Independent Lens - Season 27

Phil Sharp's RNA discovery reshaped science, medicine, and the global biotech industry.

A bipartisan coalition continues a century-long fight to add gender equality into the Constitution.

Disabled filmmaker Reid Davenport investigates assisted dying and uncovers how ableism, policy, and systemic failures can make death seem like the only option. Who gets real choice -- and who doesn't -- in life and death?

When her eyesight begins to fade, a film editor reimagines belonging and what it truly means to see.

Librarians across the U.S. examine how restrictions on library content are shaping communities. Drawing on historical context, the film explores the broader implications for education and public life.

Barbara Jordan was a groundbreaking Texas congresswoman whose sharp intellect and moral clarity transformed U.S. politics. From Nixon's impeachment to civil rights battles, her voice demanded accountability, while she privately faced struggles few ever knew of.

Three decades after her assault, Lizzie confronts her Amish community’s silence around sexual abuse. She leads a movement to support fellow Amish and Mennonite survivors as they navigate trauma, faith, and family ties. With rare access, Keep Quiet and Forgive follows Lizzie and other survivors as they fight to replace “forgive and forget” with healing and justice.

Follow filmmaker Julie Forrest Wyman as she searches for her place in the little people community and unpacks rumors of dwarfism in her own family. Through intimate stories, creative collaborations, and archival history, the film delves into identity and medicine, asking whether society should change people or the structures that limit them.

Immigrant grooms work year-round on the hidden “backside” of Churchill Downs. Rising before dawn, they care for some of the world’s most prized Kentucky Derby racehorses, revealing how race, labor, and class shape an elite American industry. BACKSIDE: The Unseen Hands of Horse Racing honors the resilience that’s behind the spectacle.

Antebellum homes draw visitors to Natchez, Mississippi, but not everyone agrees on the stories being told. As tour guides, homeowners, and activists navigate competing histories, the town confronts the tension between preservation and truth, offering a glimpse into a Southern community wrestling with race, memory, and identity.

A Chinese family’s multigenerational trauma unfolds across time, place, and identity. Turning the camera inward, filmmaker Vicky Du traces her family’s mental illness back to the Chinese Communist Revolution of 1949. Spanning Taipei, Taiwan, and New Jersey, Light of the Setting Sun explores identity, gender roles, and whether or not healing can break the cycle for future generations.

Generations call Robert A. Nakamura the godfather of Asian American film. Tadashi Nakamura calls him Dad. Tadashi turns the camera on his father as they confront art, activism, and aging. From WWII incarceration to cultural awakening and a Parkinson’s diagnosis, Third Act is a tender portrait of legacy, inherited trauma, and the final chapter of a shared creative life.

Artist Rashaad Newsome prepares to showcase "Assembly," a groundbreaking exhibit at New York’s Park Avenue Armory. By blending visual art, performance, and artificial intelligence, the project centers the global evolution of vogue while honoring Black and queer resistance and calling for a more liberated future.

Through rare archival footage and firsthand accounts, True North revisits 1968 Montreal, where Black liberation movements converged at the Congress of Black Writers. As student protests ignited the Sir George Williams Affair, Black youth faced violent repression, unfolding a powerful chapter of the global Black Power era.

Returning home to California’s Inland Empire, filmmaker Katy Scoggin seeks to reconnect with her estranged father, who works as an elementary science teacher. He is the only evangelical left in the family, and as they face their differences on faith, family, and belonging, their journey becomes a portrait of empathy and resilience. Together, they find new ways to listen and bridge divides.