Blog

Police in military fatigues huddle behind a SWAT robot
Beyond the Films
May, 4, 2016

The Evolution of SWAT Team Equipment: From WWII Rifles to BearCats

Independent Lens in Beyond the Films

When former Davis County Sheriff William "Dub" Lawrence, the subject of the Independent Lens film Peace Officer, established one of Utah's first SWAT teams in 1975 he initially required a four-officer unit, but he could only find three men in his department who met…
Announcements
May, 3, 2016

PBS to Present “Armed in America” Town Halls, a Special Two-Night Event After Independent Lens

Independent Lens in Announcements

PBS will present ARMED IN AMERICA, a special two-night television event exploring the nation’s rising gun violence. Armed in America centers around two acclaimed documentaries presented by Independent Lens: Peace Officer, about a former sheriff who, after establishing and training Utah’s…
From left to right: Horst van Wächter, Philippe Sands, and Niklas Frank
Behind the Films
April, 28, 2016

Human Rights Lawyer Philippe Sands Confronts Children of Nazis with Painful Past

Independent Lens in Behind the Films

While some might call Philippe Sands the on-screen host of My Nazi Legacy, the new film by David Evans that is based on Sands' new book, he's actually the probing, searching journalistic heart at the center of this powerful documentary.…
My Nazi Legacy filmmaker David Evans
Interviews
April, 27, 2016

Downton Abbey Director David Evans Talks About Nazi Legacy Doc

Independent Lens in Interviews

Award-winning English director David Evans helmed the feature film Fever Pitch (the original, superior British version about soccer, starring Colin Firth, for which Nick Hornby adapted his best-selling book of the same name), and is now established as a leading director…
Horst van Wächter and Niklas Frank (l-r), with Philippe Sands in background
Beyond the Films
April, 27, 2016

Blood Guilt: 12 Movies about Healing after Heinous Crimes

Sean Axmaker in Beyond the Films

Niklas Frank and Horst von Wächter are the adult children of high-ranking Nazi officers. As we learn in My Nazi Legacy, their fathers sent tens of thousands of people to their deaths, and Niklas and Horst spent decades dealing with…
Douglas Mwonzora and Paul Mangwana (l-r) during a meeting about ratifying the new Zimbabwe constitution
Beyond the Films
April, 15, 2016

Zimbabwe Update: Still In Flux

Independent Lens in Beyond the Films

The film Democrats, which aired on Independent Lens, traces the challenges and tensions that arose in Zimbabwe over the attempt to charter a new national constitution. While that African nation had a constitution before, this new document was to usher…
Interviews
April, 14, 2016

Camilla Nielsson Gets Unprecedented Access to a Constitution in the Making

Independent Lens in Interviews

Filmmaker Camilla Nielsson is based in Denmark but works all over the globe. Her previous films were set in Afghanistan, Mumbai, and Darfur. Then she turned her attention to Zimbabwe to capture an important and tumultuous period in its political history for her film, Democrats, which won Best Documentary Feature at Tribeca…
A nurse wearing latex gloves clasps the hands of a woman receiving an abortion (includes IL Audience Award graphic)
March, 4, 2016

TRAPPED

Independent Lens

TRAPPED goes to the front lines of the controversial battle currently being waged over so-called TRAP laws — Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers — which reproductive rights advocates believe are designed to restrict access to abortion. Told through the eyes…
An agent holds down a terror suspect in a government counterterror training exercise.
Test Your Knowledge
February, 19, 2016

Take this Quiz on the War on Terror

Independent Lens in Test Your Knowledge

Everything changed in the United States on September 11, 2001. While in the aftermath of those attacks much of the focus in what President George W. Bush called the "War on Terror" was on the Middle East, the efforts to thwart terrorism on…
FBI terrorism task force agents on surveillance mission
Beyond the Films
February, 18, 2016

A Former FBI Agent Talks About Handling Informants

Independent Lens in Beyond the Films

Since 2009, paid FBI informants have played a central role in nearly 50% of all domestic terrorism cases. Informants, who can earn up to $100,000 per case, are instructed to build relationships with persons of interest. The film (T)ERROR [premiering on…
Irina Nistor watches a film being projected, for censorship review, in dramatic recreation scene from Chuck Norris vs. Communism
Film History
December, 31, 2015

Nine Movies about the Power of Cinema

Noel Murray in Film History

In Ilinca Calugareanu’s documentary Chuck Norris vs. Communism, a handful of Romanians who endured the Cold War reminisce about congregating surreptitiously in cramped apartments to watch American action films on illegal VCRs. Some parts of the experience they recall fondly:…
FBI informant Saeed "Shariff" Torres peers out a motel room window at night
December, 1, 2015

(T)ERROR

Independent Lens

(T)ERROR is the story of a 62-year-old Black Panther-turned-counterterrorism informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It is the first film to document a covert terrorism sting as it unfolds. With unprecedented access to both the informant and the target,…