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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.
Women
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Filmed by the first team of women video journalists ever to be trained in Afghanistan, this uncompromising film reveals the effects of the Taliban’s repressive rule and the U.S.-sponsored bombing campaign on Afghani women. Leaving Kabul for the first time and traveling to rural regions of the country, the filmmakers present footage of women whose lives have been decimated by recent events.
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Inside the Web site:
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When lesbian music student Kristina Boerger moved to a small Illinois college town, she didn’t find a ready-made community. So she created one with what she loved best: choral singing. Assembling a ragtag group of volunteers, she created the area’s first lesbian choir. Showing the choir’s evolution into a nationally accepted and recognized award-winning ensemble, THE AMASONG CHORUS documents how the spirit and dedication of one person can help transform a community.
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She's a best-selling author with dreadlocks. A single mother and "sober alcoholic" who is both a born-again Christian and a liberal activist. Anne Lamott shares her own moving story of a survivor and iconoclast, offering wise and funny insights into everything from loss and faith to retail therapy and gorillas.
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Jasmine left her village in a remote part of China to get a job and help her family. Now she and her teenage friends at the blue jean factory are trying to survive in a brutal work environment. Shot clandestinely, CHINA BLUE takes a rare and poignant look at the individuals who toil day-to-day to make the clothes we buy. Co-production of ITVS in association with CAAM.
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COMPAÑERAS
by Elizabeth Massie and Matthew Buzzell
April 1, 2008
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COMPAÑERAS profiles America's first all-female mariachi band, Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles. Founded in 1994, the 12 members of Reyna shatter age-old stereotypes while expanding the popularity of mariachi music. In a culture and a musical tradition that has always been male-dominated, these women are true pioneers, literally giving voice to Latinas.
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Young girls whose lives were shattered by the child sex trade describe the day they were abducted from their villages as “the day my god died.” By weaving footage from the brothels of Bombay with these girls’ stories, Levine offers an unforgettable examination of the growing plague of child sex slavery.
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As Hollywood stuntwomen for Wonder Woman and Xena: Warrior Princess, Jeannie Epper and Zoë Bell have been set on fire, thrown off buildings, dragged by wild horses and hit by cars. Who are the real women behind these two television icons? DOUBLE DARE follows their daily struggles to stay employed, stay thin and stay sane in this notoriously macho profession.
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EROICA!
by Alan Miller
December 9, 2003
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Three young and sexy musicians are changing the face of classical music. One of the first all-female chamber ensembles to reach the top echelons of their field, the Eroica Trio is helping to break an age-old gender barrier. The film follows the group and the composer of their latest work as they scramble to finish preparations for the debut while balancing their busy lives as spouses and parents.
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GIRL TROUBLE
by Lexi Leban and Lidia Szajko
Co-presentation with KQED/San Francisco
January 17, 2006
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Shot over four years, GIRL TROUBLE is the story of three girls entangled in San Francisco's juvenile justice system. Documenting the girls' remarkable successes and heartbreaking setbacks regarding poverty, parenthood, violence and homelessness, it exposes a system that fails to meet the need of girls in trouble.
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Texas teenager Tara Neal insists that girls and boys should be able to wrestle on the same mat. Follow Neal through the last year that state guidelines allow her to wrestle boys, amidst family conflict, pressures to cut weight and fierce policy debates over Title IX, which grants women’s athletics proportionality in public schools.
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Will mothers tip the scales in the battle over gun control? GUNS & MOTHERS traces the activism of two women on opposite sides of the issue: Maria, a mother of four and spokeswoman for Second Amendment Sisters; and Frances, an advocate of gun control who lost three sons to urban bullets.
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Her Depression-era pictures stunned 1930s audiences with their beauty, intimacy and unflinching visions of the poor, the unlucky and the oppressed. HANSEL MIETH traces the journey of one of America's great photographers from provincial Germany to the pages of Life magazine, where she set the standard for socially concerned artists.
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HEART OF THE SEA
by Charlotte Lagarde & Lisa Denker
A Pacific Islanders in Communications and KHET/Hawaii co-presentation
May 6, 2003
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On a surfboard, she carved the way for women in a sport dominated by men. But at the age of 32, Rell Kapolioka'ehukai Sunn was diagnosed with breast cancer. HEART OF THE SEA is a portrait of "Auntie Rell," who inspired those who knew her as an athlete, survivor and activist.
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IMELDA
by Ramona Diaz
Co-presented with NAATA
May 10, 2005
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How has the former first lady of the Philippines managed to court, coddle, use and abuse power—for nearly four decades? Watch news clips, propaganda films, home movies, vérité footage and revealing interviews with Marcos herself as well as with her friends and her enemies.
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IRON LADIES OF LIBERIA
by Daniel Junge, Siatta Scott-Johnson, Henry Ansbacher and Jonathan Stack
March 18, 2008
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With unprecedented access, this intimate documentary goes behind the scenes with Africa's first freely elected female head of state, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, president of Liberia. The film explores the challenges facing the new president and the extraordinary women surrounding her as they develop and implement policy to rebuild their ravaged country and prevent a descent back into civil war.
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Legendary Afro-Cuban pop singer Lupe Victoria Yoli, was crowned "The Queen of Latin Soul" by New York's Latin music scene in the 1960s. Renowned for her emotional performances, La Lupe remains the quintessential bad girl, dying tragically, virtually unknown in 1992. Shot in Cuba, Puerto Rico and the U.S., LA LUPE tells her story through interviews and rare archival footage from the groundbreaking musical era. Produced in assocation with ITVS and LPB.
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It is 1941. In a moving performance by actress Catherine Samie, a Russian Jewish woman living in a Ukrainian city seized by the Germans writes her son a final letter. She knows that all the Jews will be killed within days. In this last letter, she reviews her life and faces her death, and in doing so, she reveals courage, dignity, fear and a fierce love of her son.
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Pentecostal/Baptist minister Curtis Boyd relinquished the pulpit in the 1960s to become a doctor who provided thousands of safe, illegal abortions prior to Roe v. Wade. This film tells the story of Dr. Boyd and a group of compassionate clergymen, who remain dedicated to the idea that all women have the right to a safe abortion.
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A frustrated filmmaker who is captivated by Emily Dickinson’s poetry searches for “flashes of insight” beyond those offered by experts such as actress Julie Harris and U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins. He turns to shrinks, a stand-up comic, a rock band and dozens of actresses who recite poems and improvise Dickinsonian answers to questions about God, death and love—resulting in a playful rethinking of the elusive belle of Amherst.
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MAGGIE GROWLS
by Barbara Attie & Janet Goldwater
February 4, 2003
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How did one "little old lady" use her charm, savvy and outrage to fuel a political chain reaction that forever changed society's treatment of older Americans? MAGGIE GROWLS combines moving interviews, archival footage and wildly imaginative animation to tell the story of Maggie Kuhn, founder of the Gray Panthers.
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As three of the thousands of Latina immigrants working as nannies and housekeepers in Los Angeles, Judith, Telma and Eva have all left family and friends behind to come to America. MAID IN AMERICA reveals the challenges these women face as they pursue "the American Dream," their significant roles in American households and the globalization of motherhood.
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MIRROR DANCE
by Frances McElroy and Maria T. Rodriguez
Co-presentation with Latino Public Broadcasting
November 15, 2005
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Identical twins Margarita and Ramona de Saá were acclaimed ballerinas with the National Ballet of Cuba. Once inseparable, their relationship disintegrated as one sister left for America while the other embraced the Cuban Revolution. MIRROR DANCE is the story of two women forever linked by birth and dance, struggling to overcome rifts not only between sisters, but also between nations.
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For more than 50 years, the Miss Navajo Nation beauty pageant has given its contestants opportunities to showcase not only their beauty but also their skills in dance, music and sheep slaughtering. Following contestants in their quest for the crown, and featuring personal stories of recent winners, MISS NAVAJO is a celebration of womanhood.
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Nearly one in seven Afghan women die in childbirth. MOTHERLAND AFGHANISTAN introduces the women behind these devastating statistics. Afghan American filmmaker Sedika Mojadidi examines her father's works as an OB/GYN as he struggles to make a difference, first at Kabul's recently renamed Laura Bush Maternity Ward and then in an isolated provincial hospital, where patients often travel for several days to get treatment.
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Every year, the residents of Dorchester County, Maryland look forward to the biggest weekend of the year: The National Outdoor Show. On the same stage as the muskrat-skinning contest, high school girls compete to win the title of queen of the show. This portrait of a close-knit Chesapeake Bay community traces the events leading up to the 50th crowning of Miss Outdoors.
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After Joanna Katz was brutally tortured and gang-raped, she faced her assailants and transformed herself into a victim’s rights advocate. Called upon to testify at parole hearings year after year, this South Carolina woman decided to collaborate with a seasoned filmmaker to tell her own story, challenging the parole system in order to heal herself—and to give courage to other women who have survived violent crimes.
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SHADYA
by Danny Hakim, Udi Kalinsky and Roy Westler
January 16, 2007
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Shadya Zoabi, a charismatic 17-year-old karate world champion, strives to succeed on her own terms within her traditional Muslim village in northern Israel. Despite her father's support, she faces the challenge of balancing her dreams with her religious commitments and other's expectations. SHADYA takes an intimate look at the evolution of a young Israeli Arab woman with feminist ideas in a male-dominated culture.
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SISTERS IN LAW looks at the work of one small courthouse in the African nation of Cameroon. With fierce compassion, the tough-minded state prosecutor Vera Ngassa and court president Beatrice Ntuba dispense wisdom, wisecracks and justice in fair measure.
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During the Nazi occupation of France, four young women - who were neither Jews nor Communists nor in any danger of arrest--chose to risk their lives as Resistance fighters. SISTERS IN RESISTANCE shares the story of four heroines whose intense friendship, sorrows and social activism lasted long after the war was won.
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Shot over two years, SISTERS follows the lives of the women of St. Scholastica Monastery in Duluth, Minnesota. The story is told by the Sisters themselves—at work, prayer and leisure—as they pursue a balanced life based on the Rule of St. Benedict and face an uncertain future with spirit, conviction and wit.
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SISTERS OF '77
by Cynthia Salzman Mondell and Allen Mondell
March 1, 2005
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On a historic weekend in November 1977, 20,000 women and men attended the first federally funded National Women’s Conference in Houston, Texas, where they caucused, argued and finally hammered out resolutions that revolutionized the women’s movement. SISTERS OF ’77 weaves archival footage and interviews with past and current activists and participants.
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SUNSET STORY
by Laura Gabbert, Caroline Libresco and Eden H. Wurmfeld
March 22, 2005
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Irja, age 81, and her best friend, Lucille, age 95, are the only lucid residents at a senior citizens’ home for political progressives. SUNSET STORY delves into their world, revealing how these women salvage support and community in old age.
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They faced death threats on the job—some from the men they worked alongside. With the story of Captain Brenda Berkman of the Fire Department of New York at its core, TAKING THE HEAT explores the history of women firefighters in America and the price they paid to serve their communities.
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When Janet Rosenberg Jagan—the filmmaker’s cousin—was elected Guyana’s president in 1997, she became the first American-born woman to lead a nation. THUNDER IN GUYANA interweaves family history and Guyanese history with the extraordinary life story of this unconventional woman, who, along with her husband, Cheddi Jagan, is considered to be one of the founders of Guyana.
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TROOP 1500
by Ellen Spiro and Karen Bernstein
March 21, 2006
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At the Gatesville Prison in Texas, a unique Girl Scout troop unites daughters with mothers who have been convicted of serious crimes. Facing steep sentences from the courts and tough questions from their children, the mothers struggle to rebuild relationships with the daughters who endure a childhood without them.
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the National Endowment for the Arts