Independent Lens

Trailer | Silent Beauty

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 | Silent Beauty

30s

  • When I Close My Eyes: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    When I Close My Eyes

    24m 2s

    His ability to paint portraits of Saddam Hussein likely saved his life. Oil painter Samir Khurshid reflects on his own tumultuous life growing up surrounded by death and chaos in war-torn Iraq. His densely layered work is heavily influenced by both the cross-cultural chaos of life as a refugee in the U.S. as well as his past, modern religion, ancient mythology, politics, and daily emotional life.

  • The Tuba Thieves: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    The Tuba Thieves

    S25 E17 - 1h 25m

    What is the role of sound and what does it mean to listen? Hard of hearing filmmaker Alison O’Daniel uses a series of tuba thefts in Los Angeles high schools as a jumping-off point to explore these questions. Through several d/Deaf people telling stories in a unique game of telephone, the central mystery of The Tuba Thieves isn’t about theft of instruments; it’s about the nature of sound itself.

  • Space: The Longest Goodbye: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Space: The Longest Goodbye

    S25 E16 - 1h 24m

    NASA's goal to send astronauts to Mars would require a three-year absence from Earth, during which communication in real time would be impossible due to the immense distance. Meet the psychologists whose job is to keep astronauts mentally stable in outer space, as they are caught between their dream of reaching new frontiers and the basic human need to stay connected to home.

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