This acclaimed Emmy Award-winning anthology series features documentaries and a limited number of fiction films united by the creative freedom, artistic achievement and unflinching visions of their independent producers. INDEPENDENT LENS features unforgettable stories about a unique individual, community or moment in history. The series is supported by interactive companion Web sites and national publicity and community engagement campaigns. Actor Stanley Tucci hosts.
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens
Episode # 1409
Ai Weiwei is arguably the most internationally celebrated Chinese artist of the modern era. The inscrutable bearded visionary burst onto the scene with vast conceptual installations such as his eight million hand-painted ceramic sunflower seeds inside Tate Modern and went on to design the iconic Bird's Nest stadium for the Beijing Olympics. But at heart, Ai Weiwei is a troublemaker with a serious agenda: to challenge the oppression of the Chinese people by their government with rebellious and irreverent gestures. His activism has cost him his freedom repeatedly, but he never seems to lose his childlike approach to serious dissidence executed with a wink.
Sunday, April 07, 2013
Length : 01 hr, 26 min
MPT2
Episode # 1221
This documentary examines a classic Nazi propaganda film used by historians for decades to provide insight into the realities of life in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1942. The recent discovery of a second reel in an East German archive has thrown the veracity and intent of the Ghetto footage into question. It becomes clear as film and war historians examine the outtakes reel that Nazi propagandists and the SA had staged elaborate scenes to mislead the general public about what was really happening in Warsaw.
Monday, April 08, 2013
Length : 01 hr, 26 min
MPT
Episode # 1221
This documentary examines a classic Nazi propaganda film used by historians for decades to provide insight into the realities of life in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1942. The recent discovery of a second reel in an East German archive has thrown the veracity and intent of the Ghetto footage into question. It becomes clear as film and war historians examine the outtakes reel that Nazi propagandists and the SA had staged elaborate scenes to mislead the general public about what was really happening in Warsaw.
Tuesday, April 09, 2013
Length : 01 hr, 26 min
MPT
Episode # 1410
The House I Live In": As America remains embroiled in overseas conflicts, a less visible war is taking place at home, costing countless lives, destroying families and inflicting untold damage on future generations of Americans. For over 40 years, the War on Drugs has accounted for 45 million arrests, made America the world's largest jailer and damaged poor communities at home and abroad. Yet for all that, drugs are cheaper, purer and more available today than ever before. This program captures heart-wrenching stories at all levels of America's drug war -- from the dealer to the grieving mother; the narcotics officer to the senator; and the inmate to the federal judge. "As I Am": This short film floats through South Memphis resident Chris Dean's landscape, revealing the lives that have shaped his world. Poetic and powerful imagery combines with the young philosopher's trenchant observations about life.
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Length : 01 hr, 56 min
MPT2
Episode # 1411
This program traces the evolution and legacy of Wonder Woman. From the birth of the comic book superheroine in the 1940s to the blockbusters of today, this film looks at how popular representations of powerful women often reflect society's anxieties about women's liberation.
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
Episode # 1412
President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldives is a man with a bigger problem than any other world leader has ever faced -- the literal survival of his country and everyone in it. After bringing democracy to the Maldives, he must now ensure that his tiny country doesn't disappear under rising sea levels. That means capturing the attention of global superpowers, forging alliances, persuading the skeptical, and learning the ropes of international political horse-trading. Despite the size of his country and his political challenges at home, Mohamed Nasheed has become one of the leading international voices for urgent action on climate change.
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Length : 01 hr, 26 min
MPT2
Episode # 1413
Border Patrol agents, Native Americans, smugglers, ranchers, retirees and samaritans form a constellation of people engaged with the Arizona/Mexico border on a daily basis -- policing it, inhabiting it, crossing it, working it, making it safer or simply feeling its consequences. But at the center of it all is the migrant. "The Undocumented" tells the story of the migrants who die while trying to cross an unforgiving desert in search of a better life.
Sunday, May 05, 2013
Length : 01 hr, 26 min
MPT2
Episode # 1414
Two strangers -- an elderly American man and a young Chinese woman -- pursue a marriage brokered by the internet, but they get more than they bargained for when she moves across the Pacific to start a new life with him in America.
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
Episode # 1416
This documentary investigates one of America's most shameful and best kept secrets: the epidemic of rape within the U.S. military. The film paints a startling picture of the extent of the problem -- today, a female soldier in combat zones is more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire. The Department of Defense estimates there were a staggering 22,800 violent sex crimes in the military in 2011. Among all active-duty female soldiers, 20 percent are sexually assaulted. Female soldiers aged 18 to 21 accounted for more than half of the victims.
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Length : 01 hr, 26 min
MPT2
Episode # 1405
Baffled by his dad's reluctance to change his traditional soul food diet in the face of a health crisis, filmmaker Byron Hurt sets out to learn more about this culinary tradition and it's relevance to black cultural identity. The African American love affair with soul food is deep-rooted, complex, and in some tragic cases, deadly. This film puts this culinary tradition under the microscope to examine both its benefits and consequences. Hurt looks at the socioeconomics of predominantly black neighborhoods, where it can be difficult to find healthy options and wonders if soul food has become an addiction in his community.
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
Episode # 1403
Faith, love, marriage, homosexuality and the Episcopal Church collide in the first openly gay Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire. Robinson is a man whose two primary passions are in direct conflict: his love for God and for his partner Mark. Robinson is the first openly gay person to become a bishop in the historic traditions of Christendom. His consecration by the Episcopal Church in 2003, to which he wore a bullet-proof vest, caused an international stir. He becomes the focal point as American churches debate whether or not lesbian and gay people are equal to heterosexuals in the eyes of God, while the United States at large struggles with legal equality for gays and lesbians.
Sunday, June 02, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
Episode # 1225
Fred Martinez was one of the youngest hate-crime victims in modern history when he was brutally murdered at 16. This film explores the life and death of a boy, who was also a girl, and the essentially spiritual nature of gender.
Sunday, June 09, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
Episode # 1417
Children in the slums of Calcutta are starting a revolution. Called to action by visionary former attorney Amlan Ganguly, the 'Daredevils' have already made radical health and sanitation improvements in one of the city's poorest slums -- awakening a neglected populace to the real possibility of change.
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
Episode # 1416
This documentary investigates one of America's most shameful and best kept secrets: the epidemic of rape within the U.S. military. The film paints a startling picture of the extent of the problem -- today, a female soldier in combat zones is more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire. The Department of Defense estimates there were a staggering 22,800 violent sex crimes in the military in 2011. Among all active-duty female soldiers, 20 percent are sexually assaulted. Female soldiers aged 18 to 21 accounted for more than half of the victims.
Monday, June 17, 2013
Length : 01 hr, 26 min
MPT
Episode # 1416
This documentary investigates one of America's most shameful and best kept secrets: the epidemic of rape within the U.S. military. The film paints a startling picture of the extent of the problem -- today, a female soldier in combat zones is more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire. The Department of Defense estimates there were a staggering 22,800 violent sex crimes in the military in 2011. Among all active-duty female soldiers, 20 percent are sexually assaulted. Female soldiers aged 18 to 21 accounted for more than half of the victims.
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Length : 01 hr, 26 min
MPT
Episode # 1301
When a Kuwaiti psychologist launches a comic series with 99 superheroes based on the 99 virtues of Allah, he runs up against suspicion from Muslims and the harsh realities of the global marketplace.
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Length : 56 min
MPT2
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