Independent Lens: Season 22
Season 22 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 21.
- 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 22 Progress Shield
Feels Good Man
Oct 19, 2020 · 60 min
Feels Good Man is the story of how artist Matt Furie, creator of a once-benign comic character named Pepe the Frog, fought an uphill battle to reclaim his iconic creation from thos
Represent
Oct 26, 2020 · 60 min
Represent follows three women running for office in the heart of the Midwest leading up to the 2018 midterm elections, as they take on entrenched local political networks and fight
Jonathan Scott's Power Trip
Nov 16, 2020 · 60 min
In Jonathan Scott's Power Trip, the HGTV home makeover guru shines a light on the obstacles and opportunities for America’s solar industry, following fossil fuel monopolies that ha
Belly of the Beast
Nov 23, 2020 · 60 min
An unlikely duo discovers a pattern of illegal sterilizations in women’s prisons, shielded by prison officials and doctors, and wage a near-impossible battle against the Department
A Woman’s Work: The NFL’s Cheerleader Problem
Jan 4, 2021 · 60 min
A Woman’s Work: The NFL’s Cheerleader Problem sheds light on the continued fight to end the gender pay gap prevalent throughout the National Football League, chronicling the journe
A Day in the Life of America / American Nomads
Jan 11, 2021 · 60 min
A Day in the Life of America: Director Jared Leto crafts a sweeping yet intimate cross-section of America shot on a single July 4th in 2017 with 92 film crews fanning out across ea
9to5: The Story of a Movement
Feb 1, 2021 · 60 min
When Dolly Parton sang “9 to 5,” she was singing about a real movement that started with a group of secretaries in the early 1970s. Their goals were simple—better pay, more advance
Women in Blue
Feb 8, 2021 · 60 min
With the national conversation around police reform still resonating, Women in Blue shines a spotlight on women within the Minneapolis Police Department to reform it from the insid
Mr. SOUL!
Feb 22, 2021 · 60 min
Premiering in 1968, SOUL! was the first nationally broadcast all-Black variety show on public television, merging artists from the margins with post-Civil Rights Black radical thou
Coded Bias
Mar 22, 2021 · 60 min
Coded Bias follows M.I.T. Media Lab computer scientist Joy Buolamwini, along with data scientists, mathematicians, and watchdog groups from all over the world, as they fight to exp
Down a Dark Stairwell
Apr 12, 2021 · 60 min
Down a Dark Stairwell chronicles the tragic shooting of Akai Gurley, an innocent Black man, in Brooklyn, and the trial and subsequent conviction of the Chinese American police offi
The Donut King
May 24, 2021 · 60 min
An immigrant story with a (glazed) twist, The Donut King follows the journey of Cambodian refugee Ted Ngoy, who arrived in California in the 1970s and, through a mixture of diligen
Two Gods
Jun 21, 2021 · 60 min
An intimate documentary about faith, renewal, and healing, Two Gods follows a Muslim casket maker and ritual body washer in New Jersey, as he takes two young men under his wing to
The People vs. Agent Orange
Jun 28, 2021 · 60 min
The People vs. Agent Orange closely follows two activists as they take on the chemical industry, and demand accountability for the pernicious legacy caused by the use of Agent Oran