Independent Lens | MARDI GRAS | PBS

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About Independent Lens | MARDI GRAS | PBS

Airing weekly on PBS, the Emmy Award-winning series Independent Lens is like an independent film festival in your living room. Each episode introduces new documentaries and dramas made by independent thinkers: filmmakers who are taking creative risks, calling their own shots and finding untold stories in unexpected places.

Past seasons of Independent Lens have been presented by the talented hosts Edie Falco, Angela Bassett, Don Cheadle and Susan Sarandon. This season’s host is Terrence Howard—known for his memorable performances in films such as Crash, Hustle & Flow and Mr. Holland’s Opus.

From a Texas drug sting, to a plane crash in the Andes, to a research lab where beleaguered physicists search for the “God particle,” Independent Lens takes viewers behind the scenes to discover untold stories. Step inside a boisterous courtroom with 1960s revolutionaries Abbie Hoffman and Bobby Seale, or sit down to an intimate dinner with Pakistan’s Pervez Musharraf—let this season’s line-up take you across the span of history and around the globe. Learn more about the U.S. deficit, and dive into hot-button issues like gays in the military, Islamic extremism and gang strife in South Central L.A. Meet a trained kamikaze pilot and an inspirational Kenyan activist who is protecting human rights through the simple act of planting trees. Tune in to Independent Lens, and expect the unexpected.

Independent Lens programs come in every shape and size, including feature-length documentaries, hour-long dramas, four-minute comic shorts, half-hour experimental pieces and everything in between. What binds these programs together is the spirit of the filmmakers themselves-—visionaries who ignore the rules of commercial programming and spend years pursuing diverse stories about people not normally seen on TV. Some of these filmmakers have won the most prestigious industry awards. Others are being discovered before viewers' eyes. All of them share the gift of storytelling, a compelling sense of purpose and unrivalled access to often-closed communities and little-known worlds.

Visit the program guide to learn more about the season lineup >>

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Find out what drives the independent spirit of Independent Lens filmmakers
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