Independent Lens

Indie Films Series / 8 Seasons

Authentic stories. Extraordinary people.

1h 16m / TV-PG

Trailer | Bedlam

30s

Shot over the course of five years, Bedlam examines the mental health crisis through intimate stories of those people who are in-and-out of overwhelmed and under-resourced psych emergency rooms, jails and homeless camps in Los Angeles, while psychiatrist and filmmaker Kenneth Paul Rosenberg, M.D. also searches for answers to his own late sister’s mental illness.

The Baby Recruiting Network | One Child Nation

2m 35s

In this excerpt from One Child Nation, Brian Stuy, Utah-based co-founder of Research China and father to three adopted girls from China, explains how a "recruiting network" worked to find and bring children into orphanages, children that were later to be bought and sold--trafficked. Filmmaker Nanfu Wang then wonders about each baby's story, of separated twin siblings, many of them unknowingly.

One Child Nation - Trailer

30s

After the birth of her first child, filmmaker Nanfu Wang returns to China to speak with her family and explore the ripple effect of that country's devastating social experiment, the one-child policy. At its core, One Child Nation is a riveting personal story revealing shocking human rights violations and forces us all to reckon with the consequences of blind obedience.

"He Had too Much to Live For" | Always in Season

1m 42s

In this excerpt from the film Always in Season, Lennon Lacy's mother Claudia remembers her son, and the very last time she saw him before his shocking death. "He had too much to live for," she says, rebutting the police report that said he'd committed suicide. Claudia went to bed the night before his death, with Lennon preparing for a football game the next day. She'd never see him alive again.

"Like a Lynching" | Always in Season

2m 20s

In this excerpt from the film Always in Season, Pierre Lacy, brother of Lennon Lacy, recalls the awful day he learned of his brother's death. Pierre is convinced Lennon did not commit suicide, despite the police report declaring it just that. Pierre feels the police tried to "force-feed a lie to my family." To him, it was clear that Lennon's hanging was meant to be a display, like a lynching.

Trailer | Always in Season

30s

Always in Season follows the tragedy of African American teenager Lennon Lacy, who in August 2014, was found hanging from a swing set in North Carolina. His death was ruled a suicide, but Lennon’s mother and family believe he was lynched. The film chronicles her quest to learn the truth and takes a closer look at the lingering impact of more than a century of lynching African Americans.

"A Real Ark for a Real Flood" | We Believe in Dinosaurs

1m 22s

In this excerpt from We Believe in Dinosaurs, the staff behind the "Ark Encounter" exhibit at the Creation Museum in Kentucky explain how their $120 million theme park will show how the Biblical flood that led to Noah's Ark and destroyed the rest of humanity really happened.

"You're Fooling Yourself" | Leftover Women

2m 18s

In this excerpt from the documentary Leftover Women, Qiu Hua Mei, a lawyer in her 30s, wants to find a man who is well-educated, shares chores, and respects women. Is that too much to ask? Well the professional matchmaker she interviews with bluntly seems to think so--deeming Qiu "too old" and not beautiful enough to be picky. Will she be called a "leftover woman" if she doesn't settle?

Trailer | Leftover Women

30s

Leftover Women follows three successful Chinese women who, despite thriving careers, are still labeled sheng nu, a derogatory term in China to describe educated, professional women in their mid-20s and '30s who are not married. As they search for “Mr. Right,” they struggle to stay true to their ambitions, while dealing with pressure from families, friends, and governmental stigma.

"Almost Perfect Overlaps" | Cooked: Survival by Zip Code

1m 29s

In this excerpt from Cooked: Survival by Zip Code, Dr. Linda Murray, a public health medical officer, talks about being enraged but not surprised at the high death toll of poor people of color who died in the 1995 heatwave in Chicago. And Steven Whitman, the city's chief epidemiologist at the time, shows a stark "heat death map" illustrating the obvious overlap of the poor and the dead.

Trailer | Cooked: Survival by Zip Code

30s

Cooked: Survival by Zip Code tells the story of the tragic 1995 Chicago heatwave, the most traumatic in U.S. history, in which 739 citizens died over the course of just a single week, most of them poor, elderly, and African American. Cooked is a story about life, death, and the politics of crisis in an American city that asks the question: Was this a one-time tragedy, or an appalling trend?

Unlikely Allies | First Rainbow Coalition

2m 20s

In this excerpt from The First Rainbow Coalition, be a fly on the wall at a first meeting in Chicago in the 1960s, between three wholly different activist groups -- Black Panthers, led by the charismatic Bobby Lee, Latinx group the Young Lords Organization, and the Southern whites of the Young Patriots -- all surprised to discover the common ground, and common foes, they share.

Trailer | The First Rainbow Coalition

30s

In 1969, the Chicago Black Panther Party formed alliances across ethnic and racial lines with other community-based movements in the city, including Latinx group the Young Lords and southern whites the Young Patriots. Banding together in one of postwar America's most segregated cities to confront issues like police brutality and substandard housing, they called themselves the Rainbow Coalition.

Trailer | Accept the Call

30s

25 years after Yusuf Abdurahman left Somalia as a refugee to begin his life anew in Minnesota — which has the largest population of Somalis in America — his worst fear is realized when his 19-year-old-son Zacharia is arrested in an FBI counterterrorism sting operation. Accept the Call captures the story of a father and son attempting to mend their relationship after breaking each other’s hearts.

When the FBI Detained My Son | Accept the Call

1m 7s

In this excerpt from Accept the Call, Yusuf Abdurahman, a father who left Somalia as a refugee to begin his life anew in Minnesota, receives a shocking call from the FBI telling him his son Zach was suspected of trying to join ISIS. Angry and heartbroken after they're reunited, Yusuf lights into his son and thinks he's set Zach straight.

"Rich Man's Sport" | ATTLA

2m 54s

In a scene from ATTLA, the grand-nephew of legendary Alaska Native dogsled racer George Attla reflects on growing up not fully appreciating how much of a champion his great uncle was, in a culture where you don't brag about your accomplishments. Together they watch an old TV interview in which Attla predicts dogsled racing is destined to become a less accessible "rich man's sport."

ATTLA | Trailer

30s / TV-PG

ATTLA tells the gripping story of George Attla, a charismatic Alaska Native dogsled racer who, with one good leg and fierce determination, became a legendary sports hero in Northern communities around the world.

Trailer | ATTLA

30s

ATTLA tells the gripping story of George Attla, a charismatic Alaska Native dogsled racer who, with one good leg and fierce determination, became a legendary sports hero in Northern communities around the world.

No Mosquitos, No Fish | Conscience Point

1m 25s

In a scene from Conscience Point, off the coast of the Hamptons a Long Island bayman shows how much fish and shellfish populations have been reduced due to mosquito control, harming the ecosystem and destroying his livelihood. He feels the Shinnecock Indian Nation are the only people who've ever kept the shores undeveloped. "If you look at the bay around where the reservation is, it's gorgeous."

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