Independent Lens

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary Brothers Hypnotic, the brothers discuss how their father, Phil Cohran, taught them the importance of long tones in playing horns, to play one note as steady as possible, “the principle of simplicity.” We also seem them playing their horns outside, magically.

This excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary Brothers Hypnotic, Seba aka “Clef,” tells us how he started playing the trombone when he was 4 years old, taught by his father Phil Cohran. He demonstrates how he learned to properly use the horn’s mouthpiece as a boy, until he was able to achieve even tone.

In this clip from the Independent Lens documentary Medora, we watch the struggling Medora High basketball team lose another game but get a pep talk from their coach, Justin Gilbert, about how proud he is and about how they do have talent. "We're gonna get better," he promises. "I'll never lose faith in you guys."

In this clip from the Independent Lens documentary Medora, we watch Chaz Cowles, one of the students featured in the film, bike around his economically devastated town and tell us about how hard-hit Medora has been in recent years. "Other schools don't expect nothing from us," he says. "Medora's been in the gutter."

Medora follows the down-but-not-out Medora Hornets, capturing the players’ stories on and off the court as they seek to avoid another winless season. Medora is an in-depth, deeply personal look at small-town life, a thrilling, underdog basketball story, and an inspiring tale of a community refusing to give up hope despite brutal odds stacked against them.

Medora follows the down-but-not-out Medora Hornets, capturing the players’ stories on and off the court as they seek to avoid another winless season. Medora is an in-depth, deeply personal look at small-town life, a thrilling, underdog basketball story, and an inspiring tale of a community refusing to give up hope despite brutal odds stacked against them.

In this clip from the Independent Lens documentary All of Me, the heaviest of the Girls, Zsalynn worries about her daughter's life and future which is a crucial reason she wants the weight-loss surgery. Meanwhile, Judy nervously heads to the hospital for her own surgery.

A group of women friends who met via the Austin chapter of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance and have tried every diet and diet pill, go through weight-loss surgery in an effort to lose hundreds of pounds. The experience presents a host of issues and consequences, some they never could have imagined.

A group of women friends who met via the Austin chapter of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance and have tried every diet and diet pill, go through weight-loss surgery in an effort to lose hundreds of pounds. The experience presents a host of issues and consequences, some they never could have imagined.

In this clip from the Independent Lens documentary All of Me, Judy explains what the BBW (Big Beautiful Women) gathering is and how before she went she had no idea she was the object of so many men's fetishes. She then emphasizes how her marriage to Marty differs from that; for one thing, "he didn't ask me my bra size.”

In this video extra from the Independent Lens documentary All of Me, the Austin “Girls” take a yoga class led by Abby Lentz, founder of HeavyWeight Yoga. She teaches the “three A’s,” Awareness, Acceptance, and Affection.

In this video extra from the Independent Lens documentary All of Me, we see a support group for people — including some of the “Girls” — who’ve had or will have weight-loss surgery. In the group they are encouraged to talk about “changes in attitude and changes in latitude.”

In the lingering aftermath of the U.S.-Mexican War, the border town of Laredo, Texas created an annual debutante ball unlike any other. Las Marthas follows two Mexican American girls carrying this gilded tradition on their shoulders during a time of economic uncertainty and tension over immigration.

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary Las Marthas, where tradition meets fantasy: new debutante Rosario is measured for a spectacular gown by highly coveted dressmaker Linda Leyendecker Gutierrez, an oil heiress who is “portraying history.”

The story of a secret spy agency formed by the state of Mississippi to preserve segregation during the 1950s and ‘60s. Granted broad powers, this commission investigated citizens and organizations in attempts to derail the civil rights movement.

This excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary Spies of Mississippi looks at the people involved in the movement who ended up on the “other side,” who ended up working against the movement. They were either those who did not think it could possibly win, while some just could not believe the government would be involved in anything illegal.

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary Spies of Mississippi, some of the black leaders in the civil rights movement became more aware something suspicious was going on when white agents started showing up at their meetings, even if not yet aware of Sovereignty Commission. They just knew their meetings were not a secret: “by the time we leave in the morning, they gonna know anyway.”

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary Spies of Mississippi, we learn about the training civil rights activists from the north went through in Ohio for the 1964 Summer Project, to prepare themselves “to be beaten, to be put in jail, and to be killed.”

This topical documentary captures the explosive emotions and complex realities behind Arizona’s headline-grabbing struggle with illegal immigration. Tracking the year after Arizona passes SB1070, its controversial “papers please” law, the film tells the stories of Arizonans on all sides of this divisive issue and depicts a state and its people testing the edges of our democratic values.

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary The State of Arizona, Sheriff Joe Arpaio rallies an outdoors pro-SB1070 crowd, citing murders along the border and how he feels he has the Founding Fathers on his side. Meanwhile, frustrated anti-SB1070 activists like Jorge Martinez meet to discuss strategy.