Independent Lens: Season 21
Season 21 Lore Primer
Key plot threads, lore context, and character stakes you need to remember before diving into this season.
- Directly follows the overarching narrative developments of Independent Lens Season 20.
- Faction dynamics and core character alliances shift under escalating external stakes.
- Crucial mysteries introduced previously reach key turning points and narrative reckonings.
- Sets up serialized story arcs that build directly toward the climactic season finale.
Episode Guide
Season 21 Progress Shield
Made in Boise
Oct 28, 2019 · 60 min
In Boise, nurses, nail technicians, and stay-at-home mothers are choosing to become paid reproductive surrogates for people from around the world. Made in Boise offers a rare glimp
Decade of Fire
Nov 4, 2019 · 60 min
Decade of Fire covers a shocking but untold piece of American urban history, when the South Bronx was on fire in the 1970s. Left unprotected by the city government, nearly a quarte
The Interpreters
Nov 11, 2019 · 60 min
The Interpreters is a poignant but tense portrayal of a very human and high-stakes side of war's aftermath, the story of how Afghan and Iraqi interpreters risked their lives aiding
Conscience Point; Jewel's Hunt
Nov 18, 2019 · 60 min
A Native American activist fights to protect her tribe from the onslaughts of development in the Hamptons. Can Jewel balance the complications of a modern teenager with her connect
ATTLA
Dec 16, 2019 · 60 min
ATTLA tells the gripping story of George Attla, a charismatic Alaska Native dogsled racer who, with one good leg and fierce determination, became a legendary sports hero in Norther
Accept the Call
Jan 20, 2020 · 60 min
25 years after Yusuf Abdurahman left Somalia as a refugee to begin his life anew in Minnesota — which has the largest population of Somalis in America — his worst fear is realized
The First Rainbow Coalition
Jan 27, 2020 · 60 min
In 1969, the Chicago Black Panther Party formed alliances across ethnic and racial lines with other community-based movements in the city, including Latino group the Young Lords an
Cooked: Survival by Zip Code
Feb 3, 2020 · 60 min
Cooked: Survival by Zip Code tells the story of the tragic 1995 Chicago heatwave, the most traumatic in U.S. history, in which 739 citizens died over the course of just a single we
Leftover Women
Feb 10, 2020 · 60 min
Leftover Women follows three successful Chinese women who, despite thriving careers, are still labeled sheng nu, a derogatory term in China to describe educated, professional women
We Believe In Dinosaurs
Feb 17, 2020 · 60 min
In We Believe in Dinosaurs the Bible and science collide amid the battleground of a Creation Museum and a $120 million Noah’s Ark-inspired theme park in rural Kentucky.
Always in Season
Feb 24, 2020 · 60 min
Always in Season follows the tragedy of African American teenager Lennon Lacy, who in August 2014, was found hanging from a swing set in North Carolina. His death was ruled a suici
One Child Nation
Mar 20, 2020 · 60 min
After the birth of her first child, filmmaker Nanfu Wang returns to China to speak with her family and explore the ripple effect of that country's devastating social experiment, th
Bedlam
Apr 13, 2020 · 60 min
Shot over the course of five years, Bedlam examines the mental health crisis through intimate stories of those people who are in-and-out of overwhelmed and under-resourced psych em
The Hottest August
Apr 20, 2020 · 60 min
Brett Story’s critically acclaimed documentary The Hottest August raises the specter of climate change without ever mentioning it, spotlighting ordinary New Yorkers as they share t
Jim Allison: Breakthrough
Apr 27, 2020 · 60 min
The story of one warmhearted, stubborn man’s visionary quest to find a cure for cancer, Jim Allison: Breakthrough is an homage to an unconventional superhero — a pioneering, harmon
Rewind
May 11, 2020 · 60 min
Made up of home video footage that reveals a long-kept secret, Sasha Joseph Neulinger’s Rewind is a brave and wrenching look at his childhood and his journey to reconcile his past.
Eating Up Easter
May 25, 2020 · 60 min
More than just a picture-perfect postcard of iconic stone statues, Rapa Nui, or Easter Island, is a microcosm of a planet in flux. Directed by native Rapa Nui filmmaker Sergio Mata
Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project
Jun 15, 2020 · 60 min
For 30 years, Marion Stokes records American television, creating a comprehensive archive of the media on 70,000 VHS tapes that are being digitized for future generations.
Pipe Dreams
Jun 22, 2020 · 60 min
Pipe Dreams challenges preconceived notions about an age-old instrument—the pipe organ—while introducing viewers to a new generation of passionate, talented young organists in the