Airing weekly on
PBS through
ITVS, the
Emmy Award-winning series
Independent Lens introduces new
drama and
documentary films made by independent filmmakers.
Independent Lens films vary in length from four-minute comic shorts and half-hour experimental pieces to hour-long dramas and feature-length documentaries. Past seasons of
Independent Lens have been presented by hosts
Angela Bassett,
Don Cheadle,
Susan Sarandon,
Edie Falco, and
Terrence Howard. The current host is
Maggie Gyllenhaal.
The series began in
1999 and for three years aired 10 episodes each fall season. In
2002, PBS announced that in
2003 the series would relaunch and expand to 29
primetime episodes a year. With the relaunch of the series, now curated by ITVS, the season count had reset and so what would otherwise have been the fourth season was now being referred to as the first. Despite this change, episodes were still being numbered with respect to the first three seasons.
Independent Lens has won four Emmy Awards. In 2007,
A Lion in the House won for Exceptional Merit in Nonfiction Filmmaking, and
A Lion's Trail won in 2006 for Outstanding Cultural and Artistic Programming. Two other films won for Best Documentary:
Be Good, Smile Pretty in 2004, and
Sing Faster: The Stagehands' Ring Cycle in 2000. As well, two
Independent Lens films garnered
Academy Award nominations for Best Documentary:
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2006) and
The Weather Underground (2004).
Episode listing
The Independent Lens Online Shorts Festival
In 2006, the series launched the first Independent Lens Online Shorts
Festival with what
Yahoo! Picks called a "lineup of quirky, charming, and
sometimes nervy films." Independent filmmakers were invited to submit short
films, ten minutes or less in length. Ten films were chosen, including two
grand-prize winners that premiered on the television series. All films are
streamed on the PBS website.
Grand-prize winners: "Paris, 1951" and "Someday Flowers Bloom"
Jury prize: "Homeless Karaoke"
Online winners: "Afloat", "Chickens in the City", "Devil's Teeth", "La Fe'e Rouge", "Leonard & the Mountain", "The McCombie Way", and "The Preacher and the Poet"
Audience Award
Independent Lens gives out an annual Audience Award. The TV viewing audience is invited to rate each episode of the series (through online voting), and an award is given to each season's winner. Winners of the Audience Award have included:
- 2008 Na Kamalei: The Men of Hula
See also
