Join or Sign In
Sign in to customize your TV listings
By joining TV Guide, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.
Independent Lens Season 18 Episodes
Season 18 Episode Guide
20 Episodes 2016 - 2017
Episode 1
Best of Enemies
Mon, Oct 3, 2016 90 mins
The Season 18 premiere features "Best of Enemies," about the heated debates between conservative William F. Buckley and liberal Gore Vidal that ABC News aired during its coverage of the 1968 Republican and Democratic presidential conventions in an effort to boost its paltry TV ratings. The disdain that the two felt for one another dripped from their every syllable and led the set-tos to become personal. The result: must-watch TV; and the dawn of the modern age of contentious public discourse.
Episode 2
Meet the Patels
Mon, Dec 26, 2016 90 mins
After breaking up with his girlfriend, Indian-American actor-comedian Ravi Patel heads to India on a family vacation; and decides to find a wife the traditional way. That is to say, his parents arrange for him to meet a procession of potential matches.
Episode 3
Best and Most Beautiful Things
Mon, Jan 2, 2017 60 mins
The story of a quirky young woman's pursuit of love and freedom. Michelle Smith is legally blind and on the autism spectrum; and, after graduating from Perkins School for the Blind near Boston, she finds herself walled off from the world until, during an alumni weekend, a school administrator offers her an animation internship in L.A. As she prepares for the challenge, she falls for a young man and, with him, becomes involved in fetish role-playing, through which she achieves empowerment.
Episode 4
Containment; Excerpt From Uranium Drive-In
Mon, Jan 9, 2017 90 mins
"Containment" examines the dangers presented by nuclear waste to both current and future generations. The documentary spotlights the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., the site of an incident in 2014; the Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Fukushima, Japan, which suffered a meltdown after the 2011 tsunami; and the Savannah River Site, a former nuclear weapons facility in South Carolina. Also: an excerpt from "Uranium Drive-In," about a proposed uranium mill in Colorado.
Episode 5
What Was Ours
Mon, Jan 16, 2017 60 mins
A young Northern Arapaho journalist, Northern Arapaho student and Eastern Shoshone elder set out to reclaim tribal artifacts from various museums around the country and return them to the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming.
Episode 6
The Witness
Mon, Jan 23, 2017 90 mins
Bill Genovese investigates the 1964 murder of his sister Kitty, who was stabbed to death in Queens while 38 bystanders did nothing—at least, that's how the story was reported by the New York Times. Those "facts" led to the development of "the bystander effect" within psychology; influenced politicians to pass "Good Samaritan" laws; and spurred Bill to volunteer for Vietnam, where he lost his legs. But those "facts" weren't accurate, as Genovese discovers through the course of the documentary.
Episode 7
Birth of a Movement
Mon, Feb 6, 2017 60 mins
A protest in 1915 Boston led by civil rights activist William Monroe Trotter (1872-1934) against D.W. Griffith's "The Birth of a Nation," which depicted the KKK as heroes and African-Americans as racist caricatures, is recalled.
Episode 8
Accidental Courtesy
Mon, Feb 13, 2017 90 mins
The story of R&B-blues musician Daryl Davis' unusual hobby: meeting and befriending KKK and neo-Nazi members, many of whom have never before met a black person, in an attempt to sway them away from their racist views. The documentary accompanies him on a journey across America in which he meets with former and current members of the Klan, neo-Nazis and Black Lives Matter activists who dismiss his effort as a waste of time.
Episode 9
Tower
Tue, Feb 14, 2017 90 mins
Animated reenactments, archival footage and interviews with survivors piece together the tense afternoon of August 1, 1966, when sniper Charles Whitman opened fire on random people from the clock tower at the University of Texas at Austin.
Episode 10
The Bad Kids
Mon, Mar 20, 2017 90 mins
A year at a California school for at-risk kids is chronicled through the eyes of three students, including new dad Lee, who's yet to grasp the responsibilities of fatherhood; Jennifer, who was sexually abused; and Joey, whose home life is unstable. Along with their classmates, they've been deemed lost causes by the system writ large. The school's principal and teachers see potential where others do not, however, and strive to help the students overcome whatever it is that's holding them back.
Episode 11
Ovarian Psycos
Mon, Mar 27, 2017 60 mins
The story of the Ovarian Psycos Cycle Brigade, a group of young Latinas from East Los Angeles who are confronting injustice, building community and redefining identity.
Episode 12
Newtown
Mon, Apr 3, 2017 90 mins
An examination of the aftermath of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn., in which 20 children and six adults were killed. Included: remarks from parents, siblings, teachers, doctors and first responders.
Episode 13
SEED: The Untold Story
Mon, Apr 17, 2017 60 mins
The efforts of "seed keepers" to preserve the 12,000-year-old food legacy of humans are examined. Over the past century, seed diversity has undergone a precipitous decline as family farmsteads have given way to agribusinesses that sow genetically identical crops. The problem: without seed diversity, crop diseases can cause havoc to the food supply. As a result, a variety of reluctant heroes have begun to wage a David vs. Goliath-like battle to defend the future of food production.
Episode 14
The Last Laugh
Mon, Apr 24, 2017 90 mins
Whether the Holocaust should be off-limits to comedy. Included: a profile of Auschwitz survivor Renee Firestone; remarks from comedians; footage of cabarets from the concentration camps; and clips from "The Day the Clown Cried," Jerry Lewis's never-released Holocaust comedy.
Episode 15
National Bird
Mon, May 1, 2017 90 mins
An investigation of the U.S. drone war features three military veterans, a retired intelligence officer and family members of those impacted by lethal drone strikes. Included: the psychological toll drone warfare takes on drone operators, who are prohibited from discussing details of their experiences with anyone—including their psychologists.
Episode 16
The Prison in Twelve Landscapes
Mon, May 8, 2017 60 mins
How America's prison system, which has the highest incarceration rate in the world, is shaping all facets of life, not only in prisons but through the people around them, connected by proximity, money, family and work.
Episode 17
Forever Pure
Mon, May 15, 2017 90 mins
The story of Beitar Jerusalem Football Club, one of the most popular and controversial soccer teams in Israel. Its acquisition of two Muslim players from Chechnya during the 2012-13 season did not sit well with its fans, some of whom launched a racist campaign against the players, team management and any player who supported them.
Episode 18
They Call Us Monsters
Mon, May 22, 2017 90 mins
The lives of three young offenders at the Compound, a facility that houses L.A.'s most violent juvenile offenders, are chronicled. Each faces adult sentences for their crimes, sometimes decades if not hundreds of years in prison.
Episode 19
Farmer/Veteran
Mon, May 29, 2017 60 mins
The story of an Iraq War veteran with severe PTSD as he attempts to make a go of his new vocation: farmer.
Episode 20
Real Boy
Mon, Jun 19, 2017 60 mins
The story of a transgender teen trying to find his voice as a musician, son and man. As he navigates his journey, his mother struggles to understand her child's choice and provide him with the love and support he needs.
