Austin was an extremely appropriate place to premiere the film Tower, which revisits the 1966 sniper shootings at the University of Texas at Austin, considered the first mass shooting on a college campus in the United States. Many of the survivors and heroes from that devastating day fifty years ago were on hand to witness the …
The Great Invisible Nominated for 2015 Emmy Award
We were excited to learn today that the Independent Lens film The Great Invisible, which aired on PBS in April, was just nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Exceptional Merit for Documentary Filmmaking. Kudos to director Margaret Brown and her whole team for the honor. The Hollywood Reporter called The Great Invisible “a powerful documentary that reminds …
Margaret Brown Returns to the Gulf for The Great Invisible
Filmmaker Margaret Brown, a native of Mobile, Alabama, came back to the Gulf Coast to tell the human story of the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon explosion. On the fifth anniversary of the spill, she talked to us about what compelled her to make The Great Invisible.
Survivors: Confronting Deepwater Horizon Trauma through Oil on Canvas
Artist Sara Lattis Stone, whose husband Stephen Stone escaped the Deepwater Horizon disaster alive, turned to her craft — painting — as a means of confronting the post-traumatic stress her family endured following the tragedy. Watch a short profile of Sara and Stephen and then view a gallery of her moving work.
Going Deeper into the Deepwater Horizon Rig
This coming Monday, April 20, marks the 5th anniversary of the disastrous Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion, considered the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the oil industry. The Great Invisible, Margaret Brown’s film premiering on Independent Lens on PBS Monday at 10pm (check local listings), makes clear how the record-setting spill’s repercussions reached far beyond the …
Best Documentaries of 2014: Scanning the Critics’ Lists
The critics have spoken. And they’re saying… a lot of different things, but when it comes to picking the best documentary films of the year there is plenty of common ground. We’ve surveyed a wide variety of critics and publications to gather the documentaries they thought were the best of 2014 [highlighting Independent Lens films …
A Schedule Appears: Independent Lens Announces Winter/Spring ’15 Films
Coming to Independent Lens January through June 2015: an Oscar “shortlisted” film, several International Documentary Association Award winners, and SXSW, Sundance, and Tribeca winners, in a diverse slate of films that will take you to practically every corner of the United States and well beyond.
The Great Invisible Wins Grand Jury Prize at SXSW
Margaret Brown’s new documentary The Great Invisible won the Grand Jury Prize at the SXSW festival, the top honors for nonfiction film at the prestigious Austin, Texas film festival. The film, which examines the disastrous Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in-depth through the eyes of oil executives, survivors, and Gulf Coast residents, …