Silent Beauty
In this autobiographical exploration of survivorship, New Orleans journalist and filmmaker Jasmin Mara López unabashedly shares her process of healing from childhood sexual abuse. After Jasmin discloses to her family she'd been abused by her grandfather, she liberates others to come forward in a story of confronting a culture of silence over generational trauma.
Episodes
-
Silent Beauty
S24 E15 - 1h 25m
In this autobiographical exploration of survivorship, New Orleans journalist and filmmaker Jasmin Mara López unabashedly shares her process of healing from childhood sexual abuse. After Jasmin discloses to her family she'd been abused by her grandfather, she liberates others to come forward in a story of confronting a culture of silence over generational trauma.
-
Moving soon to WETA Passport
Sam Now
S24 E14 - 1h 24m
In this coming-of-age documentary about generational trauma, follow Sam Harkness from age 11 to 36 as his middle-class Seattle family is heartbroken and unsure of what to do after his mother suddenly leaves them. Woven together with home movies lovingly crafted by Sam’s half brother, director Reed Harkness, witness a boy grow up grappling with the ripple effects of a singular traumatic event.
-
Matter of Mind: My ALS
S24 E13 - 54m 42s
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neuromuscular disease with an average survival time of 2-5 years from diagnosis. In this intimate exploration, three people with ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease, bravely face different paths as they live with this progressively debilitating illness.
-
Free Chol Soo Lee
S24 E12 - 1h 24m
Sentenced to life for a 1973 San Francisco murder, Korean immigrant Chol Soo Lee was set free after a pan-Asian solidarity movement, which included Korean, Japanese, and Chinese Americans, helped to overturn his conviction. After 10 years of fighting for his life inside California state prisons, Lee found himself in a new fight to rise to the expectations of the people who believed in him.
-
Hidden Letters
S24 E11 - 1h 25m
The bonds of sisterhood, and the parallels of struggles among generations of women in China, are drawn together by the once-secret written language of Nüshu, the only script designed and used exclusively by women.
-
Storming Caesars Palace
S24 E10 - 1h 24m
After losing her job as a hotel worker in Las Vegas, Ruby Duncan joined a welfare rights group of mothers who defied notions of the “welfare queen.” In a fight for guaranteed income, Ruby and other equality activists took on the Nevada mob in organizing a massive protest that shut down Caesars Palace.
-
Love in the Time of Fentanyl
S24 E9 - 1h 25m
As fentanyl overdose deaths in Vancouver, Canada reach an all-time high, the Overdose Prevention Society opens its doors—a renegade safe injection site that employs current or former drug users. Its staff and volunteers save lives and give hope to a marginalized community, doing whatever it takes to remain open in this intimate documentary that looks beyond the stigma of injection drug users.
-
Outta the Muck
S24 E8 - 1h 25m
Wade into the rich soil of Pahokee, Florida, a town on the banks of Lake Okeechobee. Beyond its football legacy, including sending over a dozen players to the NFL (like Anquan Boldin, Fred Taylor, and Rickey Jackson), the fiercely self-determined community tells their stories of Black achievement and resilience in the face of tragic storms and personal trauma.
-
The Picture Taker
S24 E7 - 1h 25m
The vibrant life of Ernest Withers—civil rights photographer, and FBI informant—was anything but black and white. From his Memphis studio, Withers' nearly 2 million images were a treasured record of Black history but his legacy was complicated by decades of secret FBI service revealed only after his death. Was he a friend of the civil rights community, or enemy—or both?
-
No Straight Lines
S24 E6 - 1h 25m
When Alison Bechdel received a coveted MacArthur Award for her best-selling graphic memoir Fun Home, it heralded the acceptance of LGBTQ+ comics in American culture. From DIY underground comix scene to mainstream acceptance, meet five smart and funny queer comics artists whose uncensored commentary left no topic untouched and explored art as a tool for social change.
-
The Big Payback
S24 E5 - 1h 25m
An Evanston, Illinois rookie alderwoman led the passage of the first tax-funded reparations bill for Black Americans. While she and her community struggle with the burden to make restitution for its citizens, a national racial crisis engulfs the country. Will the debt ever be addressed, or is it too late for a reparations movement to finally get the big payback?
-
Children of Las Brisas
S24 E4 - 1h 22m
In Venezuela, amidst a backdrop of poverty, murder, and corruption, the El Sistema youth orchestra offers children hope and the opportunity to pursue a life of art in spite of the harshness of the society around them. Yet the country’s spiraling collapse and political repression threatens the musicians’ dreams of a better life.
Extras + Features
-
Trailer | Mama Bears
S24 E16 - 30s
They call one another “mama bears” because of the ferocity with which they fight for their children’s rights. Although they grew up as fundamentalist, evangelical Christians praying for the souls of LGTBQ people, these mothers are now willing to risk losing friends, family, and faith communities to champion their kids—even if it challenges their belief systems and rips apart their worlds.
-
Trailer | Sam Now
S24 E14 - 30s
In this coming-of-age documentary about generational trauma, follow Sam Harkness from age 11 to 36 as his middle-class Seattle family is heartbroken and unsure of what to do after his mother suddenly leaves them. Woven together with home movies lovingly crafted by Sam’s half brother, director Reed Harkness, witness a boy grow up grappling with the ripple effects of a singular traumatic event.
-
Trailer | Matter of Mind: My ALS
S24 E13 - 30s
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neuromuscular disease with an average survival time of 2-5 years from diagnosis. In this intimate exploration, three people with ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease, bravely face different paths as they live with this progressively debilitating illness.
-
The Misrepresentation of Chol Soo Lee
S24 E12 - 5m 34s
Remember 1989’s True Believer, starring James Woods and Robert Downey, Jr.? Was it a prime example of Hollywood’s White Savior Complex? Dolly Li examines how the flick centered a white lawyer in a story based on Chol Soo Lee’s arrest. Stream Free Chol Soo Lee now on YouTube or the PBS App.
-
Teaser | Free Chol Soo Lee
S24 E12 - 1m
Through his journey from an inspiring icon to a swing-shift janitor, Chol Soo Lee personifies the ravages of America’s prison industrial complex.
-
Trailer | Free Chol Soo Lee
S24 E12 - 30s
Sentenced to life for a 1973 San Francisco murder, Korean immigrant Chol Soo Lee was set free after a pan-Asian solidarity movement, which included Korean, Japanese, and Chinese Americans, helped to overturn his conviction. After 10 years of fighting for his life inside California state prisons, Lee found himself in a new fight to rise to the expectations of the people who believed in him.
-
The Ballad of Chol Soo Lee
S24 E12 - 4m 49s
Did a song help free an incarcerated man? Dolly Li breaks down how UC Berkeley college students wrote a track about Chol Soo Lee, a wrongfully convicted Korean immigrant sentenced to life in prison. Stream Free Chol Soo Lee now on the PBS App.
-
Dinner And a Doc | Free Chol Soo Lee
S24 E12 - 1m 50s
Free Chol Soo Lee co-directors Julie Ha and Eugene Yi share mouthwatering lunch with activists Ranko Yamada and Gail Whang in L.A.'s Koreatown.
-
Inside Look | Free Chol Soo Lee
S24 E12 - 1m 30s
Get an inside look at Free Chol Soo Lee from Independent Lens. After 10 years of fighting for his life inside California state prisons, Lee found himself in a new fight to rise to the expectations of the people who believed in him.
-
Trailer | Silent Beauty
S24 E15 - 30s
In this autobiographical exploration of survivorship, New Orleans journalist and filmmaker Jasmín Mara López unabashedly shares her process of healing from childhood sexual abuse. After Jasmin discloses to her family she'd been abused by her grandfather, she liberates others to come forward in a story of confronting a culture of silence over generational trauma.
-
Trailer | This Spring on Independent Lens
S24 - 1m
This Spring, your go-to destination for documentaries offers a captivating slate of films including Free Chol Soo Lee, Matter of Mind: My ALS, Sam Now, and Mama Bears.
-
Trailer | Hidden Letters
S24 E11 - 30s
The bonds of sisterhood, and the parallels of struggles among generations of women in China, are drawn together by the once-secret written language of Nüshu, the only script designed and used exclusively by women.
Schedule
-
Image
Independent Lens
No Straight Lines
Saturday
Jun 10
1 Hour 30 Minutes
Cartoonists provide a window into LGBTQ lives from the 1970s onward. -
Image
Independent Lens
No Straight Lines
Sunday
Jun 11
1 Hour 30 Minutes
Cartoonists provide a window into LGBTQ lives from the 1970s onward. -
Image
Independent Lens
No Straight Lines
Wednesday
Jun 14
1 Hour 30 Minutes
Cartoonists provide a window into LGBTQ lives from the 1970s onward. -
Image
Independent Lens
No Straight Lines
Thursday
Jun 15
1 Hour 30 Minutes
Cartoonists provide a window into LGBTQ lives from the 1970s onward. -
Image
Independent Lens
No Straight Lines
Thursday
Jun 15
1 Hour 30 Minutes
Cartoonists provide a window into LGBTQ lives from the 1970s onward. -
Image
Independent Lens
No Straight Lines
Saturday
Jun 17
1 Hour 30 Minutes
Cartoonists provide a window into LGBTQ lives from the 1970s onward. -
Image
Independent Lens
Cured
Saturday
Jun 17
1 Hour
Activists fight the psychiatry establishment over labeling homosexuality as a mental illness that needs to be "cured." -
Image
Independent Lens
Cured
Sunday
Jun 18
1 Hour
Activists fight the psychiatry establishment over labeling homosexuality as a mental illness that needs to be "cured." -
Image
Independent Lens
The Big Payback
Sunday
Jun 18
1 Hour 30 Minutes
Robin Rue Simmons and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) pressure the government to deliver monetary justice for Blacks harmed by chattel slavery, systemic injustice and corporate exploitation. -
Image
Independent Lens
The Big Payback
Monday
Jun 19
1 Hour 30 Minutes
Robin Rue Simmons and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) pressure the government to deliver monetary justice for Blacks harmed by chattel slavery, systemic injustice and corporate exploitation. -
Image
Independent Lens
The Big Payback
Monday
Jun 19
1 Hour 30 Minutes
Robin Rue Simmons and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) pressure the government to deliver monetary justice for Blacks harmed by chattel slavery, systemic injustice and corporate exploitation. -
Image
Independent Lens
Mama Bears
Tuesday
Jun 20
1 Hour 30 Minutes
Although conservative, Christian beliefs have defined their lives, mothers fight for the rights of their LGBTQ+ children. -
Image
Independent Lens
Mama Bears
Wednesday
Jun 21
1 Hour 30 Minutes
Although conservative, Christian beliefs have defined their lives, mothers fight for the rights of their LGBTQ+ children. -
Image
Independent Lens
Mama Bears
Wednesday
Jun 21
1 Hour 30 Minutes
Although conservative, Christian beliefs have defined their lives, mothers fight for the rights of their LGBTQ+ children. -
Image
Independent Lens
Mama Bears
Thursday
Jun 22
1 Hour 30 Minutes
Although conservative, Christian beliefs have defined their lives, mothers fight for the rights of their LGBTQ+ children. -
Image
Independent Lens
Mama Bears
Thursday
Jun 22
1 Hour 30 Minutes
Although conservative, Christian beliefs have defined their lives, mothers fight for the rights of their LGBTQ+ children. -
Image
Independent Lens
Mama Bears
Saturday
Jun 24
1 Hour 30 Minutes
Although conservative, Christian beliefs have defined their lives, mothers fight for the rights of their LGBTQ+ children.
WETA Passport
Stream tens of thousands of hours of your PBS and local favorites with WETA Passport whenever and wherever you want. Catch up on a single episode or binge-watch full seasons before they air on TV.
Similar Shows
Muslim Youth Voices
Indie Films
Petit Rat
Indie Films
PBS Short Film Festival
Indie Films
POV
Indie Films
2021 duPont-Columbia Awards
Indie Films
Don Quixote in Newark
Indie Films
PBS Indies
Indie Films
REEL SOUTH
Indie Films
Big Dreams in Umatilla
Indie Films