Episodes
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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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One With the Whale
S25 E15 - 1h 18m
Hunting whales is a matter of life or death for the residents of St. Lawrence. When a shy Alaska Native teen becomes the youngest person ever to harpoon a whale for his village, his family is blindsided by thousands of keyboard activists brutally attacking him online—without full perspective on the importance of the hunt to his community's well-being.
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Matter of Mind: My Parkinson’s
S25 E14 - 54m 41s
In Matter of Mind: My Parkinson's, three people navigate their lives with resourcefulness and determination in the face of a degenerative illness, Parkinson’s disease. An optician pursues deep brain stimulation surgery; a mother raising a pre-teen daughter becomes a boxing coach and an advocate for exercise; and a cartoonist contemplates how he will continue to draw as his motor control declines.
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A Thousand Pines
S25 E13 - 55m 37s
Over the course of a grueling eight months, a crew of Oaxacan guest workers plant trees throughout the United States. This intimate portrait shows how hard it is to balance the physical demands of reforestation and extreme isolation while staying connected to the family back home.
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Greener Pastures
S25 E12 - 1h 24m
There is a mental health crisis happening for many American farmers. A combination of climate change and the pandemic have contributed to increasing economic uncertainty and isolation. Following four family farms in the Midwest over several years, the documentary Greener Pastures is a story of perseverance and survival within the farming industry in the heartland.
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Breaking The News
S25 E11 - 1h 24m
Who decides which stories get told? A scrappy group of women and LGBTQ+ journalists buck the white male-dominated status quo, banding together to launch The 19th*, a digital news startup aiming to combat misinformation. A story of an America in flux, and the voices often left out of the narrative, the documentary Breaking the News shows change doesn’t come easy.
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Sister Úna Lived a Good Death
S25 E10 - 55m 23s
Following a cancer diagnosis, Sister Úna—a mischievous, rule-breaking Catholic nun dedicated to social justice—chooses to live as she’s dying. In this touching end-of-life documentary, the self-proclaimed “leader of the misfits” plans her funeral in her last nine months to live.
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Razing Liberty Square
S25 E9 - 1h 23m
Liberty City, Miami, is home to one of the oldest segregated public housing projects in the U.S. Now with rising sea levels, the neighborhood’s higher ground has become something else: real estate gold. Wealthy property owners push inland to higher ground, creating a speculators’ market in the historically Black neighborhood previously ignored by developers and policy-makers alike.
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Racist Trees
S25 E8 - 1h 23m
Were trees intentionally planted to exclude and segregate a Black neighborhood?
Racial tensions ignite in this documentary, when a historically Black neighborhood in Palm Springs, California, fights to remove a towering wall of tamarisk trees. The trees form a barrier, believed by some to segregate the community, frustrating residents who regard them as an enduring symbol of racism. -
If Dreams Were Lightning: Rural Healthcare Crisis
S25 E18 - 25m 43s
Rural hospitals around America are closing at alarming rates, leaving communities without care. Oscar and Emmy-nominated director Ramin Bahrani visits Appalachia, where American communities are left with limited or no access to healthcare. Explore the rural healthcare crisis in the South through the eyes of those struggling in it and the dedicated doctors trying to reach them.
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Beyond Utopia
S25 E7 - 1h 51m
They grew up believing their land was paradise. Now, they risk everything in escaping it. In an unforgettable documentary, follow families on a treacherous journey to defect from their homeland of North Korea, as the threat of severe punishment and possible execution looms over their passage, revealing a world many have never seen.
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A Town Called Victoria | Episode 3
S25 E6 - 54m 42s
The prosecution presents shocking evidence. As the trial concludes, the engaged citizens of Victoria seek a way to build a more inclusive community.
Extras + Features
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How Did This Women-Owned Newspaper Revolutionize Journalism?
S25 E11 - 7m 8s
In 1850s America, one women-led newsroom blazed a trail for women's rights, shifting the media landscape and ultimately affecting how we see and cover "women's" issues today.
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Trailer | Breaking The News
S25 E11 - 30s
A scrappy group of women and LGBTQ+ journalists buck the white male-dominated status quo to launch news startup The 19th*.
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Trailer | Sister Úna Lived a Good Death
S25 E10 - 30s
Following a stage IV cancer diagnosis, wisecracking Sister Úna chooses to live as she’s dying.
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Trailer | Razing Liberty Square
S25 E9 - 30s
Liberty City, Miami, is home to one of the oldest segregated public housing projects in the United States. Now with rising sea levels, the neighborhood’s higher ground has become something else: real estate gold.
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Trailer | Racist Trees
S25 E8 - 30s
When an activist campaigns for the removal of a controversial wall of trees, one which forms a barrier believed to segregate the community, the history of racial tension in the city comes to light.
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If Dreams Were Lightning | One Veteran's Story | Clip
S25 E18 - 2m 37s
A clip from the documentary If Dreams Were Lighting by Oscar and Emmy-nominated director Ramin Bahrani.
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Herzog Interviews Bahrani | If Dreams Were Lightning
S25 E18 - 21m 12s
Acclaimed filmmaker Werner Herzog (Grizzly Man; Aguirre, the Wrath of God; Nosferatu the Vampyre) interviews Oscar and Emmy-nominated director Ramin Bahrani (99 Homes; Man Push Cart; Chop Shop) on his Independent Lens documentary If Dreams Were Lightning: Rural Healthcare Crisis.
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Winter Season Trailer 2024 | Coming to Independent Lens
S25 - 1m
We’re heating up this winter with a lineup of docs, including Beyond Utopia, Racist Trees, Razing Liberty Square, and Breaking the News. Stream Independent Lens with the PBS App.
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Trailer | A Town Called Victoria
S25 E4 - 30s
When a devastating hate crime reduces the local mosque to ashes, the community of Victoria faces the daunting task of bridging longstanding political, racial, and economic rifts in order to discover a unified path towards healing and progress.
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Trailer | Three Chaplains
S25 E3 - 30s
Muslim chaplains uphold the First Amendment and vow to protect service members' right to practice their faith freely, despite facing long-held prejudice and disapproval from their own communities. The Muslim chaplains work hard to ensure that all service members have access to religious materials, services, and resources regardless of the religious beliefs they hold.
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Binge A Town Called Victoria with PBS Passport | Trailer
S25 E4 - 30s
What happens when a devastating hate crime reduces a local mosque to ashes? All three episodes of A Town Called Victoria are streaming now with PBS Passport.
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Trailer | El Equipo
S25 E2 - 30s
Legendary U.S. anthropologist Dr. Clyde Snow sets out to train a new group of Latin American students in the use of forensic anthropology. Their goal: to investigate disappearances in Argentina during the “dirty war.” The group expands its horizons, traveling to El Salvador, Bolivia, and Mexico, doggedly working behind the scenes to establish the facts for the families of the victims.
Schedule
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Image
Independent Lens
One With the Whale
Wednesday
Apr 24
1 Hour 30 Minutes
An Alaska native family is blindsided when their son, the youngest ever to harpoon a whale for his village, is targeted by animal activists. -
Image
Independent Lens
One With the Whale
Wednesday
Apr 24
1 Hour 30 Minutes
An Alaska native family is blindsided when their son, the youngest ever to harpoon a whale for his village, is targeted by animal activists. -
Image
Independent Lens
Ferguson Rises
Wednesday
Apr 24
1 Hour 30 Minutes
Michael Brown Sr. seeks justice and healing after his son is killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Mo. -
Image
Independent Lens
One With the Whale
Wednesday
Apr 24
1 Hour 30 Minutes
An Alaska native family is blindsided when their son, the youngest ever to harpoon a whale for his village, is targeted by animal activists. -
Image
Independent Lens
One With the Whale
Thursday
Apr 25
1 Hour 30 Minutes
An Alaska native family is blindsided when their son, the youngest ever to harpoon a whale for his village, is targeted by animal activists. -
Image
Independent Lens
One With the Whale
Thursday
Apr 25
1 Hour 30 Minutes
An Alaska native family is blindsided when their son, the youngest ever to harpoon a whale for his village, is targeted by animal activists. -
Image
Independent Lens
One With the Whale
Saturday
Apr 27
1 Hour 30 Minutes
An Alaska native family is blindsided when their son, the youngest ever to harpoon a whale for his village, is targeted by animal activists. -
Image
Independent Lens
One With the Whale
Saturday
Apr 27
1 Hour 30 Minutes
An Alaska native family is blindsided when their son, the youngest ever to harpoon a whale for his village, is targeted by animal activists. -
Image
Independent Lens
Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary
Sunday
Apr 28
1 Hour 30 Minutes
Events, passions and experiences that impacted the life and music of jazz artist John Coltrane. -
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Independent Lens
Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary
Tuesday
Apr 30
1 Hour 30 Minutes
Events, passions and experiences that impacted the life and music of jazz artist John Coltrane. -
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Independent Lens
Try Harder!
Thursday
May 2
1 Hour 30 Minutes
At San Francisco's Lowell High School, stressed out seniors chase college dreams. -
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Independent Lens
Soul Food Junkies
Sunday
May 5
1 Hour
Soul food's relevance to black cultural identity. -
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Independent Lens
Space: The Longest Goodbye
Monday
May 6
1 Hour 30 Minutes
NASA psychologists prepare astronauts for the extreme isolation required by a Mars mission. -
Image
Independent Lens
Space: The Longest Goodbye
Tuesday
May 7
1 Hour 30 Minutes
NASA psychologists prepare astronauts for the extreme isolation required by a Mars mission. -
Image
Independent Lens
Space: The Longest Goodbye
Wednesday
May 8
1 Hour 30 Minutes
NASA psychologists prepare astronauts for the extreme isolation required by a Mars mission. -
Image
Independent Lens
Space: The Longest Goodbye
Thursday
May 9
1 Hour 30 Minutes
NASA psychologists prepare astronauts for the extreme isolation required by a Mars mission. -
Image
Independent Lens
Space: The Longest Goodbye
Thursday
May 9
1 Hour 30 Minutes
NASA psychologists prepare astronauts for the extreme isolation required by a Mars mission.
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