{"id":20068,"date":"2020-03-25T07:21:22","date_gmt":"2020-03-25T14:21:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/?post_type=blog&p=20068"},"modified":"2020-03-25T11:38:21","modified_gmt":"2020-03-25T18:38:21","slug":"next-on-pbs-8-stories-about-the-people-shaping-our-world","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/next-on-pbs-8-stories-about-the-people-shaping-our-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Next on PBS: 8 Stories About the People Shaping Our World"},"content":{"rendered":"

“<\/span>You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep spring from coming<\/span><\/i>,” wrote poet Pablo Neruda.<\/span><\/p>\n

Spring has indeed come, and with it an amazing set of documentaries that will round out the rest of this season of <\/span>Independent Lens<\/span><\/i>. The critically acclaimed, award-winning films coming your way starting next week, and into June, will take you on an incredible journey in your living room. Travel from China to the island of Rapa Nui, from small-town Texas to Philadelphia — and inward, on real-life personal pilgrimages that are unlike any you’ve seen before.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCommunities in large cities and small rural towns alike continue to change, as has always been the case in a nation of immigrants,” said Lois Vossen, the series’ Executive Producer. “As the makeup of our neighborhoods evolve, so, too, do ideals and beliefs. Our job at <\/span>Independent Lens<\/span><\/i> is to encourage storytelling that opens up a dialogue on relevant, even taboo topics such as climate change, mental health, the homeless crisis, and how the media shapes our political beliefs. We also celebrate individual mavericks whose visionary work changed millions of lives. Their perseverance inspires us, even in difficult times.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Films making their broad<\/span>cast debuts from April through June include <\/span>Bedlam<\/i><\/b>,<\/b> an intimate examination of the mental health crisis in America, the critically acclaimed <\/span>The Hottest August<\/i><\/b>, <\/b>which paints a portrait of collective anxiety around the looming threat of climate change,<\/span> and <\/span>Jim Allison: Breakthrough<\/i><\/b>, <\/b>which chronicles the work of the Nobel Prize-winning visionary doctor who discovered a way to defeat cancer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here are all the films coming your way beginning March 30:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One Child Nation<\/a> <\/i>(March 30)<\/b> – China\u2019s one-child policy, the extreme population control measure that made it illegal for couples to have more than one child, may have ended in 2015, but the process of dealing with the trauma of its brutal enforcement is only just beginning. From award-winning documentarian Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang, <\/span>One Child Nation<\/span><\/i> explores the ripple effects of this devastating social experiment, uncovering one shocking human rights violation after another. Called <\/span>\u201curgent and affecting\u201d by <\/span>Entertainment Weekly<\/span><\/i>, \u201cimportant\u201d by the <\/span>Washington Post<\/span><\/i>, and a film that \u201cneeds to be seen” by the <\/span>Wall Street Journal.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n