Independent Lens

Indie Films Series / 8 Seasons

Authentic stories. Extraordinary people.

Watch Latest: S26 E1

1h 16m / TV-PG

The Prison in Twelve Landscapes - Garbage Jail - Clip

1m 42s

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary The Prison in Twelve Landscapes, Charisse Davidson, a Missouri woman, tells the story of how she came to spend three days in jail for failing to place a lid on her garbage can. She had the choice of paying a steep fine for a ticket she never received, or turn herself in and go to jail.

The Prison in Twelve Landscapes - From Coal to Prison - Clip

1m 48s

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary The Prison in Twelve Landscapes, the curator of the Wheelwright Public Library and History Museum in Wheelwright, eastern Kentucky, talks about what it means to have the prison coming back to a place desperate for jobs after the coal company (and later the prison) left town.

The Prison in Twelve Landscapes - Kanye on Cassette - Clip

1m 24s

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens film The Prison in Twelve Landscapes, a representative from sendapackage.com, a company dedicated to sending goods and products to prisoners, shows us audio cassettes they sell that are made specifically for prisoners -- which use glue instead of screws, even though they're allowed to sell tuna in potentially dangerous metal cans.

The Prison in Twelve Landscapes - Trailer

30s

More people are imprisoned in the U.S. at this time than any other time or place in history, yet prisons themselves have never felt further away or more out of sight. A cinematic journey through a series of seemingly ordinary American landscapes, The Prison in Twelve Landscapes excavates the hidden world of the modern prison system and explores lives outside the gates affected by prisons.

National Bird - Trailer

30s

National Bird follows whistleblowers who, despite possible consequences, are determined to break the silence around one of the most controversial issues of our time: the secret U.S. drone war. The film gives rare insight through the eyes of both survivors and veterans who suffer from PTSD while plagued by guilt over participating in the killing of faceless people in foreign countries.

National Bird - NSA Analyst Turned Activist - Clip

1m 31s

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens film National Bird, Daniel, a former NSA signals intelligence analyst-turned-whistleblower, now exist in the worst of all worlds because the government is investigating him for espionage. As someone who has both worked for the intelligence community, and who is politically active, Daniel must live in fear and secrecy.

National Bird - Borders Don't Matter Anymore - Clip

2m 19s

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens film National Bird, former U.S. military technical sergeant Lisa talks about working on the DGS (distributed ground system), which spans the globe, eating personal data and contributing to decisions that led to drone strikes from anywhere, anytime. "I thought I was going to be on the right side of history and today I don't believe I was," she says.

National Bird - "You Said it Was Okay to Kill Them" - Clip

2m

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens film National Bird, Heather, a former U.S. military drone pilot who is now a masseuse, talks about the emotional distress caused by knowing she was responsible for the deaths of people, something she tried to push out of her mind but found impossible to shake. "You see someone die, because you said it was okay to kill them," she says.

National Bird - Trailer

30s

National Bird follows whistleblowers who, despite possible consequences, are determined to break the silence around one of the most controversial issues of our time: the secret U.S. drone war. The film gives rare insight through the eyes of both survivors and veterans who suffer from PTSD while plagued by guilt over participating in the killing of faceless people in foreign countries.

The Last Laugh - My Revenge Against Hitler - Clip

1m 27s

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens film The Last Laugh, Holocaust survivors Elly Gross and Renee Firestone take an indoor gondola ride at Las Vegas' Venetian Hotel serenaded by "Volare," but Elly admits she cannot enjoy it because she feels guilt for all those who did not survive Auschwitz and aren't there to enjoy it, too.

The Last Laugh - From the Holocaust to Rwanda - Clip

1m 37s

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens film The Last Laugh, Holocaust survivor Renee Firestone talks about how her late husband missed some terrible things happening in the modern world, like 9/11, and Rwanda, which she visited. In Rwanda, she notes, 1 million Tutsis were murdered in just four months. "And this is after the Holocaust, when we keep saying 'Never again'? So that’s where we are."

The Last Laugh - Mel Brooks, Sarah Silverman, Comedy and Dar

1m 20s

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens film The Last Laugh, writer/director/comedian Mel Brooks (who does his Hitler impression), director Rob Reiner and his dad Carl Reiner, and comedians Sarah Silverman and Judy Gold all talk about the importance of humor on taboo topics like the Holocaust. Gold says the joke has to be funny, while Silverman says comedy puts light on darkness.

The Last Laugh - Trailer

29s

The Holocaust would seem to be an absolutely off-limits topic for comedy — but is it? History shows that even the victims of the Nazi concentration camps used humor as a means of survival and resistance. The Last Laugh weaves together stories from Auschwitz survivor Renee Firestone and interviews with influential comedians from Mel Brooks, Sarah Silverman, and Gilbert Gottfried.

SEED: The Untold Story - Pesticide and Suicide - Clip

2m 42s

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens film SEED: The Untold Story, Suman Khulko, a seed collector in a farming family in eastern India, tells how her brother insisted they use chemicals and hybrids to make their farm profitable, but the results were disastrous and tragic. Their hybrid seeds became diseased, and her uncle went mad and committed suicide—by drinking the same chemical pesticide.

SEED: The Untold Story - Botanical Explorer Joe - Clip

2m 3s

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens film SEED: The Untold Story, we meet seed-obsessed botanical explorer Joseph Simcox, who, with his brother Patrick, shows us rare and precious seeds they've collected from all over. From Bolivia to Tanzania, Peru to West Virginia to Vietnam, Simcox has collected thousands and thousands of seeds, to bring them to as large a swath of humanity as possible.

Seeds Are Magic

2m 12s

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens film SEED: The Untold Story, famed scientist Jane Goodall talks about how seeds work and spread is nothing short of magic. With animation and time-lapse photography we see the magic in the way they are brought to life after hitching a ride with an animal or being digested by one, or activated through fire.

SEED: The Untold Story - Trailer

30s

Worshipped and treasured since the dawn of humankind, few things on Earth are as miraculous and vital as seeds, but in the last century, 94% of our seed varieties have disappeared. More than a cautionary tale of “man against nature,” SEED: The Untold Story follows passionate seed keepers, farmers, scientists, and lawyers intent on protecting our 12,000 year-old food legacy.

Newtown - Nicole Hockley Remembers Dylan - Clip

2m 46s

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens film Newtown, Nicole Hockley, whose son Dylan was one of the schoolchildren killed in 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School, recalls the painful process she went through of denial and acceptance after Dylan's death.

Newtown - "We Don't Have a Teacher" - Clip

1m 41s

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens film Newtown, Gene Rosen, a neighbor of Sandy Hook Elementary School, recalls his experience in 2012 finding two boys on his lawn who escaped the shooting at their school and had lost their teacher, while Syeda Suriya Ahmed, mother of a first grader who survived the shooting, recounts how her son's teacher told his class a story when locked in their classr

Newtown - Trailer

30s

Filmed over the course of nearly three years, Newtown uses deeply personal, never-before-heard testimonies to relate the aftermath of the deadliest mass shooting of schoolchildren in American history, documenting a traumatized community still reeling from the senseless tragedy, fractured by grief but driven toward a sense of purpose

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