Bike Vessel

Independent Lens

Indie Films Series / 8 Seasons

Authentic stories. Extraordinary people.

Watch Latest: S26 E15

1h 22m / TV-14

Trailer | Matter of Mind: My Alzheimer's

30s

Matter of Mind: My Alzheimer’s is an intimate portrayal of three families confronting the unique challenges of Alzheimer’s and how this progressive neurodegenerative disease transforms roles and relationships. Whether it's a partner caring for a loved one or an adult child shifting into being their parent's caregiver, these stories show how families evolve when a loved one is diagnosed.

Trailer | Who Is Michael Jang?

30s

After a long career as a commercial and portrait photographer, mischievous San Francisco artist Michael Jang sat for decades on a hidden treasure of pictures taken in his 20s—both candid celebrity shots and a down-to-earth cross-section of Chinese American family life rarely captured so playfully. Then, during the pandemic, Jang set out to share his work with the world, street guerilla-style.

Trailer | And So It Begins

30s

And So It Begins follows the Philippines’ turbulent 2022 presidential race, with the son of ousted former dictator Ferdinand Marcos waging a combative social media campaign against his more progressive opponent, incumbent Vice President Leni Robredo. Following it all is independent journalist and Nobel-winner Maria Ressa, with an eye toward the specter of increasing autocracy.

Trailer | Free For All: The Public Library

30s

Free For All: The Public Library tells the story of how a simple idea shaped a nation and the quiet revolutionaries who made it happen. From pioneering women behind the “Free Library Movement” to today's librarians who service the public despite working in a contentious age of closures. Free for All shows how libraries have always been a sanctuary for generations of Americans.

Trailer | WE WANT THE FUNK!

30s

We Want the Funk is a syncopated voyage through the history of funk music, spanning from African, soul, and early jazz roots, to its rise into the public consciousness. Featuring James Brown's dynamism, the extraterrestrial funk of George Clinton's Parliament Funkadelic, transformed girl group Labelle, and Fela Kuti's Afrobeat, the story also traces funk's influences on both new wave and hip-hop.

Home Court Advantage Ep 3

5m 30s

The Oakland Roots and Soul Sports Club's co-founder, Edreece Arghandiwal, takes to heart the soccer teams' motto, "Know Your Roots." The pride, pressure, and empathy required to lead a team are supported by his Afghan heritage and humble attitude in the face of success. We ran a series of drills that proved a good coach can motivate even a soccer noob into self-confidence.

Home Court Advantage Ep 2

5m 10s

What happens when a novice basketball player is challenged to a game of HORSE by Brian Bell, three-time Paralympic gold medalist in wheelchair basketball? We get the opportunity to learn about his journey as an athlete and see some of his best shots! From the coaches who believed in him, to becoming a mentor to youth himself, Brian reveals sports lessons that double as life lessons.

Home Court Advantage Ep 1

6m 7s

Southern Californian basketball player-turned-expert crossfit trainer Jamie Hagiya puts our hosts through the wringer with five increasingly challenging, sweat-inducing exercises while telling the story of her journey to become a formidable force in fitness.

Trailer | Home Court

30s

Home Court is the coming-of-age story of Ashley Chea, a Cambodian American basketball prodigy in Southern California. As her high school career crescendos, her life intensifies amid recruitment, injury, and triumph as her natural talent inspires the support of those around her.

Spring 2025 Sneak Peak

1m

Get ready for our upcoming documentaries: WE WANT THE FUNK!, Who is Michael Jang?, Matter of Mind: My Alzheimer's, and Free for All: The Public Library. INDEPENDENT LENS returns with a season of powerful stories that celebrate resilience and connection. Watch the new films on the PBS app this Spring!

Trailer | Bike Vessel

30s

Knowing his dad miraculously recovered from three open-heart surgeries after discovering a passion for cycling, filmmaker Eric D. Seals proposes an ambitious idea: Bike together from St. Louis to Chicago. 350 miles. 4 days. On their journey, the two push each other as they find a deeper connection and a renewed appreciation of their quests for their own health and to reimagine Black health.

Trailer | Skin of Glass

30s

A journey to reckon with Brazil’s harsh inequality begins when filmmaker Denise Zmekhol discovers her father’s architectural masterpiece in São Paulo—a 24-story tall modernist icon known as “Pele de Vidro” (Skin of Glass)—is inhabited by hundreds of unhoused people. But after getting to know these occupants, what started as a personal quest becomes something much bigger.

Trailer | The In Between

30s

Following her brother's death, a filmmaker returns to Eagle Pass, the Texas bordertown where she grew up, to document the places that shaped their family. She finds a treasure trove of his own footage that brings him back to life, sparking a reflection on growing up Mexican American along the U.S.-Mexico border. She rediscovers the beautiful mysteries of their complex hometown.

Trailer | The Strike

30s

The high-security Pelican Bay prison was designed for mass-scale solitary confinement, often for a decade or more, and with little due process. In 2013, 30,000 prisoners went on a hunger strike that spread into a feat of unity across California prisons. The Strike follows these solitary survivors who fought to abolish indefinite isolation.

Trailer | Without Arrows

30s

After 13 years living in Philadelphia, Delwin Fiddler Jr., a champion grass dancer, embraces indigenous culture by returning to his ancestral home on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota. Leaving his big city life behind, Delwin aims to protect his centuries-old Lakota heritage and heal from family tragedy, through his passion for dance.

Trailer | Minted

30s

An insider’s look at the rise and fall of the NFT (non-fungible token) phenomenon and how technology transformed the traditional art world, for better and worse. Featuring verité footage and candid interviews with groundbreaking artists—like Beeple, Latasha Alcindor, and Loish— at the center of this phenomenon, Minted delves into the complex world of the $40 billion NFT digital art market.

Winter 2024 Sneak Peek

1m

Independent Lens is back, serving up impactful, acclaimed new docs, starting with Home Court, Bike Vessel Minted, The In Between and followed by Skin of Glass, Without Arrows, The Strike, and Dallas, 2019.

Trailer | Make Peace or Die: Honor the Fallen

30s

Riddled with survivor's guilt after his unit lost 17 men during "Operation Enduring Freedom" in Afghanistan, Marine veteran Anthony Marquez makes it his mission to reconnect with the Gold Star families of the fallen. By carving and hand-delivering a battlefield cross for each of the families affected by loss, Anthony finds the path to heal himself.

Trailer | One Person, One Vote?

30s

At a time when many Americans question democratic institutions, One Person, One Vote? unveils the complexities of the Electoral College, the uniquely American and often misunderstood mechanism for electing a president. The documentary follows four presidential electors representing different parties in Colorado during the intense 2020 election.

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