Independent Lens — Season 27

Aired 6 October 2025 • 85 min

Phil Sharp's RNA discovery reshaped science, medicine, and the global biotech industry.

Aired 20 October 2025 • 84 min

A bipartisan coalition continues a century-long fight to add gender equality into the Constitution.

Aired 27 October 2025 • 84 min

Disabled filmmaker Reid Davenport investigates assisted dying and uncovers how ableism, policy, and systemic failures can make death seem like the only option. Who gets real choice -- and who doesn't -- in life and death?

Aired 26 January 2026 • 85 min

When her eyesight begins to fade, a film editor reimagines belonging and what it truly means to see.

Aired 9 February 2026 • 86 min

Librarians across the U.S. examine how restrictions on library content are shaping communities. Drawing on historical context, the film explores the broader implications for education and public life.

Aired 23 February 2026 • 86 min

Barbara Jordan was a groundbreaking Texas congresswoman whose sharp intellect and moral clarity transformed U.S. politics. From Nixon's impeachment to civil rights battles, her voice demanded accountability, while she privately faced struggles few ever knew of.

Aired 23 March 2026 • 85 min

Three decades after her assault, Lizzie confronts her Amish community’s silence around sexual abuse. She leads a movement to support fellow Amish and Mennonite survivors as they navigate trauma, faith, and family ties. With rare access, Keep Quiet and Forgive follows Lizzie and other survivors as they fight to replace “forgive and forget” with healing and justice.

Aired 6 April 2026 • 86 min

The Tallest Dwarf follows filmmaker Julie Forrest Wyman as she searches for her place in the little people community and unpacks rumors of dwarfism in her own family. Through intimate stories, creative collaborations, and archival history, the film delves into identity and medicine, asking whether society should change people or the structures that limit them.

Aired 13 April 2026 • 56 min

Immigrant grooms work year-round on the hidden “backside” of Churchill Downs. Rising before dawn, they care for some of the world’s most prized Kentucky Derby racehorses, revealing how race, labor, and class shape an elite American industry. BACKSIDE: The Unseen Hands of Horse Racing honors the resilience that’s behind the spectacle.

Aired 11 May 2026 • 86 min

Antebellum homes draw visitors to Natchez, Mississippi, but not everyone agrees on the stories being told. As tour guides, homeowners, and activists navigate competing histories, the town confronts the tension between preservation and truth, offering a glimpse into a Southern community wrestling with race, memory, and identity.

Aired 18 May 2026 • 72 min

A Chinese family’s multigenerational trauma unfolds across time, place, and identity. Turning the camera inward, filmmaker Vicky Du traces her family’s mental illness back to the Chinese Communist Revolution of 1949. Spanning Taipei, Taiwan, and New Jersey, Light of the Setting Sun explores identity, gender roles, and whether or not healing can break the cycle for future generations.

Aired 25 May 2026 • 86 min

Generations call Robert A. Nakamura the godfather of Asian American film. Tadashi Nakamura calls him Dad. Tadashi turns the camera on his father as they confront art, activism, and aging. From WWII incarceration to cultural awakening and a Parkinson’s diagnosis, Third Act is a tender portrait of legacy, inherited trauma, and the final chapter of a shared creative life.

Aired 22 June 2026

Vogue, AI, and identity collide as an artist creates an exhibition honoring Black and queer culture.

Aired 6 July 2026

How 1960s Montreal helped shape the global movement for Black liberation.

Aired 13 July 2026

A filmmaker revisits her evangelical roots to find connection with her estranged father.