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Independent Lens is broadcast on most PBS stations on Tuesdays at 10:00 p.m.
Please check the broadcast schedule. Dates and times may vary.
Asian American
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Trapped in the middle of the desert on their way to the Grand Canyon, a Sikh American family has only one hope: the remote highway and the occasional car that drives by. AMERICAN MADE confronts issues of tradition, faith, conformity and sacrifice after the family's youngest son accuses his turban-clad orthodox father of looking like a terrorist while stranded on a remote desert road.
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Set against the turbulent relationship between the U.S. and Iran, Iranian-American filmmaker Marjan Tehrani captures the struggle and excitement of Alex and Heather as they plan a Persian Islamic wedding in Iran. But when Alex’s Iranian-born parents and Heather’s conservative American father meet for the first time, cultures clash and test the couple to their limits.
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Eighty-year-old Jimmy Mirikitani survived the trauma of internment camps, Hiroshima and homelessness by creating art. But when 9/11 threatens his life on the New York City streets and a local filmmaker brings him to her home, the two embark on a journey to confront Jimmy's painful past. THE CATS OF MIRIKITANI is an intimate exploration of the lingering wounds of war and the healing powers of friendship and art. Produced in association with ITVS and CAAM.
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COSMOPOLITAN
by Jen Small, Jason Orans, Brian Devine and Nisha Ganatra
Co-presented by KTEH/San Jose and the Center for Asian American Media
June 1, 2004
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When his wife and daughter abandon him, East Indian immigrant Gopal (Roshan Seth) reinvents himself as an all-American bachelor. With women’s magazines as his guide, he pursues Mrs. Shaw (Carol Kane), the divorcée next door. But he finds there’s more to love than the pages of Cosmo would suggest. A romantic comedy directed by Nisha Ganatra (Chutney Popcorn) and written by Sabrina Dhawan (Monsoon Wedding).
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DEATH OF A SHAMAN
by Fahm Fong Saeyang and Richard Hall
Co-presented by KVIE/Sacramento and the
Center for Asian American Media
May 27, 2004
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Through a journey that takes her back to her roots in Thailand, a young Mien woman from Sacramento strives to come to terms with her father’s death and drug addiction and her sister’s murder. Reunited with her Mien relatives, she begins to grasp the complexity of her father’s past and experience the nuances of lost identity.
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An artist and self-proclaimed “old Chinese lady” sets out to explore her own identity and prove that it’s never too late to take a risk by making her first film in her 60s. The result? An experimental program that expresses her roots in two countries through self-effacing humor, double-exposed images and an immigrant’s long look back at her native China.
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One of America’s first post 9/11 hate crime murders punctuated a growing wave of violence in retaliation for the terror attacks. Told from the perspective of the victim’s brother, A DREAM IN DOUBT travels to Mesa, Arizona to reveal a story of national tragedy, murder, community and the American dream.
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FACE TO FACE is an interactive Web-based experience that connects the experiences of antipathy, prejudice, fear and confusion felt by Japanese Americans in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor with those confronting Arab and Muslim Americans today. As the user experiences the FACE TO FACE site, they uncover and dispel myths and untruths, discover similarities and shared experiences, and find some common ground for understanding, tolerance and compassion.
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FISHBOWL
by Kayo Hatta, Linda Barry and Eleanor Nakama-Mitsunaga
Co-presentation with PBS Hawaii and the Center for Asian American Media
May 9, 2006
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In the sleepy plantation town of Hilo, Hawaii, an 11-year-old named Lovey is trying to be anything but herself. In this dramatic short adapted from Lois-Ann Yamanaka's Wild Meat and the Bully Burgers, Lovey's comical—and often painful—quest culminates in one fateful Halloween night.
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Born in a Thai refugee camp on Cambodian New Year, filmmaker Socheata Poeuv grew up in the United States never knowing that her family had survived the Khmer Rouge genocide. In NEW YEAR BABY, she embarks on a journey to Cambodia in search of the truth and why her family's history had been buried in secrecy for so long.
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RACE IS THE PLACE
by Rick Tejada-Flores and Ray Telles
Co-presentation with the National Minority Consortia and KERA/Dallas
November 22, 2005
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How do American artists address our nation's most pressing social issue?
Using spoken, sung and chanted word, African American, Latino, Asian
American, Pacific Islander and Native American authors, performance
artists, poets and singers explore the pain, frustration and humor of
racism in America.
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REFUGEE
by Spencer Nakasako
Co-presented by the Center for Asian American Media
May 11, 2004
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Three young Cambodian American men, raised on the streets of San Francisco’s tough Tenderloin district, travel to Cambodia wielding video cameras to capture their experiences of meeting fathers, sisters and brothers for the first time. These family reunions reveal the quagmire of Cambodian political upheaval and military invasion, as well as the heavy toll of years spent apart in different worlds.
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Raised as Americans in inner city projects near Seattle, three young Cambodian refugees each made a rash decision as a teenager that irrevocably shaped their destiny. Years later, facing deportation back to Cambodia, they find themselves caught between a tragic past and an uncertain future by a system that doesn't offer any second chances. Produced in association with ITVS and CAAM.
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The famous fighting monks of the Shaolin monastery have seen a resurgence throughout the world, aided in part by the popularity of kungfu movies among the hip-hop set and films like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The film follows a handful of Shaolin monks who have brought the style to America, chronicling their adventures in New York City, Houston and Las Vegas.
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SHORT STACK 2006 features the Grand Prize winner of the first Independent Lens Online Shorts Festival (TBA) and the animated comedy “The Zit,” in which a boy on his way to the school dance is forced to deal with his first pimple. In “My Life Disoriented,” teenage sisters struggle to find acceptance after their father uproots the family and relocates them to a town where they are among only a handful of Asian Americans.
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Imran, a young Muslim American, struggles to take over his father's neighborhood halal slaughterhouse in New York City. The son of an immigrant, Imran must confront his mixed heritage and gain acceptance from his father's conservative community. On one of Islam's holiest days, Imran must lead a sacrifice that will define him as a Muslim, as an American and as a son.
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SUMO EAST AND WEST
by Ferne Pearlstein and Robert Edwards
Co-presented by the Center for Asian American Media
and Pacific Islanders in Communications
June 8, 2004
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In recent years, the ancient art of sumo has witnessed the rise of an increasing number of foreigners to the top of its professional ranks. From Hawaii to Atlantic City, the experiences of American wrestlers provide an entertaining glimpse at the past, present and future of sumo, revealing how this former bastion of Japanese tradition is grappling with globalizing Western forces.
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the National Endowment for the Arts