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from history of white people in america episode 6, the US capitol with a huge number of illustrations from world cultures of diverse peoples, none of them racial caricatures
Behind the Films

December 18, 2024

Behind the Animated, Musical Documentary About “Race Roulette”

Independent Lens in Behind the Films

By Independent Lens Staff The sixth episode of the short docuseries History of White People in America is in the format of a catchy musical, but for a purpose: to…...

A sculpture of a silver human head made to look like a grenade.
Beyond the Films

November 08, 2024

Make Art or Die? For Some Veterans Creating Art Can Heal from Trauma

Independent Lens in Beyond the Films

By Ivonne Spinoza [Image above courtesy the artist: "Grenade Head," by Peter J Buotte, digitally-milled aluminum, detonator fuze, 2005.] Most people may be familiar with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and…...

The History of White People in America

A series of musical animations, chronicling diverse experiences of how race has helped shape American culture. These shorts provide insight into the unique lived experiences of historical figures who played a role in the evolving definitions of identity. Read More

Colorado 2020 Electors with CO Secretary of State, Jena Griswold, they are all wearing protective face masks and stand on the steps of the capitol in Denver.
Beyond the Films

September 18, 2024

America’s Electoral College: Six Surprising Facts About the Who and How

Independent Lens in Beyond the Films

By Bianca Beyrouti Every four years, the U.S. Presidential election revives a similarly lively, if increasingly tense, discussion about the Electoral College, namely its function and impact.  As we find…...

Minted

An insider’s look at the rise and fall of the NFT (non-fungible token) phenomenon and how technology transformed the traditional art world, for better and worse. Featuring verité footage and candid interviews with groundbreaking artists—like Beeple, Latasha Alcindor, and Loish— at the center of this phenomenon, Minted delves into the… Read More

Free for All: The Public Library

Free for All: The Public Library tells the story of the quiet revolutionaries who made a simple idea happen. From the pioneering women behind the “Free Library Movement” to today’s librarians who service the public despite working in a contentious age of closures and book bans, meet those who created… Read More

Make Peace or Die: Honor the Fallen

Riddled with survivor’s guilt after his unit lost 17 men during “Operation Enduring Freedom” in Afghanistan, Marine veteran Anthony Marquez makes it his mission to reconnect with the Gold Star families of the fallen. By carving and hand-delivering a battlefield cross for each of the families affected by loss, Anthony… Read More

Wild Hogs and Saffron

A wild hog hunt in the Ozarks leads to an unexpectedly vulnerable dialogue between Iranian American filmmaker Andy Sarjahani and his childhood friend Bubba as they navigate a polarized world. As their paths diverged in the increasingly anti-Middle Eastern years after 9/11, Andy’s journey of self-examination tries to… Read More

The Strike

The high-security Pelican Bay prison was designed for mass-scale solitary confinement, often for a decade or more, and with little due process. In 2013, 30,000 incarcerated people went on a hunger strike that spread into a feat of unity across California prisons. The Strike follows these solitary survivors who fought… Read More

Skin of Glass

A journey to reckon with Brazil’s harsh inequality begins when filmmaker Denise Zmekhol discovers her father’s architectural masterpiece in São Paulo—a 24-story tall modernist icon known as “Pele de Vidro” (Skin of Glass)—is inhabited by hundreds of unhoused people. But after getting to know these occupants, what started as a… Read More

One Person, One Vote?

At a time when many Americans question democratic institutions, One Person, One Vote? unveils the complexities of the Electoral College, the uniquely American and often misunderstood mechanism for electing a president. The documentary follows four presidential electors representing different parties in Colorado during the intense 2020 election. Read More