Independent Lens

Indie Films Series / 8 Seasons

Authentic stories. Extraordinary people.

1h 25m / TV-14

Waiting for the Revolution: BoliviaĺäĄ_s Indigenous Worker

9m 4s

This educational module from the film Waiting for the Revolution, part of the Women's Empowerment Curriculum, investigates the concepts of unemployment, unions and worker’s rights as universal human rights.

Taking Root: The Greenbelt Movement

7m 44s

This educational module from the Women's Empowerment Curriculum examines the community organizing/civic action steps that the Green Belt Movement took to address Kenya’s deforestation and investigates the strategies that other “change makers” and organizations use to address specific issues.

Kenya & Wangari Maathai: Taking Root

7m 47s

This educational module from the Women's Empowerment Curriculum examines how Kenya’s history as a colonized nation has contributed to their challenges with deforestation. Identify how this environmental degradation is related to other social, political and economic problems that affect the country’s marginalized citizens.

Artist and Activist Ai Weiwei's Muse is His Conscience

2m 24s / TV-PG

Ai Weiwei is arguably the most internationally celebrated Chinese artist of the modern era. But at heart, he is a troublemaker who challenges the government with rebellious and irreverent gestures. This has often cost him his freedom, but he never seems to lose his childlike approach to serious dissidence.

Never Sorry: Ai Weiwei Weaves Red Tape into Art

2m 1s / TV-PG

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens film, Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, we see Ai and his lawyers encountering resistance from authorities as he attempts to file a lawsuit for his earlier treatment by police. While he succeeds in filing the complaint, it's clear that seeking justice in China can be a Kafkaesque ordeal.

Sen. Tim Kaine Introduces the Created Equal Project

2m 24s

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) introduces the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Created Equal Project. The initiative showcases powerful NEH-funded films, including The Abolitionists, Freedom Riders, and The Loving Story — films that provide a deeper understanding of African American history and the American story.

Spotlight on Civil Rights Leader Whitney Young, Jr.

1m 51s / TV-PG

Whitney M. Young, Jr. was one of the most celebrated - and controversial - leaders of the civil rights era. Unique among black leaders, he took the fight directly to the powerful white elite, gaining allies in business and government, including three presidents.

The Powerbroker: Young Took the Struggle from the Streets to

2m 14s / TV-PG

In this excerpt from the Independent Lens documentary, The Powerbroker, we see how Whitney Young, Jr. established himself in the business world before moving on to become a leader in the civil rights movement.

The Powerbroker: Alfre Woodard on Whitney Young's Fight for

53s

Actress Alfre Woodard narrated the upcoming Independent Lens film, The Powerbroker: Whitney Young’s Fight for Civil Rights. In this short interview, she discusses the pivotal role played by the civil rights movement’s inside man as he navigated a society divided by war, race, and poverty.

Fallen City: Sundance Premiere

2m 4s

Filmmaker Qi Zhao reflects on the premiere of his film "Fallen City" at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. The documentary zooms in on the family lives of three survivors, who are marked by painful memories and deep sadness from China's 2008 Sichuan Earthquake.

Copyright Criminals: Can You Own a Sound?

5m 23s / TV-PG

This Community Classroom educational module teaches the basic foundations of copyright law and how the music industry began to respond legally to sampling as hip-hop grew in popularity in the 1990s.

Copyright Criminals: Theft or Tribute

5m 50s / TV-PG

This Community Classroom educational module introduces students to the musical legacies of Clyde Stubblefield and George Clinton, two of the most heavily sampled musicians in hip-hop music.

The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975: Angela Davis

13m 5s / TV-PG

From 1967 to 1975, Swedish interest in the U.S. civil rights movement peaked. Swedish filmmakers documented the Black Power movement, which was either ignored or portrayed as terrorism by U.S. media. This Community Classroom module analyzes Angela Davis and her profound impact on global liberation movements. Part of the Women and Girls Lead, Volume 2: African-American Women Lead curriculum.

Hip-Hop: Homophobia

5m 29s / TV-PG

This Community Classroom educational module from Hip Hop: Beyond Beats & Rhymes asks the taboo questions and challenges the listener to consider the role homophobia in hip-hop plays in maintaining the one-dimensional definition of masculinity that boxes in both men and hip-hop.

Hip-Hop: Gender Violence

4m 53s / TV-PG

This Community Classroom educational module from Hip Hop: Beyond Beats & Rhymes analyzes rap music lyrics and their impact on the listener, paying particular attention to misogynistic and homophobic content.

Copyright Criminals: Hip Hop Sampling

5m 33s / TV-PG

This Community Classroom educational module teaches students about sampling and how it came to be widely used in the early days of hip-hop music. It also explores the socio-economic conditions that gave rise to hip-hop as a form of cultural expression, and introduces the seminal work of the rap group Public Enemy.

Hip-Hop: Media Literacy

5m 28s / TV-PG

This Community Classroom educational module from Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats & Rhymes provides students with an opportunity to do their own media research on and analysis of how media images are manufactured and marketed.

Hip-Hop: Overview & Images of Masculinity

7m 35s / TV-PG

This educational module examines the many different voices in the film Hip Hop: Beyond Beats & Rhymes and allows students to reach their own conclusions about and evince their own responses to these points of view. Students develop a deeper understanding about how gender roles, especially around manhood, are produced and projected in society as a whole and within hip-hop.

Copyright Criminals: Sampling in Other Media

4m 47s / TV-PG

This Community Classroom educational module explores how other art forms such as the blues and Walt Disney movies have “borrowed” from the work of other artists, and introduces some of the artists at the front of the remix culture that has emerged in the 21st century.

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