Blog

A handful of people clean up a rocky beach on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) while a row of stone moai statues loom in the background.
Beyond the Films
May, 12, 2020

Rapa Nui and Other Fragile Lands Rally Against Tourism Pollution

Independent Lens in Beyond the Films

By Satu Runa In a story that begins with a heartfelt message to their infant son about the unique character of his ancestral home Rapa Nui (also known as Easter Island), in their film Eating Up Easter director Sergio Mata’u…
The back of a man in a dimly lit editing suite as he looks over old home movies spread across three computer monitors.
Behind the Films
May, 1, 2020

Sasha Joseph Neulinger Confronts Family Trauma Head-On

Independent Lens in Behind the Films

It's been a pretty impressive run for what was someone's very first feature documentary. But then again, Rewind is no ordinary first film. After Sasha Joseph Neulinger finished film school at Montana State University, he discovered the raw materials that…
Two women on a busy beach build a sandcastle.
Behind the Films
April, 16, 2020

Filmmaker Asks New Yorkers, What Does the Future Look Like?

Independent Lens in Behind the Films

Toronto-based filmmaker Brett Story, whose previous film The Prison in Twelve Landscapes aired on Independent Lens in 2017, holds a PhD in geography and her unconventional storytelling style reflects both a geographer's exploring eye and a listener's empathetic ear. She…
Illustration of a side profile of a human head filled in with a black and white image of a tree with many wiry-looking branches.
Beyond the Films
April, 11, 2020

Rural Perspective on Mental Health Care in a Time of Crisis

Independent Lens in Beyond the Films

by Rooney Elmi Kenneth Paul Rosenberg MD’s Bedlam profiles of one of the most pervasive and stigmatized public health crises: mental illness. Taking its titular inspiration from the infamous English “madhouse” founded in the 13th Century (and inspiring Rosenberg’s book…
Headshot of producer/director Kenneth Rosenberg, a man with light skin tone and gray hair and beard.
Beyond the Films
April, 8, 2020

“My Family’s Tragedy Is an American Tragedy”: Bedlam Filmmaker’s Journey to Depict Mental Health Crisis

Independent Lens in Beyond the Films

In his film Bedlam, Kenneth Paul Rosenberg, MD follows the lives of three patients who find themselves with a chronic lack of institutional support, while he also weaves in his own story of how the system failed his late sister,…
Beyond the Films
April, 6, 2020

Peer Support and the Complexity of Mental Health

Independent Lens in Beyond the Films

By Lennlee Keep The film Bedlam explores mental illness from the perspectives of physicians, politicians, parents, and patients themselves. The power of documentary film is that it generates conversations about more than what is on the screen. After I watched…
A man with light skin tone looks at a computer in a home office alongside an Asian woman, also working at a computer.
Beyond the Films
March, 26, 2020

This Couple Finds Answers for Adopted Daughters From China

Independent Lens in Beyond the Films

Brian and Long Lan Stuy are a Utah couple who have adopted three daughters from China: Meikina from DianBai, Meigon from Guangzhou, and Meilan from Luoyang. After discovering that documentation for one of their adopted children was fake, Brian and…
A blind man with light skin tone on a date at a speed dating event with a blond woman with light skin tone.
Beyond the Films
March, 5, 2020

“Is Attraction Different in the Absence of Sight?”

Independent Lens in Beyond the Films

By Kemberlie Spivey Australian-born independent filmmaker Patricia Zagarella has been creating documentaries for over ten years and co-produced the Emmy-award winning documentary Baring It All. That film followed fashion photographer David Jay into the worlds of four young breast cancer…
Still from the 1920 film "Within Our Gates" showing a mob of white men preparing to lynch a young Black boy, while a woman hugs him.
Beyond the Films
February, 20, 2020

As American as the Blues: Lynching in Film and TV

Independent Lens in Beyond the Films

By Ade Adeniji Always in Season explores the history of lynching through the mysterious 2014 death of Lennon Lacy while also looking at historical reenactments of lynching, prompting some to question the value of conjuring up the past. The specter…
Headshot of filmmaker Jacqueline Olive, a woman with medium-dark skin tone and shoulder-length dark hair. She wears pink lipstick.
Behind the Films
February, 20, 2020

Filmmaker Explores First Steps Toward Justice and Reconciliation

Independent Lens in Behind the Films

Independent filmmaker Jacqueline Olive, who has worked in non-fiction filmmaking for years and co-directed and co-produced the award-winning hour-long documentary, Black to Our Roots (PBS WORLD), makes her feature documentary directing debut with the searing Always in Season, which was…
A black and white photo of Billie Holiday singing mid-note.
Beyond the Films
February, 19, 2020

Billie Holiday’s Searing “Strange Fruit” Still Has the Power to Startle

Independent Lens in Beyond the Films

By Nick Dedina There are often false narratives we tell ourselves so that we can simplify, and beautify, the past and erase aspects of the present that we are uncomfortable with. Take the view that the olden times glowed with…
An ancient painting of the Hindu myth of the flood, showing 8 men in a swan-shaped boat sailing alongside a large fish or whale, who is pulling them.
Beyond the Films
February, 14, 2020

A Flood of Myths and Stories

Independent Lens in Beyond the Films

By Lennlee Keep We Believe in Dinosaurs is an exploration of the scientific and historical veracity of the Bible and the construction of an authentic likeness of Noah's Ark in Williamstown, Kentucky.  Known as “The Ark Encounter,” this theme park…