Harris becomes increasingly frustrated as he and his wife look for a parking spot at a shopping mall. "I would rather be in Afghanistan, where it's simple," he says, as civilian life seems almost overwhelming after his wartime experience.

Hell and Back Again: A Marine Company is Debriefed Before Ba

2m 1s / TV-PG

In this excerpt from the Oscar-nominated war documentary, Hell and Back Again, Echo Company is debriefed before their deployment on what is at stake in their mission. "Your conscience should be clear," they are told "and your honor should be clean."

Left by the Ship: Searching for Their Fathers

5m / TV-PG

In this companion video to the Independent Lens documentary, Left by the Ship, Robert, a Filipino Amerasian blogger meets with other Amerasians living in Olongapo City, whose fathers were U.S. servicemen once stationed here. Their stories are sadly consistent, telling of rejection and discrimination, along with a hope that they will be reunited with their fathers.

A Parent Seeks the Father Who Abandoned Him

2m 20s / TV-PG

Robert, a Filipino Amerasian blogger, listens to his mother describe how the U.S. serviceman who was his father refused to accept responsibility for his son, in this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary, Left by the Ship.

Stigmatized and Shunned, Filipino Amerasians Seek...

2m 50s / TV-PG

For nearly a century, American servicemen were stationed at Subic Bay in the Philippines, and many of them fathered children with the women who lived nearby. When the base closed in 1991, hundreds of these children were left behind, stripped of their fathers and their sense of identity.

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