Independent Lens

Indie Films Series / 8 Seasons

Authentic stories. Extraordinary people.

1h 16m / TV-PG

Sentencing Children: Cyntoia's Story

7m 49s

16-year-old Cyntoia Brown, who was forced into a life of prostitution and feared for her safety, was arrested in 2004 for the murder of a 43-year-old man. She was tried in adult court and sentenced to life. Filmmaker Dan Birman followed her case from the Nashville trial to her incarceration at TN Prison for Women. Part of a 7-part series Sentencing Children, produced by Birman and Independent Lens

Sentencing Children: The Appeal

6m 49s

Concerned that a teenager had been convicted in an adult court and sentenced to life in prison, lawyers appealed Cyntoia Brown's murder conviction in 2011 to challenge the fairness of the trial. They argued in a Nashville court that Cyntoia was herself a victim. Part of a 7-part series Sentencing Children, produced by Dan Birman and Independent Lens.

Sentencing Children: The Bill

5m 36s

Under Tennessee law, a child can be tried in adult court, and if convicted of first-degree murder, can be sentenced to life in prison, or life with a possibility of parole after 51 years. State legislators think that law is too harsh and in 2016 a bipartisan team worked with lawyers and a judge to propose a new reform law.

Sentencing Children: The Interrogation Process

7m 45s

Oudon Panyanouvong, now 34, is serving a 40-year sentence for a crime he says he did not commit but pled guilty to because he didn't understand his rights as a teen during a police interrogation in 1998. A new law proposed in Tennessee would give juveniles with long sentences an opportunity for early release. Part of “Sentencing Children” series originally published by The Tennessean newspaper.

Sentencing Children: Reforming State Sentencing Laws

5m 14s

A group of Tennessee state legislators, lawyers and judges are trying to prepare a bill that would reform state sentencing laws for juveniles who have committed serious crimes, including Cyntoia Brown of the film Me Facing Life. Tennessee has some of the strictest juvenile sentencing laws in the country. Part of the “Sentencing Children” series originally published by The Tennessean newspaper.

Sentencing Children: Andrea Conte and Victim Advocacy

6m 30s

Former Tennessee first lady Andrea Conte, wife to former Gov. Phil Bredesen, was in 1988 kidnapped and assaulted by a man who would later go on to murder another woman. That experience led Conte to establish the victim advocacy organization You Have The Power. She hopes efforts to reform criminal sentencing rules for juvenile offenders take the experience of victims into account.

Sentencing Children: From Teenage Inmate to Teen Mentor

6m

At 17, Eric Alexander received two 25-year sentences for first-degree murder and aggravated robbery. He was released after serving 10 years and today serves as a mentor for teenagers, after studying developmental psychology. In this short, he talks about the hope that a proposed new juvenile justice reform law could give to those who were incarcerated as youths.

Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin - Armistead in 'Nam - Clip

1m 50s

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens film The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin, the writer who was once a conservative son of the Old South and would become a gay rights pioneer, reflects on how he came to serve in the Navy while not yet out of the closet. "I volunteered for Vietnam," Maupin says, "because I think I still had some manhood issues going on and I wanted to go to the war."

Real Boy - A Family Thanksgiving, Apart - Clip

2m 49s

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens film Real Boy, trans friends Bennett and Dylan prepare a Thanksgiving dinner together, while Bennett also tries to reach out to his family. He offers to come see them but finds his dad and sister and all of them are in their own ways still really uncomfortable about him.

Real Boy - Trailer

30s

A moving and intimate story of a family in transition, Real Boy follows the journey of trans teen Bennett as he navigates adolescence, sobriety, and the physical and emotional ramifications of his changing gender identity. Through the process, his mother Suzy makes her own transformation — travelling a difficult road toward accepting that the daughter she raised as Rachael is now her son Bennett.

Real Boy - Bennett’s Mom Comes to Support Him - Clip

3m 7s

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens film Real Boy, Bennett enters the hospital for his gender surgery and is both touched and surprised that his mom Suzy came to be with him for support, despite her own reservations. She then gets supportive advice from another mom whose son made the same transition, and who reassures Suzy that Bennett will find the right person for him.

Real Boy - Beard and a Haircut - Clip

1m 1s

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens film Real Boy, trans teenager Bennett talks to friend Joe Stevens, a trans folk singer, about trying to grow a beard and how to groom it when it finally does come. Bennett may just have "one chin hair at the moment" but Joe does give him a nifty new haircut as they talk about how they had "girls' haircuts" forced on them as kids.

Farmer/Veteran - Trailer

30s

Home from three combat tours in Iraq, Alex Sutton forges a new identity as a farmer, hatching chicks and raising goats on 43 acres in rural North Carolina. Farmer/Veteran shows Alex diving into life on the farm with his new love Jessica, while the traumas of war linger on.

Farmer/Veteran - "The Little Dude in Your Brain" - Clip

1m 27s

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens film Farmer/Veteran, Alex Sutton, an Iraq combat veteran with PTSD, spends time with a fellow veteran named Fred Curtis who has a family and who, like Alex, also wants to start his own farm. They talk about the various prescription medications they're on (like Topamax and Fluoxetine), with varying results.

Farmer/Veteran - My "I Don't Kill People" Pills - Clip

2m 4s

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens film Farmer/Veteran, combat veteran Alex goes over all the pills prescribed for physical and mental pain."These are my 'I don't kill people' pills," he says, meds for sleeplessness, anxiety, and numerous other afflictions. It looks like a ton of drugs but, he insists, "it's better than the alternative. Locking me up or sitting on a tower with a rifle."

Farmer/Veteran - Shellshock Then and Now - Clip

2m 28s

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens film Farmer/Veteran, Alex Sutton, an Iraq combat veteran with PTSD, reveals that his grandfather suffered from shellshock after the Korean War. Alex has similar issues but says he'll work hard not to show his kids that side. Then, in a moment of panic after talking about memory loss, he almost shoots up the filmmakers' car after forgetting whose it was.

They Call Us Monsters - Jarad's Victim Speaks - Clip

2m 50s

Jarad Nava is incarcerated for life for four attempted murders and is one of the boys featured in the Independent Lens film They Call Us Monsters, but in this excerpt from the film we get to know Yesenia, a 17-year old girl forever confined to a wheelchair after Jarad shot her in the back in a drive-by shooting. Yesenia doesn't wish him dead but does want Jarad behind bars for 50 years.

They Call Us Monsters - Juan's Unrequited Crush - Clip

1m 55s

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens film They Call Us Monsters, teenager Juan, who is incarcerated for 90 years-to-life for first degree murder, talks about the girl he's had a crush on since kindergarten and may never have a chance to tell her how he really feels given his situation.

They Call Us Monsters - Juvenile Prisoners Write Film - Clip

1m 39s

In this scene from the Independent Lens film They Call Us Monsters, filmmaker Gabe Cowan introduces us to the screenwriting class he teaches to a group of incarcerated teen boys housed at a Los Angeles facility for juveniles tried as adults. While they can't physically leave, they can imagine their stories on screen, and we see a scene from this autobiographical film-within-the-film.

They Call Us Monsters - Trailer

30s

They Call Us Monsters goes behind the walls of the Compound, a high-security facility where Los Angeles houses its most violent juvenile criminals, to follow three young offenders who sign up to take a screenwriting class with producer Gabe Cowan as they await their respective trials. To their advocates, they’re kids. To the system, they’re adults. To their victims, they’re monsters.

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