The Black Panthers: Vanguard of The Revolution (Theatrical)
New film by acclaimed documentarian Stanley Nelson about the rise and fall of the Black Panther Party.
Coming to Independent Lens Online: In the Shadow of Ebola
In the Shadow of Ebola is an online short documentary about an African family’s tense experience during West African Ebola outbreak. This intimate film brings us on Emmanuel’s journey as he battles to keep his wife and children safe while the Liberian government struggles to contain a devastating virus amidst a suspicious public.
Limited Partnership: Sneaking Back In at the Border
In this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary Limited Partnership, Australian Tony Sullivan describes the tense few moments during which he illegally re-entered the United States via Mexico, along with his partner Richard, with the help of a friend.
Coming to Independent Lens: Limited Partnership
Decades before The Defense of Marriage Act and Proposition 8, one gay couple, a Filipino American and an Australian, fell in love and over the course of 40 years took on the U.S. government to fight for marriage and immigration equality.
Limited Partnership: How They Met
In this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary Limited Partnership, Filipino American Richard Adams and Australian Tony Sullivan talk about how they first met and fell in love in the early 1970s in Los Angeles, and how immigration laws at the time gave them no rights as a gay couple. They were men without a country.
Limited Partnership: Justice Kennedy Changes His Mind
Justice Anthony Kennedy, who wrote the opinion in Obergefell vs. Hodges that protects nationwide same-sex marriage, once maintained very different views. In 1985, Kennedy wrote the decision that forced Australian Tony Sullivan to go underground with his American husband in order to avoid deportation. Learn more about the evolution of Justice Kennedy’s same-sex rulings in this short video.
Limited Partnership: Shocking Letter from the INS
In this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary Limited Partnership, Richard Adams and Tony Sullivan receive a Green Card rejection letter from the INS, which bluntly informs the couple that they’ve failed to establish that “a bona fide relationship can exist” between two gay men — but deployed with a shocking slur.
1971: The Idea of a Break-In
In this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary 1971, John and Bonnie Raines, Keith Forsyth, as well as Bill Davidon, the mastermind and de facto leader of the Citizens’ Commission to Investigate the FBI, talk about how Bill first approached them with his incredibly risky idea: break in to an FBI audience and send files to the press.
1971: Paper Proof
In this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary 1971, members of the Citizens’ Commission to Investigate the FBI look back on the night they sorted through the FBI documents they’d nabbed and discovered the shocking evidence of spying on Americans and other abuses.
Coming to Independent Lens: 1971
On March 8, 1971, a group of citizens broke into a small FBI office in Pennsylvania, took every file, and shared them with the public. Their actions exposed the FBI's illegal surveillance program of law-abiding Americans. Now, these previously anonymous Americans publicly share their story for the first time.
Born to Fly: Artificial Gravity
In this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary Born to Fly, “extreme action” choreographer Elizabeth Streb introduces us to her dynamic piece called “Artificial Gravity,” in which her dancers, through extraordinary balance and agility, are in constant movement both on the ground and in the air, as a wheel spins under their feet.
Born to Fly: Elizabeth Sees the Doctor
In this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary Born to Fly, choreographer Elizabeth Streb visits her knee doctor and discusses (and shows) various injuries she has gotten over the years. Dr. Rose discusses the difference between traditional athletes and STREB dancers while acknowledging that both put their bodies at risk.
Born to Fly: Waterfall at Millennium Bridge
In this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary Born to Fly, choreographer Elizabeth Streb debuts her dance troupe’s “Waterfall” performance at Millennium Bridge as part of her One Extraordinary Day in London, in tandem with the Summer Olympics. She tells a skeptical reporter who worries it’s unsafe, “Anything that’s too safe is not action.”
Coming Soon to Independent Lens: Born to Fly
Born to Fly: Elizabeth Streb vs. Gravity traces the evolution of choreographer and “extreme action architect“ Elizabeth Streb’s more than 30 years of movement philosophy. The film culminates with Streb and her dancers preparing and presenting gravity-defying performances in London’s Cultural Olympiad leading up to the 2012 Olympics.
Coming to Independent Lens: Kumu Hina
Hina, a native Hawai'ian mahu (transgender) teacher, uses traditional culture to inspire a student to claim her place as leader of the school's all-male hula troupe. Despite her success as a teacher, Hina longs for love and a committed relationship. Will marriage to a headstrong Tongan man fulfill her dreams?
Kumu Hina: You Are the Warriors of Today
In this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary Kumu Hina, schoolchildren are given an emotional lecture about the true meaning of “Kumu” and about Hawai’ian history. “Hae Hawai’i” is the flag of the state and the teacher wants to make sure they understand that they will continue the legacy as “the true warriors of today.” The kids then sing the former national anthem.
Kumu Hina: Ho'onani Steps Up
In this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary Kumu Hina, Ho'onani, a charismatic sixth grade girl who considers herself “in the middle,” takes over leadership of the school’s all-male hula troupe. It becomes a way for her to express her inner-male spirit.
Kumu Hina: Reunited
In this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary Kumu Hina, Hina travels from Hawai’i to Fiji to reunite with her husband, a headstrong Tongan man. For all her trepidations, Hina says, “I really can’t wait to see him.” They share a moving reconnection at the airport.
Coming to Independent Lens Online: After the Storm
After the Storm is an interactive documentary that tells the first-person story of what happens in the wake of a devastating tornado that ripped through central Alabama in 2011. Written as a letter to future disaster survivors, it’s a universal story of survival, healing, and resilience.
The Great Invisible: Hardluck City
In this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary The Great Invisible, Roosevelt Harris of Bayou La Batre, Alabama, runs the truck ministry for the Hemley Church Mobile Food Pantry and provides food, encouragement, and advice to people displaced by the disaster. He calls the area “Hardluck City” as he drives around handing out food to grateful locals.
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