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Independent Lens

Season 15 2013 - 2014
TV-PG

  • 2013-10-29T02:00:00Z on PBS
  • 1h
  • 1d 4h (28 episodes)
  • United States
  • English
  • Documentary
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. Acclaimed actor and filmmaker Stanley Tucci hosts the series.

28 episodes

Season Premiere

2013-10-29T02:00:00Z

15x01 The Graduates, Part 1

Season Premiere

15x01 The Graduates, Part 1

  • 2013-10-29T02:00:00Z1h

Part 1 of 2. The Latino dropout crisis is examined through the eyes of six students from across the U.S., beginning with three young women. One left school after becoming pregnant, but has since enrolled in a Tulsa program for at-risk students; another has enjoyed better grades and become more active in school activities since joining the innovative Voices of Youth in Chicago Education program; and the third was helped by the staff at her South Bronx high school after her family became homeless.

2013-11-05T03:00:00Z

15x02 The Graduates, Part 2

15x02 The Graduates, Part 2

  • 2013-11-05T03:00:00Z1h

Conclusion. The Latino dropout crisis is seen through the eyes of three young men. One, whose parents moved from Mexico to San Diego so that he and his siblings could have a better education, fell into gang life before turning his life around, due in large part to the Reality Changers organization; another, the son of undocumented workers, overcame barriers in order to attend college; and the third may well have quit school except for the performing arts, which helped boost his confidence.

2013-11-19T03:00:00Z

15x03 Indian Relay

15x03 Indian Relay

  • 2013-11-19T03:00:00Z1h

Episode Synopsis: "Indian Relay" chronicles a season of Indian relay-horse races, which are popular within Native American communities across the Rocky Mountain West. Teams from the Shoshone-Bannock, Crow and Blackfeet nations in Idaho and Montana are featured. The races feature riders leaping from horse to horse after the first two laps of a three-lap race around a track, with each team's handlers catching the dismounted horse or risk being disqualified.

2013-11-26T03:00:00Z

15x04 Young Lakota

15x04 Young Lakota

  • 2013-11-26T03:00:00Z1h

Three young people living in the Pine Ridge Reservation try to forge a better future. When the first female president of Oglala Lakota defies a South Dakota law criminalizing abortion by vowing to build a women’s clinic in their sovereign territory, the three young tribe members are faced with difficult choices.

The lives of two outstanding young playwrights — an African American from Miami’s inner city and an Indian American from Cleveland — are brought together inextricably in the process of creating a new language for the stage. By Robert Levi.

2013-12-24T03:00:00Z

15x06 Jiro Dreams of Sushi

15x06 Jiro Dreams of Sushi

  • 2013-12-24T03:00:00Z1h

Eighty-five-year-old Jiro Ono, considered the world’s greatest sushi chef, is the proprietor of Sukiyabashi Jiro, a 10-seat restaurant inauspiciously located in a Tokyo subway station. Despite its humble appearance, it is the first restaurant of its kind to be awarded a three-star Michelin Guide rating, and sushi lovers from around the globe make pilgrimages. “Jiro Dreams of Sushi” is a thoughtful and elegant meditation on work, family and the art of perfection. By David Gelb.

2013-12-31T03:00:00Z

15x07 How to Survive a Plague

15x07 How to Survive a Plague

  • 2013-12-31T03:00:00Z1h

This acclaimed film tells the story of ACT UP and TAG (Treatment Action Group), two groups whose activism and innovation turned AIDS from a death sentence into a manageable condition. Despite having no scientific training, these determined activists infiltrated the pharmaceutical industry to help identify promising new drugs and move them from experimental trials to patients. With unfettered access to a treasure trove of never-before-seen archival footage, the film reveals the controversial actions, heated meetings, heartbreaking failures and exultant breakthroughs of heroes in the making. By David France.

2014-01-14T03:00:00Z

15x08 At Berkeley

15x08 At Berkeley

  • 2014-01-14T03:00:00Z1h

Legendary documentarian Frederick Wiseman goes back to school for this intimate yet sprawling film about the University of California at Berkeley, the oldest and most prestigious member of a ten campus public education system.

2014-01-21T03:00:00Z

15x09 Blood Brother

15x09 Blood Brother

  • 2014-01-21T03:00:00Z1h

An intimate portrait of Rocky Braat, who travels to India as a disillusioned tourist. When he meets a group of HIV-positive children living at an AIDS hostel, a place of unspeakable hardship, he decides to stay and devote his life to them.

2014-01-28T03:00:00Z

15x10 The State of Arizona

15x10 The State of Arizona

  • 2014-01-28T03:00:00Z1h

The turbulent battle over illegal immigration in Arizona that came to a head with Senate Bill 1070 frames this riveting documentary that tracks multiple perspectives as America eyes the results.

2014-02-11T03:00:00Z

15x11 Spies of Mississippi

15x11 Spies of Mississippi

  • 2014-02-11T03:00:00Z1h

The story of the Mississippi Sovereignty Commission, a secret agency created by the state during the 1950s to spy on its citizens and maintain segregation. Included: remarks from author Rick Bowers ("Spies of Mississippi"); civil rights activists Margaret Block, Lawrence Guyot, Bob Moses and Hollis Watkins; Rev. Ed King, author Neil R. McMillen ("Dark Journey"); journalist Jerry Mitchell; Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.); and former Mississippi governor William Winter.

2014-02-18T03:00:00Z

15x12 Las Marthas

15x12 Las Marthas

  • 2014-02-18T03:00:00Z1h

Dating from the aftermath of the Spanish-American War, the annual debutante ball in Laredo, Texas is unlike any other. Las Marthas follows two Mexican American girls carrying this gilded tradition on their shoulders during a time of economic uncertainty and tension over immigration.

A group of women friends who met via the Austin chapter of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance and have tried every diet and diet pill, go through weight-loss surgery in an effort to lose hundreds of pounds. The experience presents a host of issues and consequences, some they never could have imagined.

2014-04-01T02:00:00Z

15x14 Medora

15x14 Medora

  • 2014-04-01T02:00:00Z1h

The story of a high school basketball team suffering from a long losing streak in a small town.

2014-04-08T02:00:00Z

15x15 Brothers Hypnotic

15x15 Brothers Hypnotic

  • 2014-04-08T02:00:00Z1h

Eight brothers who were forged into a band as children by their father, Chicago jazz maverick Phil Cohran, now try to march to their own beat on the streets of New York and in the music business as the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble.

The story of the explosive crossroads of Muhammad Ali’s life, after the famed boxer’s conversion to Islam and refusal to serve in the Vietnam War left him banned from boxing and facing a five-year prison sentence.

2014-04-22T02:00:00Z

15x17 Muscle Shoals

15x17 Muscle Shoals

  • 2014-04-22T02:00:00Z1h

How a small town in Alabama became influential in the music of Rolling Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Aretha Franklin.

A Fragile Trust tells the shocking story of Jayson Blair, the most infamous serial plagiarist of our time, and how he unleashed the massive scandal that rocked The New York Times and the entire world of journalism.

2014-05-13T02:00:00Z

15x19 Let the Fire Burn

15x19 Let the Fire Burn

  • 2014-05-13T02:00:00Z1h

This documentary brings to life one of the most tumultuous clashes between government and citizens in modern U.S. history, as a longtime feud between Philadelphia police and radical urban group MOVE came to a tragic climax in 1985.

2014-05-20T02:00:00Z

15x20 God Loves Uganda

15x20 God Loves Uganda

  • 2014-05-20T02:00:00Z1h

Inspired by his own African American Baptist roots, director Roger Ross Williams explores a place where religion and African culture intersect, as Ugandan and American pastors spread evangelical values to millions desperate for a better life.

Season Finale

2014-06-16T02:00:00Z

15x21 The New Black

Season Finale

15x21 The New Black

  • 2014-06-16T02:00:00Z1h

How African-American churches and gays deal with the rise of the gay-rights movement.

Filipino 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.

2013-10-29T02:00:00Z

15x23 The Graduates

15x23 The Graduates

  • 2013-10-29T02:00:00Z1h

The 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.

2013-11-19T03:00:00Z

15x24 Indian Relay

15x24 Indian Relay

  • 2013-11-19T03:00:00Z1h

Indian Relay documents an unheralded aspect of modern-day Native American life and what it takes to win one of the more exciting forms of horse racing. From the bitter cold of winter to the heat of summer, the film follows teams from three different tribes as they compete across a grueling season.

2013-11-26T03:00:00Z

15x25 Young Lakota

15x25 Young Lakota

  • 2013-11-26T03:00:00Z1h

15x26 Playwright: From Page to Stage

  • 2013-12-17T03:00:00Z1h

Two young playwrights from different backgrounds come together to create a new language for the stage.

2013-12-24T03:00:00Z

15x27 Jiro Dreams of Sushi

15x27 Jiro Dreams of Sushi

  • 2013-12-24T03:00:00Z1h

Jiro 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.

2013-12-31T03:00:00Z

15x28 How to Survive a Plague

15x28 How to Survive a Plague

  • 2013-12-31T03:00:00Z1h

Activists from ACT UP and TAG (Treatment Action Group) help identify new drugs that may be beneficial to people with AIDS.

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