Featured Films
 | Reel Injun: On the Trail of the Hollywood Indianby Neil Diamond Kemosabe? Loincloths, fringed pants, and feather headdresses? Heap big stereotypes. Reel Injun is an entertaining trip through the evolution of North American Native people ("The Indians") as portrayed in famous Hollywood movies, from the silent era to today. Jim Jarmusch, Clint Eastwood, Graham Greene, John Trudell, and others provide insights into the often demeaning and occasionally hilariously absurd stereotypes perpetuated on the big screen through Hollywood's history. |
 | The Parking Lot Movieby Meghan Eckman The Parking Lot Movie chronicles the rarefied world of one small parking lot in a college town, and the asphalt philosophers who work as attendants there. |
 | Art & Copyby Doug Pray Meet the real Mad Men in Art & Copy, an intimate look at the people behind the curtain of modern consumer culture. |
 | The Callingby Danny Alpert It takes a true calling to make faith a way of life. |
 | Bhuttoby Duane Baughman An intimate look at one of the most fascinating and important world leaders of our time, Benazir Bhutto. |
 | 45365by Bill Ross and Turner Ross 45365 is a vérité exploration of the congruities of daily life in an American town. From the patrol car to the courtroom, the playground to the nursing home, it explores relationships and interactions with and between people and their community. The stories of a father and son, a young relationship, cops and criminals, officials and their electorate coalesce into a mosaic of faces, places, and events. 45365 is a portrait of a city and its people. |
 | Deep Downby Sally Rubin and Jen Gilomen Deep in the Appalachian mountains of eastern Kentucky, Beverly May and Terry Ratliff find themselves at the center of a contentious community battle over a proposed mountaintop removal coal mine. |
 | Lost Sparrowby Chris Billing Three decades ago, two Crow Indian brothers ran away from home and no one knew why. Their sudden and mysterious deaths sent shockwaves through a tiny upstate New York community. Lost Sparrow is their adoptive brother's journey to bring Bobby and Tyler home and confront a painful truth that shattered his family. |
 | Welcome to Shelbyvilleby Kim A. Snyder On the eve of the 2008 election, the town of Shelbyville, Tennessee finds itself embroiled in a struggle to come to terms with a new wave of immigrants and grappling with what it means to be American. |
COMING THIS SEASON
See what's coming to Independent Lens this fall, beginning October 19.
BUZZ
"Watching Independent Lens … is like going into an independent bookstore — you don't always find what you were looking for but you often find something you didn't even know you wanted."
—The New Yorker
"Independent Lens is public television's equivalent of This American Life, a completely freeform program with no apparent rules for what passes. Lens airs a decidedly brilliant mix of drama, documentary, even comedy, and provides an imaginative array of unusual, unknown and immensely engaging stories.”
—“Best 24 Hours on Television,” Paste Magazine
SUBMISSIONS
Independent Lens is accepting submissions of programs for broadcast during the October 2011-June 2012 season. Jointly curated by ITVS and PBS, Independent Lens welcomes the spectrum of independent documentary, including social issue, point of view, history, and animation. We also broadcast a limited number of short films each season. The submission deadline is Friday, September 24, 2010.
CLASSROOM
Community Classroom brings educators and students curricula paired with video modules from the best of Independent Lens films, Web original projects, and online activities. These free resources are a powerful tool for teaching and learning around issues crucial to education today.
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