Impact
Connecting our films to communities. Inspiring audiences to take action.
Using Data to Measure Impact
How do you know if documentary film makes a difference in the world?
Indie Lens Pop-Up: Partnering with Communities
ITVS filmmakers want more than a big audience. They work with local public media stations and other champions to spark conversations.
Catalyzed and strengthened community networks in 75 U.S. cities via Indie Lens Pop-Up.
Featuring documentaries seen on PBS’s Independent Lens, this neighborhood series brings people together for film screenings and locally-driven conversations. Online and in over 90 cities across the U.S.
Partnering with organizations in eight countries, this global campaign uses storytelling to create social change—from increasing girls’ access to education to reducing child marriage and gender-based violence.
Connecting you to new and targeted communities, this digital platform lets you screen your film and lead a conversation, engage with panelists, and answer poll questions from any desktop or mobile device. Over 50,000 attendees and counting.
For Educators
Get free access to innovative, standards-aligned digital resources and streaming content based on our award-winning documentaries.
From our blog
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Filmmaker, Festival Director, and Academic Gita Saedi Kiely Joins the ITVS Board of Directors
August 1, 2018Elected in July, Gita Saedi Kiely has joined the ITVS Board of Directors. She is an accomplished leader who brings to the Board extensive experience in the documentary world.From 2012 to 2016, Saedi Kiely served as the Executive and Festival Director at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, in Missoula, MT, the premier non-fiction film destination in the…
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Approaches from Insiders and Outsiders
July 11, 2018Illuminating the human condition: it’s a theme that pervades some of the most effective documentaries. Getting there has multiple paths and as a filmmaker, you have baggage you bring. For The Judge, filmmaker Erika Cohn was a complete outsider in her story and had to build trust with strangers. Bing Liu, on the other hand, mined his own community…
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When Brothers Tell A Story
June 27, 2018Following the story of a group of Muslim morticians in Newark, NJ, the brother filmmaking team Zeshawn and Aman Ali learned invaluable lessons regarding death, faith, and community. Their ITVS Open Call funded Two Gods allowed them intimate access alongside their participants Furquan and Nas, giving the Ali brothers a space to work together and focus…