TV-PG
Independent Lens is an award-winning PBS documentary series that streams on the PBS App and airs on public television. Independent Lens documentaries focus on stories of underrepresented communities and universal challenges found across America. The series has been awarded numerous Emmys and Peabodys, and has been nominated for 10 Academy Awards.

Where to Watch Independent Lens • Season 14

24 Episodes

  • As Goes Janesville
    E1
    As Goes JanesvilleFilmed in 10 countries, the series follows Nicholas Kristof and celebrity activists America Ferrera, Diane Lane, Eva Mendes, Meg Ryan, Gabrielle Union and Olivia Wilde on a journey to tell the stories of inspiring, courageous individuals. Across the globe oppression is being confronted, and real meaningful solutions are being fashioned through health care, education, and economic empowerment for women and girls.
  • Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide (Part 2)
    E2
    Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide (Part 2)Filmed in 10 countries, the series follows Nicholas Kristof and celebrity activists America Ferrera, Diane Lane, Eva Mendes, Meg Ryan, Gabrielle Union and Olivia Wilde on a journey to tell the stories of inspiring, courageous individuals. Across the globe oppression is being confronted, and real meaningful solutions are being fashioned through health care, education, and economic empowerment for women and girls.
  • Love Free or Die
    E4
    Love Free or Die
  • Solar Mamas
    E5
    Solar Mamas
  • Park Avenue: Money, Power & the American Dream
    E6
    Park Avenue: Money, Power & the American Dream
  • Soul Food Junkies
    E7
    Soul Food JunkiesFood traditions are hard to change, especially when they're passed on from generation to generation. Baffled by his dad's unwillingness to change his traditional soul food diet in the face of a health crisis, filmmaker Byron Hurt sets out to learn more about this rich culinary tradition and its relevance to black cultural identity.
  • Beauty Is Embarrassing
    E8
    Beauty Is EmbarrassingRaised in the Tennessee mountains, Wayne White started his career as a cartoonist in NYC. He quickly found success as one of the creators of the Pee-wee's Playhouse TV show which soon led to more work design some of the most arresting and iconic images in pop culture. Recently his word paintings featuring pithy and and often sarcastic text statements finely crafted onto vintage landscape paintings have made him a darling of the fine art world. The movie chronicles the vaulted highs and crushing lows of an artist struggling to find peace and balance between his professional work and his personal art. This is especially complicated for a man who struggles with the virtues he most often mocks in his art...Vanity, ego and fame.
  • The Revisionaries
    E9
    The RevisionariesThe Texas State Board of Education rewrites teaching and textbook standards once every decade.
  • The Powerbroker: Whitney Young's Fight for Civil Rights
    E10
    The Powerbroker: Whitney Young's Fight for Civil Rights
  • Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry
    E11
    Ai Weiwei: Never SorryProfiling Chinese artist-activist Ai Weiwei, who helped design Beijing's iconic Bird's Nest Olympic stadium and later criticized the Games as party propaganda. His opposition to his country's autocratic rule, which he voices in his art and on social media, has caused him many difficulties, as filmmaker Alison Klayman witnesses during the making of this documentary: Government authorities shut down Ai's blog, beat him up, demolish his studio and hold him in secret detention for 81 days.
  • The House I Live In; As I Am
    E12
    The House I Live In; As I Am
  • Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines
    E13
    Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American SuperheroinesWonder Women! explores the nation’s long-term love affair with comic book superheroes and raises questions about the possibilities and contradictions of heroines within the genre. The film goes behind the scenes with Lynda Carter, Lindsay Wagner, Gloria Steinem, Kathleen Hanna, comic writers and artists, and others who offer an enlightening and entertaining counterpoint to the male-dominated superhero genre.
  • The Island President
    E14
    The Island President
  • The Undocumented
    E15
    The UndocumentedThousands of migrants have perished in recent years while trying to cross the unforgiving Sonora desert in search of a better life in the United States. The film gives a face to some of the dead, and follows them on their long journey home.
  • Seeking Asian Female
    E16
    Seeking Asian FemaleTwo strangers — an aging white man and a young Chinese woman — pursue a marriage brokered by the Internet. They get more than they bargained for when she moves to America to be his bride in this quirky, appealing documentary.
  • The Invisible War
    E17
    The Invisible WarThe most shameful and best-kept secret in the U.S. Military? The epidemic of rape and sexual assault within the ranks. An American female soldier in a combat zone is more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire.
  • Detropia
    E18
    DetropiaCan the Motor City rise from its ashes? A dynamic cluster of local innovators, entrepreneurs, and proud, self-proclaimed "hustlers” are poised to resurrect Detroit. The result could be a radically new city for the postindustrial age.
  • The Revolutionary Optimists
    E19
    The Revolutionary OptimistsAmlan Ganguly, a lawyer-turned social entrepreneur, has sown hope in the poorest neighborhoods of Calcutta by empowering children to become leaders in improving health, health, transforming their communities for the better.
  • Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman's Journey
    E20
    Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman's JourneyFilipino musician Arnel Pineda gets the opportunity of a lifetime when Journey guitarist Neal Schon sees him perform on YouTube, leading to a job offer as the band's new lead singer.
  • The Waiting Room
    E21
    The Waiting Room
  • The Graduates
    E22
    The GraduatesThe Graduates / Los Graduados explores pressing issues in education today through the eyes of six Latino and Latina students from across the United States. More than a survey of contemporary policy debates, the bilingual, two-part film offers first-hand perspectives on key challenges facing Latino high school students and their families, educators, and community leaders. It is the story of the graduates who will make up America’s future.
  • Young Lakota
    E24
    Young Lakota
  • Playwright: From Page to Stage
    E25
    Playwright: From Page to StageTwo young playwrights from different backgrounds come together to create a new language for the stage.
  • Jiro Dreams of Sushi
    E26
    Jiro Dreams of SushiJiro Dreams of Sushi is a 2011 American documentary film directed by David Gelb. The film follows Jiro Ono, an 85-year-old sushi master and owner of Sukiyabashi Jiro, a Michelin three-star restaurant, on his continuing quest to perfect the art of sushi. The film also profiles Jiro's two sons, both of whom are also sushi chefs. The younger son, Takashi, left Sukiyabashi Jiro to open a mirror image of his father's restaurant in Roppongi Hills. The 50-year-old elder son, Yoshikazu, obligated to succeed his father, still works for Jiro and is faced with the prospect of one day taking over the flagship restaurant.
  • Susan Sarandon
  • Peter Coyote
  • America Ferrera
  • Maggie Gyllenhaal
  • Stanley Tucci
  • Lois VossenProducer
  • Sally Jo FiferExecutive Producer
  • Connie FieldProducer

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