October 02, 2018
Independent Lens Wins Two 2018 News & Documentary Emmys: TOWER and Forever Pure
Craig Phillips in Awards
The News & Documentary Emmy Awards were presented on Monday, October 1, 2018, in a ceremony at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall in New York City, an…...
February 14, 2017
10 Great Animated Documentaries
Noel Murray in Lists
Keith Maitland’s animated documentary TOWER has left critics and awards-voting bodies alike flummoxed as to how best to categorize it. This is a visionary work, no doubt, that uses voice-actors and…...
February 13, 2017
TOWER Playlist: 1966 Music Soundscape
Independent Lens in Beyond the Films
Pure and simple, 1966 was considered by many critics as one of the greatest years for popular music ever [see the Guardian’s “Was 1966 pop music greatest’s year?” and the…...
February 13, 2017
Keith Maitland Goes Back to 1966 to Tell Story of Victims and Heroes of Texas Shooting
Craig Phillips in Interviews
Keith Maitland's previous film The Eyes of Me, the moving story of a group of blind teenagers making their way in Austin, aired on Independent Lens and was nominated for an…...
February 10, 2017
Paying Homage to UT Tower Mass Shooting Victims with Life Affirming Animation
Craig Phillips in Behind the Films
Craig Staggs is the lead animator for the little animation studio that could, Minnow Mountain, based in Austin, Texas, also the home base of filmmaker Keith Maitland. Staggs' company did…...
March 16, 2016
Independent Lens Film “Tower” Wins 2016 SXSW Grand Jury Prize
Craig Phillips in Awards
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…...