Independent Lens
Encyclopedia
Airing weekly on PBS
through ITVS, the Emmy Award
-winning series Independent Lens introduces new drama
and documentary film
s made by independent filmmakers. Past seasons of Independent Lens have been presented by hosts Angela Bassett
, Don Cheadle
, Susan Sarandon
, Edie Falco
, Terrence Howard
, Maggie Gyllenhaal
, and America Ferrera
. The current host for the 10th season (2011-2012) is Mary-Louise Parker
.
The series began in 1999
and for three years aired 10 episodes each fall season. In 2002
, PBS announced that in 2003
the series would relaunch and expand to 29 primetime episodes a year. The 2011-2012 season is regarded as the tenth season for the series.
Independent Lens has won five Emmy Awards. In 2007, A Lion in the House won for Exceptional Merit in Nonfiction Filmmaking, and A Lion's Trail won in 2006 for Outstanding Cultural and Artistic Programming. Three other films won for Best Documentary: Billy Strayhorn: Lush Life in 2008, Be Good, Smile Pretty in 2004, and Sing Faster: The Stagehands' Ring Cycle in 2000. As well, three Independent Lens films garnered Academy Award nominations for Best Documentary: Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
(2006), The Weather Underground
(2004), and Waste Land (2010). Other awards conferred upon Independent Lens films include the George Foster Peabody Award, International Documentary Association
Documentary Awards, Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award, and Sundance Film Festival
Awards.
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
through ITVS, the Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
-winning series Independent Lens introduces new drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
and documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
s made by independent filmmakers. Past seasons of Independent Lens have been presented by hosts Angela Bassett
Angela Bassett
Angela Evelyn Bassett is an American actress. She has become well known for her biographical film roles portraying real life women in African American culture, including singer Tina Turner in the motion picture What's Love Got to Do with It, as well as Betty Shabazz in the films Malcolm X and...
, Don Cheadle
Don Cheadle
Donald Frank "Don" Cheadle, Jr. is an American film actor and producer. Cheadle rose to prominence in the late 1990s and the early 2000s for his supporting roles in the Steven Soderbergh-directed films Out of Sight, Traffic, and Ocean's Eleven...
, Susan Sarandon
Susan Sarandon
Susan Sarandon is an American actress. She has worked in films and television since 1969, and won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the 1995 film Dead Man Walking. She had also been nominated for the award for four films before that and has received other recognition for her...
, Edie Falco
Edie Falco
Edith "Edie" Falco is an American television, film and stage actress, known for her roles in Oz as Diane Wittlesey, as Carmela Soprano on the HBO series The Sopranos, and as the titular character on the Showtime series Nurse Jackie...
, Terrence Howard
Terrence Howard
Terrence Dashon Howard is an American actor. Having his first major role in the 1995 film Mr. Holland's Opus, which subsequently led to a number of roles in films and high visibility among African American audiences. Howard broke into the mainstream with a succession of well-reviewed television...
, Maggie Gyllenhaal
Maggie Gyllenhaal
Margaret Ruth "Maggie" Gyllenhaal born November 16, 1977) is an American actress. She is the daughter of director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal and the older sister of actor Jake Gyllenhaal. She made her screen debut when she began to appear in her father's films...
, and America Ferrera
America Ferrera
America Georgina Ferrera is an American actress, best known for playing the lead role in the television comedy series Ugly Betty...
. The current host for the 10th season (2011-2012) is Mary-Louise Parker
Mary-Louise Parker
Mary-Louise Parker is an American actress, known for her current lead role on Showtime's television series Weeds portraying Nancy Botwin, for which she has received several nominations and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in 2006...
.
The series began in 1999
1999 in television
The year 1999 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1999.For the American TV schedule, see: 1999-00 United States network television schedule.-Events:-Debuts:-Miniseries:...
and for three years aired 10 episodes each fall season. In 2002
2002 in television
The year 2002 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 2002.For the American TV schedule, see: 2002–03 United States network television schedule.-Events:-Debuts:-1940s:...
, PBS announced that in 2003
2003 in television
The year 2003 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 2003.For the American TV schedule, see: 2003-04 United States network television schedule.-Events:-Debuts:-1940s:...
the series would relaunch and expand to 29 primetime episodes a year. The 2011-2012 season is regarded as the tenth season for the series.
Independent Lens has won five Emmy Awards. In 2007, A Lion in the House won for Exceptional Merit in Nonfiction Filmmaking, and A Lion's Trail won in 2006 for Outstanding Cultural and Artistic Programming. Three other films won for Best Documentary: Billy Strayhorn: Lush Life in 2008, Be Good, Smile Pretty in 2004, and Sing Faster: The Stagehands' Ring Cycle in 2000. As well, three Independent Lens films garnered Academy Award nominations for Best Documentary: Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room is a 2005 documentary film based on the best-selling 2003 book of the same name by Fortune reporters Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind, a study of one of the largest business scandals in American history...
(2006), The Weather Underground
The Weather Underground
The Weather Underground is a 2002 documentary film based on the rise and fall of the American radical organization The Weathermen. Using much archive footage from the time as well as interviews with the Weathermen today, the film constructs a linear narrative of the militant organization.The film,...
(2004), and Waste Land (2010). Other awards conferred upon Independent Lens films include the George Foster Peabody Award, International Documentary Association
International Documentary Association
International Documentary Association , founded in 1982, is a non-profit organization promoting documentary film, video and new media, to support the efforts of documentary filmmaking and video production makers around the world and to increase public appreciation and demand for the art of the...
Documentary Awards, Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award, and Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
Awards.
Audience Award
Independent Lens gives out an annual Audience Award. The TV viewing audience is invited to rate each episode of the series (through online voting), and an award is given to each season's winner. Winners of the Audience Award have included:- 2011 Two Spirits
- 2010 MINE
- 2009 Adjust Your Color: The Truth of Petey Greene
- 2008 Na Kamalei: The Men of Hula
- 2007 China BlueChina BlueChina Blue is a 2005 documentary film directed by Micha Peled. It follows the life of Jasmine, a young seventeen year old worker from Sichuan province, in a Chinese jeans factory, Lifeng Clothes Factory in Shaxi, Guangdong producing Vigaze Jeans , hence the title...
- 2006 The Devil's MinerThe Devil's MinerThe Devil's Miner is a 2005 documentary film directed by independent film directors Kief Davidson and Richard Ladkani. The film follows a fourteen year old Bolivian boy named Basilio Vargas who along with his twelve year old brother Bernardino work in the mines near the city of Potosí...
- 2005 On a Roll
- 2004 Jimmy Scott: If You Only KnewJimmy Scott: If You Only KnewJimmy Scott: If You Only Knew is a film portrait of the now famous jazz vocalist who was "rediscovered" decades after he disappeared from the public eye....
- 2003 Heart of the Sea