Find Films

Race to Execution

by Rachel Lyon and Jim Lopes

Through compelling personal narratives and the often unexpected results of research on race, justice, and the media, Race to Execution exposes the factors that influence who lives and who dies at the hands of the state.

Independent Lens

Reel Injun: On the Trail of the Hollywood Indian

by 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.

Independent Lens

Sisters of '77

by Cynthia Salzman Mondell and Allen Mondell

On an historic weekend in November 1977, 20,000 people attended the first federally funded National Women’s Conference in Houston, Texas, where they hammered out resolutions that revolutionized the women’s movement.

Independent Lens

Strange Fruit

by Joel Katz

An exploration of the history and legacy of "Strange Fruit," the song first recorded by Billie Holliday in 1939 which has become an enduring anthem of American civil rights.

Independent Lens

Taking the Heat: The First Women Fire Fighters of New York City

by Bann Roy

When the New York City Fire Department tried to push women out of firefighting, Brenda Berkman pushed back. Her story, and those of other pioneer female firefighters, reveals the price these women paid to break the department’s gender barrier.

Women and Girls Lead, True Stories, Independent Lens

The Trials of Muhammad Ali

by Bill Siegel and Kartemquin Films

The Trials of Muhammad Ali covers Ali's toughest bout: his battle to overturn the five-year prison sentence he received for refusing U.S. military service. The film explores Ali's exile years when he was banned from boxing and found himself in the crosshairs of conflicts concerning race, religion, and wartime dissent.

Independent Lens

Trudell

by Heather Rae

Combining images and archival footage with interviews and performances, this biography reveals the philosophy and motivations behind Native American activist and poet John Trudell’s work and its relationship to contemporary Indian history.

Independent Lens

Tulia, Texas

by Cassandra Herrman and Kelly Whalen

Tulia, Texas is the story of a small town’s search for justice and the price Americans pay for the nation’s war on drugs.

Independent Lens

Two Spirits

by Lydia Nibley

Fred Martinez was a Navajo boy who was also a girl. In an earlier era, he would have been revered. Instead, he was murdered.

Independent Lens

Upcoming broadcasts Watch it online

We Were Here

by David Weissman

When AIDS arrived in San Francisco in 1981, it decimated a community, but also brought people together in inspiring and moving ways to support and care for one another and to fight for dignity and a cure.

Independent Lens

Upcoming broadcasts