Bike Vessel

Independent Lens

Indie Films Series / 8 Seasons

Authentic stories. Extraordinary people.

Watch Latest: S26 E14

1h 24m / TV-PG

In Football We Trust - Harvey Langi

7m 7s

Harvey Langi is among a growing number of Pacific Islanders recruited to play football in Utah. Many Polynesian families, Langi’s included, have come to view football as their ticket out of economic hardship and gang life.

Little White Lie Lacie Schwartz

8m 34s

Lacey Schwartz from Little White Lie, a documentary about her racial identity, spent her childhood believing she was white. As a college student, she discovered her father was black. This follow-up video shows Schwartz, now a mother, discussing her new-found sense of herself with two close friends.

T-Rex: Boxing and Dating

2m 21s

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens film T-Rex: Her Fight for Gold, Claressa "T-Rex" Shields talks about dating her boyfriend Rell, and how she hasn't told her coach Jason Crutchfield about it because it's a violation of his "law." We see Claressa all dressed up for her big date at a school dance before a cynical Jason confronts her about this relationship.

T-Rex: Coaching Claressa

2m 17s

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens film T-Rex: Her Fight for Gold, Claressa "T-Rex" Shields and her coach Jason Crutchfield reminisce about how she first began as a boxer. Crutchfield first saw Shields box when she was all of 11 years old. Despite his reservations about girls boxing, Crutchfield took Claressa under his wing when he saw how quickly she excelled in the sport.

T-Rex: Her Own Harshest Critic

1m 29s

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens film T-Rex: Her Fight for Gold, Claressa "T-Rex" Shields is upset with herself for not achieving a higher score in a bout even though she won the fight. As reporters stand by, her coach tries to get her to move past it ("We won...it's a business"), but Claressa's not having any of it.

T-Rex: Her Fight for Gold - Trailer

30s

17-year-old boxer Claressa "T-Rex" Shields rose from the streets of Flint, Michigan to the gold medal podium at London 2012, the first time women were allowed to box in the Olympics. But as we see in the coming-of-age story T-Rex: Her Fight for Gold, life outside the ring may be an even tougher fight.

Trapped: Teen Rape Victim Turned Away

1m 32s

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens film Trapped, a 13 year-old victim of rape who is on the cusp of her 5-month legal abortion window is turned away from a Texas clinic because the clinic cannot find an available anesthetist to put the girl to sleep — required by state law — in time to perform the procedure.

Trapped: Unnecessary Equipment

1m 57s

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens film Trapped, Marva, director of clinical services at Whole Woman’s Health, gives a tour of the unnecessary major surgery equipment her facility is required to maintain, including a seldom used pharmacy and an operating room outfitted with the same equipment required for open heart surgery.

Trapped: Informed Consent

45s

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens film Trapped, Dr. Willie Parker, longtime physician and abortion provider who refocused his career to offer reproductive health services for women in the South, provides information required by the state of Mississippi about potential risks to a young woman seeking an abortion.

Trapped: Puzzling Women's Health Regulations

1m 26s

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens film Trapped, an Alabama women's reproductive health clinic owner — who has lived in that state her whole life — talks about the challenges of working with the state's rigorous codes and regulations in order to stay afloat.

TRAPPED - Trailer

30s

Trapped goes inside the contentious issue of abortion rights through the story of health care providers in Texas, Mississippi, and Alabama who are struggling to comply with controversial new TRAP laws (Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers). The current case before the U.S. Supreme Court, Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, will decide whether these laws are constitutional.

Dogtown Redemption: Recyclers vs. NIMBYs

2m 46s

This excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary Dogtown Redemption shows the battle of the Oakland City Council and NIMBYs against Alliance Metals, a recycling center that many homeless people in West Oakland depend upon for income. In a city council meeting, street resident Jason argues passionately in favor of keeping it open, only to have the police try to shut it down the next day.

Dogtown Redemption: A Former Minister Living on the Streets

2m 37s

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary Dogtown Redemption, we meet Landon Goodwin, an articulate former ordained minister whose life spiraled downward after he became addicted to crack, leading to his family expelling him. Now homeless and subsisting on recycling, he's working to get his life back together.

Dogtown Redemption: Polkacide Drummer Now Homeless

1m 7s

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary Dogtown Redemption, we learn a surprising revelation about Miss Kay, now a homeless woman living on the streets in Oakland, CA, but way back when in happier days a drummer for popular Bay Area "punk polka" band Polkacide.

Dogtown Redemption: Recycling Balancing Act

1m 42s

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens film Dogtown Redemption, a homeless Oakland, CA man named Jason explains how he precariously carries a huge amount of recycling on a makeshift cart, including up to 800 pounds of glass and 200 pounds of plastic all at once, as he covers nearly 15 miles of road on his route.

Dogtown Redemption - Trailer

30s

Dogtown Redemption is the story of three recyclers struggling to survive in West Oakland, a neighborhood already decimated by unemployment, addiction, and violence. Their only lifeblood is a controversial recycling center threatened with closure.

The Armor of Light: The Sermon

1m 55s

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary The Armor of Light, the Rev. Rob Schenck gives a powerful sermon in which he urges pastors to look beyond Fox News and the NRA when it comes to the issue of gun violence. He concludes with a resonant verse from Romans 13:12.

The Armor of Light: The Sanctity of Life

2m 54s

In an emotional scene from the Independent Lens documentary The Armor of Light, the Rev. Rob Schenck meets Lucy McBath, whose son Jordan Davis was shot to death by a Florida man who attempted to justify the killing by the state's "stand your ground" law. Schenck and McBath find common ground in their strong Evangelical faith, which they agree should emphasize nonviolence.

The Armor of Light: The Reverend at the Gun Range

2m 10s

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary The Armor of Light, the Rev. Rob Schenck, who has begun to doubt gun ownership is consistent with the Christian faith, visits a gun range in order to gain hands-on experience with the very thing tormenting his conscience. There, he puts himself through a disturbing mental exercise, imagining the children of Sandy Hook Elementary School as he sq

The Armor of Light - Trailer

30s

The Armor of Light follows the journey of Evangelical minister Rob Schenck, who is trying to find the courage to preach about the growing toll of gun violence in America, and Lucy McBath, the mother of an unarmed teenager who was murdered in Florida and whose story cast a spotlight on the state’s “Stand Your Ground” laws.

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