Tonight, PBS’s Independent Lens premieres the documentary Charm City which profiles the police, citizens, community leaders and city officials who are collaborating to end Baltimore’s rising tide of gun violence. The broadcast airs four years after the death of Freddie Gray on April 19, 2015. In our exclusive clip, we see and hear officer Monique
On the upcoming PBS, My Country No More (Independent Lens) shows how one woman passionately fights against Big oil’s interests in a small town being usurped by the dollars and influence this brings. The impacts of North Dakota’s insanely active oil boom on a small town are shown writ large in a town council meeting
This week Independent Lens focusses on the extraordinary Orthodox Jewish girl Naomi Kutin, who has smashed world powerlifting records for her age. New Jersey native Kutin became a media sensation when at age ten she managed to lift 215 pounds, despite weighing just 97 pounds herself. Nicknamed ‘Supergirl’, Kutin This documentary follows Kutin over three years from age
This week Independent Lens tells the story of an Iraq War veteran suffering from PTSD who has decided to become a farmer. In this documentary timed for Memorial Day, Independent Lens follows one veteran’s struggle to adapt to civilian life after the trauma of war has left him deeply scarred. These scars are the not the
Independent Lens takes a look at the impact drone warfare is having both on those targeted and the people operating these new battlefield tools. In an episode titled National Bird, the show features interviews with three former soldiers involved in the drone program, a former intelligence officer and family of those directly affected by strikes.
This week Independent Lens asks if the Holocaust should be off-limits to comedians. The Last Laugh is a 90-minute documentary that asks whether some subjects are just too sensitive to be funny. Should certain topics always be taboo for comedy? Comedians and indeed humans in general often use humor to make light of things that are
Independent Lens takes an intimate and often emotional look at the people of Newton and how they have dealt with the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementry School. It was on December 14, 2012, that 20-year-old Adam Lanza forced his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School, where he proceeded to shoot dead 20 young schoolchildren and six teachers. This documentary by
This week’s Independent Lens is titled The Bad Kids and looks at students whom the system thinks are lost causes, but that one California school still sees potential in. Spending a year at Black Rock Continuation High School for kids at risk, this documentary looks at the tricky issues that the students, teachers and the school’s principal
R&B and blues star Daryl Davis has played with legends like Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis, but in his free time he likes to make friends with KKK members. Why? Because Daryl believes that getting to know white supremacists — many of whom have never met a black person — can help change their beliefs. His
This episode of Independent Lens looks at the shocking murder of Kitty Genovese, who was stabbed to death in Queens, New York City, whilst over 30 people watched and did nothing – or so it was reported at the time. The story in the newspaper was that 38 different people witnessed the murder of Kitty